Qualla: The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:28 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. The math was simple and the logic was cold. Noemfoor had three airfields crammed onto an island barely eleven miles across. Japanese air defenses in western New Guinea were nearly nonexistent. Allied planners estimated they would face fewer than a battalion of defenders. The operation, codenamed Cyclone, would require modest forces and minimal amphibious shipping -- a resource the Allies were desperately short of in mid-1944. What the planners did not fully account for was what they would find after the fighting stopped: the remains of a forced labor system that had consumed thousands of Indonesian civilians to build the very runways the Allies now wanted.

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: The Runways Built by Hand https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. The Japanese occupied Noemfoor in December 1943 and immediately began constructing airfields. Three strips took shape: Kameri on the northwest edge, Kornasoren (also called Yebrurro) toward the north, and Namber on the west coast. The labor came from more than 3,000 Indonesian me...

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-the-runways-built-by-hand.mp3 0:06 2 full The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: Dawn Bombardment https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. At 4:30 on the morning of July 2, 1944, warships from U.S.-Australian Task Forces 74 and 75 opened fire on Noemfoor's defenses. Task Force 74 was commanded by Commodore John Collins, who became the first graduate of the Royal Australian Naval College to command a naval squadron i...

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-dawn-bombardment.mp3 0:06 3 full The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: Paratroopers and Broken Legs https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. The day after the beach landing, 2,000 paratroopers from the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment dropped onto Noemfoor as a precaution against stronger resistance elsewhere on the island. The precaution came at a painful cost. The 1st Battalion jumped first, and several sticks were...

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-paratroopers-and-broken-legs.mp3 0:06 4 full The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: A Colonel's Retreat into the Hills https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. Colonel Suesada Shimizu had arrived on Noemfoor only weeks before the invasion, on June 8, and organized his roughly 2,000 defenders into fourteen strongpoints scattered across the island. The dispersal proved fatal to any coherent defense. When the Allied bombardment shattered h...

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-a-colonels-retreat-into-the-hills.mp3 0:06 5 full The Battle of Noemfoor: Three Airfields and a Forgotten Cost: Stepping Stones to Balikpapan https://qualla.com/battle-of-noemfoor/ Photo credit Public domain. The real prize was never the island itself but what could be launched from it. Namber Airfield proved too rough for Allied use, but engineers expanded Kornasoren into a serious installation. By September 2, two parallel 7,000-foot runways were operational. B-24 Liberator heavy bo...

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]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/q/z/z/f/battle-of-noemfoor-wp/qzzf-the-battle-of-noemfoor-three-airfields-and-a-forgo-stepping-stones-to-balikpapan.mp3 0:06 6 full