Battle of Kaiapit
The Battle of Kaiapit was fought in 1943 during the Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. The Japanese intended to use the village to threaten the Allied position at Nadzab, and to create a diversion to allow the Japanese garrison at Lae time to escape. The Australian victory enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham Valley. The victory also led to the capture of the entire Ramu valley, which provided new forward fighter airstrips for the air war against the Japanese.
About Battle of Kaiapit in brief
The Battle of Kaiapit was fought in 1943 during the Markham and Ramu Valley – Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. The Japanese intended to use the village to threaten the Allied position at Nadzab, and to create a diversion to allow the Japanese garrison at Lae time to escape. The Australians defeated a larger Japanese force while suffering relatively few losses. The Australian victory enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham Valley. The victory also led to the capture of the entire Ramu valley, which provided new forward fighter airstrips for the air war against the Japanese. The Markham valley is part of a flat, elongated depression varying from 8 to 32 kilometres wide that cuts through the otherwise mountainous terrain of the interior of New Guinea, running from the port of Lae, to that of the Ramu River 600 kilometres away. The two rivers flow in opposite directions, separated by an invisible divide about 130 kilometres from Lae. The area is flat and suitable for airstripping, although it is intercut by many tributaries of the two main rivers. Until a road could be opened from LAE, the Kaiap it area could only be supplied by air and there were a limited number of transport aircraft. The 7th division’s mission was to prevent the Japanese at Madang from using the Mark Hamms and Ramus valleys to threaten Lae or NadZab, where a major airbase was being developed. It accomplished its primary mission, for the Japanese could no longer threaten LAE or NadzAB, where the Japanese were building a major base.
The battle was won by the Australian 26th Independent Company, which was led by Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring, commander of I Corps, and Major General George Alan Vasey,. commander of the 7thDivision. It took place on 19 September 1943, on the same day that Lae fell. It was fought between the Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Second World War, and lasted for just over two days. It is the only battle of the war to have been fought in the Pacific Theater of Operations (POWs), which included the Battle of the Philippines, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands. It also saw the first use of air-to-air missiles in the war, and the first air strikes on Japanese targets in the South Pacific. The Battle of Wewak was fought on 1 November 1943, and saw the use of the Luftwaffe’s F-4E and F-5E fighter bombers in the battle for the island of Bougainville, which ended in victory for the Allies. The Allies were forced to withdraw from the island after a series of air attacks by the Japanese, including two overland incursions into Papua New Guinea. The Allied Land Forces commander, General Sir Thomas Blamey, intended to exploit his success with an advance into the upperMarkham Valley, and serve as a jumping off point for an overland advance to capture airfield sites there. He planned to capture Dumpu first, using paratroops.
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This page is based on the article Battle of Kaiapit published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
