Qualla: Battle of Madang https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:29 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Madang https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang Battle of Madang: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang/ Photo credit SpoolWhippets, CC0. The maps called it a pursuit. For the men of the Australian 15th Infantry Brigade, it was a three-month walk down the wrong side of the Finisterre Range, chasing Japanese rearguards through rivers, plantations, and patches of jungle where the enemy might be waiting behind any buttress root. When they finally reached Madang on the morning of 24 April 1944, the Japanese were gone. Three divisions had slipped west toward Wewak. What the Australians walked into was a ghost town on a lagoon, a place the Germans had once called Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen.

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/rppd-battle-of-madang-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Madang: Between Two Mountain Ranges https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang/ Photo credit Goldsztajn, CC BY-SA 3.0. Madang sits on the Schering Peninsula where it juts into Astrolabe Bay, a sheltered deep-water harbor on Papua New Guinea's north coast. Kranket Island closes the lagoon from the sea. The Adelbert Range hems the town to the north; the Finisterres rise behind it to the south. Befo...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/rppd-battle-of-madang-between-two-mountain-ranges.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Madang: Down the Finisterres https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang/ Photo credit SpoolWhippets, CC0. The battle for Madang was really the denouement of Shaggy Ridge. Once the Japanese line in the Finisterres broke in late January 1944, the remnants of the 20th Division under Lieutenant General Shigeru Katagiri had no choice but to withdraw toward the coast. Major General Allan B...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/rppd-battle-of-madang-down-the-finisterres.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Madang: Two Forces Closing https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang/ Photo credit SpoolWhippets, CC0. While the Australians worked down the mountains, the other half of the pincer moved along the coast. Two battalions of the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division had already come ashore at Yalau Plantation after advancing east from Saidor. They pushed toward Bau Plantation and Yangalum, fig...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/rppd-battle-of-madang-two-forces-closing.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Madang: One Battalion, One Honour https://qualla.com/battle-of-madang/ Photo credit SpoolWhippets, CC0. The 30th Infantry Battalion led the way along the northern edge of Astrolabe Bay toward the airfield. After the war the Australian Army, which had been generous with battle honours throughout the New Guinea campaign, issued one for "Madang" and gave it to the 30th alone. No other...

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]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/p/d/battle-of-madang-wp/rppd-battle-of-madang-one-battalion-one-honour.mp3 0:06 5 full