The Battle of Kaiapit was an action fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. Following the landing at Nadzab and capture of Lae, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley, starting with Kaiapit. The Japanese intended to use Kaiapit to threaten the Allied position at Nadzab, and to create a diversion to allow the Japanese garrison at Lae time to escape.

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  • 1943-09-20 (xsd:date)
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/causalties
  • 14 killed
    23 wounded
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/combatant

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  • Allied victory
dbpedia-owl:MilitaryConflict/strength
  • 226
  • 500
dbpedia-owl:causalties
  • 14 killed
    23 wounded
dbpedia-owl:combatant

dbpedia-owl:date
  • 1943-09-20 (xsd:date)
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  • Allied victory
dbpedia-owl:strength
  • 226
  • 500
dbpedia-owl:thumbnail
dbpprop:abstract
  • The Battle of Kaiapit was an action fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. Following the landing at Nadzab and capture of Lae, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley, starting with Kaiapit. The Japanese intended to use Kaiapit to threaten the Allied position at Nadzab, and to create a diversion to allow the Japanese garrison at Lae time to escape. The elite Australian 2/6th Independent Company flew in to the Markham Valley from Port Moresby in a special flight of 13 USAAF C-47 Dakotas, making a difficult landing on a rough and unimproved airstrip. Unaware that a much larger Japanese force was also headed for Kaiapit, the company attacked the village on 19 September to secure the area so that it could be developed into an airfield. The company then held it against a strong counter attack. During two days of fighting the Australians defeated a larger Japanese force while suffering relatively few losses. The Australian victory at Kaiapit enabled the Australian 7th Division to be flown in to the upper Markham Valley which accomplished the 7th Division's primary mission, for the Japanese could no longer threaten Lae or Nadzab, where a major airbase was being developed. 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.
dbpprop:accessdate
  • 5 January 2009
dbpprop:caption
  • Australian soldiers from the 2/16th Battalion arriving at Kaiapit on 20 September after the area was captured by the 2/6th Independent Company
dbpprop:casualties
  • 14 killed 23 wounded
  • Over 214 killed
dbpprop:combatant
dbpprop:commander
  • Captain Gordon King
  • Major Tsuneo Yonekura
dbpprop:conflict
  • Battle of Kaiapit
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  • 19-20 September 1943
  • 20 January 1944
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  • 36337 (xsd:integer)
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  • 391 (xsd:integer)
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  • 226 (xsd:integer)
  • 500 (xsd:integer)
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  • yes
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  • -6.2666666666667 146.25
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rdfs:comment
  • The Battle of Kaiapit was an action fought in 1943 between Australian and Japanese forces in New Guinea during the Finisterre Range campaign of World War II. Following the landing at Nadzab and capture of Lae, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance into the upper Markham Valley, starting with Kaiapit. The Japanese intended to use Kaiapit to threaten the Allied position at Nadzab, and to create a diversion to allow the Japanese garrison at Lae time to escape.
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  • Battle of Kaiapit
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  • 146.250000 (xsd:float)
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  • Battle of Kaiapit
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