Brisbane WTO, Army Command and Administrative Newtork (ACAN), US Army Signal Corps in Australia during WW2

"BRISBANE WTO"
ARMY COMMAND AND ADMINISTRATIVE NETWORK (ACAN)
US ARMY SIGNAL CORPS
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

The ACAN radio chart, dated May 1942, shows the following ACAN stations prior to Brisbane WTO's establishment:-

Radio Station Melbourne, WTJJ, during its first week of operation and into early May 1942, handled the last flow of messages from the besieged Philippine Islands. Corregidor WVDM, traffic went to Darwin WVJK, to Melbourne WTJJ, and Melbourne then sent to Hawaii WTJ, and then on to the War Department in Washington. The message load ran into about 30,000 groups a day, both ways, and was transmitted on a duplex CW circuit. (sending via hand key or bug).

In June 1942 George Sullivan's ship "Tasker H. Bliss" landed on 18 June 1942 at the Bulimba docks in Brisbane, Queensland across from the shipyard where the OL boats would be worked on. They marched to the Camp Ascot.

George Sullivan was a member of the "Fixed Station Communication Company" comprising 125 officers and enlisted men. Approximately 3 days later, part of the group was interviewed by Colonel Arnold. George was one of the group to stay in Brisbane. The day George Sullivan reported to the radio room at Base Section 3 Headquarters at Somerville House in Brisbane was around 24 June 1942.

The radio room at Somerville House was located in the center of the school, above a patio. They could walk out of the radio room and sit on the patio roof and relax. The room had a 1 kW Federal Transmitter to Sydney, and a TG5 Telegraph set that the Telephone Co., patched through to Townsville every morning at 7:00 a.m. to clear traffic.

The two radio operators were from an Air Force bomber crew. About two weeks later George Sullivan was sent to Capalaba, the CW Radio Receiving Station, to open up their first circuit to San Francisco WTO. The 1 kW Federal transmitter at Redland Bay was set up in a tent. The circuit was established and sending with a hand key, the traffic started to flow to the War Department. Brisbane WTO, was up and running! They handled between 80,000 - 100,000 groups a day with some messages via courier.

General Douglas MacArthur moved his General Headquarters SWPA to Brisbane making Brisbane the nerve center of the Southwest Pacific. The circuits from Melbourne, Sydney, Townsville, Darwin, Noumea and Hawaii were now relocated to terminate in Brisbane WTO. Great expansion ensued as American and Australian forces, reacting to earlier defeats, began to consolidate their strength and make their first victorious advances.

New equipment started to arrive. A 10-kW amplifier for the Brisbane WTO to San Francisco circuit arrived. In July 1942 Col. Calvert H. Arnold became the Signal Officer of the U.S. Army of Supplies in the SOWP area (USA-SOS-SWP). Col. John C. Grable became Arnold's executive Signal Officer.

George Sullivan commented that the temperamental the "hotshot operators" in San Francisco refused to copy hand sent messages from Noumea. This traffic was routed through Brisbane WTO. In the early months of 1942, from June onwards, the San Francisco operators complained about Brisbane WTO on the same score. The operators in Brisbane WTO begged, borrowed and stole equipment to see if they could send messages via machines. The supply problem was deplorable. They had to patch, repair, and say a prayer. After much letter writing, Col. Grable obtained a Boehme high speed CW system for the Brisbane - San Francisco circuit.

Boehme equipment! What is that? The operator in Brisbane WTO would put his message via punched holes on a paper tape, insert it in a sending head (variable speed) to key the transmitter in Redland Bay. On a dry day, the open wire telephone lines to Redland Bay 30 miles away, would allow the speed to go up to 100 words per minute, much faster than if sent manually, by hand. This moved a greater amount of traffic and made the operators in San Francisco very happy. On the receiving end in Capalaba, they had 3 receivers tuned to San Francisco. Receiver #1 on the San Francisco Rombic antenna. Receiver #2 on Hawaii Rombic antenna. Receiver #3 changed from various other antennae to get best signal. The output of the three receivers went into a 3-channel device which selected the strongest signal of the three, and re-keyed an audio oscillator which was sent over the telephone lines to ink a tape at the operating room in Brisbane. A very efficient CW system! In late 1942 a most important circuit was added from Brisbane WTO to Port Moresby, New Guinea, WVLQ.

The supply problems improved in early 1943. They could order dry "B" batteries for their test gear and receive the complete order.

On the first day of 1943, Capalaba, the CW Radio Receiving Station was handed a new assignment. They had to set up several receivers on assigned frequencies and log the signal strength every quarter hour, 24 hours a day. This went on for several weeks. One of the frequencies was entertaining - Radio Tokyo. They heard the latest American music releases, plus "Tokyo Rose". The men were trying to figure out what the monitoring was all about. They received their answer in February 1943 when the 40-kW Single Side Band unit went into service, closing down the high speed CW Boehme circuit between Capalaba and San Francisco.

They started to receive new state of the art equipment. The single side band system employed three teletype machines on diversity, to help correct "fade" or "message dropout." For example, the teletypes could be on the lower side band with the upper side band being used for voice control between Brisbane and San Francisco, or SIGSALY (Green Hornet) also know as the "X" Project, located at General MacArthur's Headquarters, or for use by the Photo Group. The system handled 250,000 message groups a day, 80-85% administrative. A vast improvement over the high speed Boehme circuit. Messages were also mechanically encoded and decoded.

Around the 1 November 1943, the 805th Signal Service Battalion set up a telephone voice scrambling circuit at General MacArthur's GHQ SWPA known as SIGSALY (Green Hornet). This highly classified voice circuit was not declassified until around 1976.

There were 3 different radio rooms located in the Somerville House. The first one that George Sullivan reported to was in the center of the complex on the second floor, over a patio. The second room was located in the extreme right wing near Vulture Street, on the top floor where the first CW circuit to San Francisco was inaugurated. The third location was in the extreme right wing, first floor towards the back of the building, where the single side band control room and operators were located.

George Sullivan left for home in June 1945. George knew that 7 OL's were towed to Japan. He did not know what had happened to the "Weeroona".

Allan Siemers was a radio operator and crypto operator with Detachment D, 832nd Signal Service Battalion (832d Sig Svc Bn Det D) in Somerville House during 1943 and 1944 before being sent to WVLM Milne Bay and WVLP Port Moresby. Allan advised me on 6 March 2008 that Darwin was called WVLD. Some of these radio station call signs appear different to those stated by George Sullivan.

Major Orville Howard Davidsmeyer O-468272, Signal Detachment 5054, Base Section #3

Teletype message from KWY, San Francisco, California. See reply from WTO Brisbane below.

PER AND HAR AND
PERSONNEL KWY FROM WTO
MARCH 22, 1943

THANKS FROM ALL OF US FOR YOUR GREETINGS THIS MORNING. YOUR ASSISTANCE AND HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS DURING THE TESTING PERIOD ARE SINCERELY APPRECIATED. SERVICE WOULD SURELY HAVE BEEN APPRECIABLY DELAYED ON THIS SYSTEM HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE FULL COOPERATION YOU FELLOWS GAVE US FROM THE VERY START. WE HAVE EVERY REASON TO BELIEVE THAT THE SAME SPIRIT OF HARMONY AND COOPERATION WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST BETWEEN THE OPERATING PERSONNEL OF KWY AND WTO.

IN SIGNING OFF WE EXTEND OUR PERSONAL REGARDS TO EACH OF YOU AND WOULD LIKE FOR YOU TO PASS ON GREETINGS TO THE LONG LINERS THERE, AND IN NEW YORK, CHICAGO, ATLANTA ET CETERA. SO LONG AND, AGAIN, THANKS A MILLION.

OHD AND MKW AND THE BOYS.

OHD is Orville Howard Davidsmeyer and MKW is most likely Captain
Marion K Wilkins, Davidsmeyer's second-in-command in Signal Det.
5054. WTO was Brisbane and KWY was San Francisco, California.

On 16 February 1943, Major Orville Howard Davidsmeyer O-468272, who was then assigned to Signal Detachment 5054, Base Section #3, was ordered to report to the Commanding General, Southwest Pacific Area in Brisbane, for temporary duty.

Project X-61753 was the Sigsaly Project. Brisbane Radiophone Station which allowed
the transmission of a photo to a remote location via a radio link in about 7 minutes
was located at a house called "Cintra" at 55 Boyd Street, Bowen Hills.

Below is a replica of a Script for a radio broadcast by General George C.
Kenney for the "Army Hour" radio show using the ACAN Wireless network

(Text of broadcast of the Army Hour from the Southwest Pacific, August 9, 1944. Colonel Davidsmeyer’s copy of the broadcast is signed by Generals Kenney and Akin and includes his formal written request which says, “Would appreciate it if you could get Gen. Kenney & Gen Akin to sign this for me. It’s the ‘first’ broadcast over SWPA signal facilities and I want it for my collection of ‘firsts’. Thank you. OHD)

CUE: “FOR WORD OF THE 5TH AND 13TH AIR FORCES IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST PACIFIC, LIEUTENANT GENERAL GEORGE G. KENNEY, COMMANDING THE ALLIED FAR EAST AIR FORCES IS STANDING BY. GO AHEAD PLEASE KENNEY.”

As we move forward in the Southwest Pacific. I want to pay tribute to the men out here whose courage and intelligence are winning the war in the skies against the Japanese.

These American, Australian, New Zealand and Dutch airmen have not only stopped the once-powerful Japanese air force, they are crushing it. Rabaul, Wewak, Hollandia and now the Halmaheras, have become graveyards of Jap air power destroyed on the ground and in the air.

Our bomber line is moving forward faster. Last year we advanced it two hundred miles. So far this year it has gone forward 1000 miles and we are not stopping.

Our air blockade has been effective. For months nothing has entered enemy ports in New Guinea, New Britain and New Ireland except an occasional submarine to evacuate the Japanese admirals and generals of beleaguered garrisons by-passed by General MacArthur’s advance.

The last attempt to relieve Kavieng and Rabaul was in February.

In four days we sank twenty-five vessels. The Jap quit trying to relieve Wewak on the 19th March when we sank seven of his vessels

After our troops landed at Biak in May, a “Tokyo Express” of two cruisers and five destroyers tried to rush in reinforcements. Ten of our attack bombers sank four destroyers and crippled the fifth in a ten minute action. The two cruisers and the disabled destroyer turned and went back home.

Since last August you have been hunting up a lot of new names on your maps Lae – Salamaua – Finschhafen – Arawe – Gloucester – Saidor – The Admiralties – Aitape – Hollandia – Waked – Maffin Bay – Biak – Noemfoor and Sansapor. Our bomber line is still advancing. Japan itself is getting closer all the time.

I cannot tell you what else we expect to achieve this year, but I CAN tell you that our Air Forces will be in there outfighting and outsmarting the Jap wherever he may choose to fight.

CUE: THE ARMY HOUR RETURNS TO GENERAL ARNOLD IN WASHINGTON

NOTE:- This web page is based heavily on George J. Sullivan's history of ACAN titled "The Things We Save". I have attempted to locate George Sullivan or or any of his family without success so far.

I'd like to thank Jo Davidsmeyer for her assistance with this web page. Jo is the grand daughter of Major Orville Howard Davidsmeyer.

BTO	Calcutta, India
BX	Green Hornet
JGTA	New Delhi, India
JGTB	Chungkiing, China
JM	Radio Foto Ckt.
KWY	San Francisco, California
WTJ	Honolulu, Hawaii
WTOA	San Francisco, California
WTOB	Washington, DC
WTOC	San Francisco, California
WTOD	San Francisco, California
WTOE	Washington D.C.
WTOF	Washington D.C.
WTOG	USAFFE "Downtown Brisbane"
WTOH	USASOS "Downtown Brisbane"
WTOI	Gen. MacArthur "Downtown Brisbane"
WTOJ	Central Bureau, Ascot
WTOK	Melbourne, Australia
WTOL	Amberley Field, Airport
WTOM	GHQ
WVJN	Noumea, New Caledonia
WVLP-1	Port Moresby, New Guinea
WVLP-2	Port Moresby, New Guinea (Charlie)
WVLP-3	Port Moresby, New Guinea (MUX)
WVLF	Milne Bay, New Guinea
WVLH	Hollandia, Dutch New Guinea
WVLK	Oro Bay, New Guinea
WVLS	Sydney, Australia
WVLT	Townsville, Australia
WVLV	Bougainville, Solomons
WVLZ	Darwin, Australia
WVY	San Francisco, California