New Guinea--SAIDOR

LANDING AT SAIDOR, NEW GUINEA

On the morning of 2 January, 1944, there was an Allied landing from high speed transports (APD's), LCI's, and LST's, at Saidor, New Guinea. Pour Coast Guard manned LST's were in the D-day landing and five others came later. Air and surface bombardment preceded the landing, which was practically unopposed. American sixth Army troops, including elements of the Thirty-second Division swept ashore on both sides of Saui Point, meeting only light resistance which was quickly overcome, and moved a mile inland to capture the airstrip. On the first day 7,200 troops and 3,000 tons of supplies were put ashore and only 3 American soldiers were reported killed and 4 wounded in the landing operation. So sudden was the

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KWAJALEIN ATOLL

KWAJALEIN ATOLL

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attack that the Japanese garrison fled from its breakfast tables, leaving food half consumed. The landing at Saidor, about 55 miles southeast of the key Japanese base at Madang represented an advance of about 110 miles from Finschhafen and placed American forces some 75 miles beyond Australian units driving up the Huon peninsula coast in the vicinity of Gape King William, Between the two Allied forces many Japanese troops were trapped in the narrow coastal plain, hemmed in by the sea and the rugged Finisterre Mountains.

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