The brigade had been severely depleted in reaching the position and at that point had only 1,040 fit men, so they were ordered to hold their position along the front to provide cover to troops of the US 126th Infantry Regiment, which was slowly moving towards the Soputa–Sanananda–Cape Killerton track junction. On 23 November, the 16th Brigade finally received artillery support, after a battery from the 2/1st Field Regiment was flown into the hastily established airfield at Popondetta and began firing upon Sananada. The inexperienced American regiment made very slow progress and as a result, the 16th Brigade held their position until 6 December, when they were progressively relieved by troops from the 30th Brigade, having suffered over 85 per cent casualties. The 2/3rd Infantry Battalion was the last out, being withdrawn on the night of 19/20 December. Meanwhile, a small element of the division remained in action until Sanananda fell in late January 1943. The 2/1st Field Regiment's detachment at Popondetta was expanded to a full troop of four guns, while another troop was sent to support the US forces around Buna and a third force was sent to Oro Bay. In addition to these artillery assets, in October a small group of five Bren carriers from the 17th Brigade's carrier platoon had been sent from Milne Bay to support the General Robert Eichelberger's 32nd Division. With crews drawn mainly from the 2/7th Infantry Battalion and one from the 2/5th, they were thrown into action around Buna on 5 December to support a major assault and, despite making some headway against the heavily entrenched Japanese, were wiped out with heavy casualties. During the 6th Division's involvement in the campaign, it lost 207 killed and 397 wounded. Wau–Salamaua As the 16th Brigade's involvement in its first New Guinea campaign was being fought to a successful conclusion around the beachheads between Buna and Gona, the 17th Brigade was preparing for its first encounter with the Japanese. Shortly after the Japanese landings around Salamaua and Lae in March 1942 a small band of commandos known as "Kanga Force" had established themselves around Wau and in May commenced a seven-month guerilla campaign in the area. In early January 1943, the Japanese heavily reinforced the Salamaua–Lae area, moving 4,000 troops from both Guadalcanal and Papua where they had suffered setbacks, in the hope of destroying Kanga Force, capturing the Wau, which lay in the