Qualla: Battle of Biak https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Biak https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak Battle of Biak: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. At 5:15 in the afternoon on 27 May 1944, twelve thousand American soldiers stood on the beaches of Biak in quiet satisfaction. They had come ashore with twelve Sherman tanks, twenty-nine field guns, five hundred vehicles, and three thousand tons of supplies - all of it landed against almost no resistance. Allied planners had promised a week-long operation. What those soldiers could not yet know was that Colonel Naoyuki Kuzume had watched them come ashore on purpose. He had pulled his men back from the water's edge and into a honeycomb of limestone caves west of Mokmer airfield, waiting for the Americans to advance into his killing ground. The battle would last until 17 August. It would cost the lives of nearly every Japanese defender on the island.

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Image: U.S. Army Center of Military History | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Biak: Why Biak https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. The island sits at the entrance to Geelvink Bay on the northwestern arc of New Guinea, flat where it mattered, close to the Philippines, and perfect for airfields. General Douglas MacArthur's Southwest Pacific command wanted it badly. Biak's southeastern flats could accommodate h...

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Image: U.S. Army Center of Military History | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-why-biak.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Biak: The Trap at Mokmer https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit Sadalmelik, Public domain. The Americans moved inland in the confident quiet of troops who had not yet found the enemy. Then they reached the airstrip. From the ridges above Mokmer came a storm of artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire that pinned the 162nd Infantry Regiment flat. Japanese Ha-Go light tan...

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Image: Sadalmelik | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-the-trap-at-mokmer.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Biak: Water and Scrub Typhus https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. Biak has coral bedrock and almost no fresh water. American soldiers fought under relentless equatorial sun, their canteens rationed, their uniforms soaked through with sweat that never dried. More men fell to scrub typhus than to Japanese fire. The battle's casualty math tells th...

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Image: U.S. Army Center of Military History | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-water-and-scrub-typhus.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Biak: The Fleet That Never Came https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945), Public domain. Japan nearly turned Biak into the decisive battle it had been waiting for. Admiral Soemu Toyoda saw MacArthur's landing as a chance to provoke the US Pacific Fleet into a fleet action - the Kantai Kessen that Imperial Navy doctrine had trained for since before the war. Operation ...

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Image: Department of the Navy. Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Intelligence Division. Office of Naval Records and Library. (1922 - 10/10/1945) | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-the-fleet-that-never-came.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Biak: The Regimental Colors https://qualla.com/battle-of-biak/ Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. Allied radio intercepts revealed that Lieutenant General Takuzo Numata, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Area Army, had been on Biak inspecting when the invasion hit. A floatplane extracted him from Korim Bay on the night of 20 June. Colonel Kuzume did not leave. After two more days of ...

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Image: U.S. Army Center of Military History | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/b/d/battle-of-biak-wp/rpbd-battle-of-biak-the-regimental-colors.mp3 0:06 6 full