Qualla: Battle of Wakde https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde 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/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Wakde https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde Battle of Wakde: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit Public domain. The island is small enough that you could walk across it during a coffee break - 1.5 miles long, 3,000 feet wide at its thickest point, flat as a coral table. It sits two miles off the north coast of what was then Dutch New Guinea, surrounded by reef. In peacetime Wakde - known to locals as Insoemoar - would have been a nearly anonymous speck. But in May 1944, on an island that small, the Japanese Army had built an airstrip, placed over 100 bunkers, dug in 800 defenders, and turned every coral cave on the coastline into a firing position. For three days, American soldiers crossed the channel and fought their way across the island foot by foot. The battle ended with 759 Japanese dead, 40 Americans killed, 107 wounded, and an airfield that would launch the bombers for the next stage of the Pacific war.

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Image: Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Wakde: Why a Speck Mattered https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit W. T. Anderson, CC BY-SA 4.0. General Douglas MacArthur's original plan called for taking Sarmi, a town on the mainland. Aerial reconnaissance changed his mind: Sarmi could not support heavy bombers. Wakde could. More specifically, once its coral strip was extended, Wakde would put American B-24s within range...

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Image: W. T. Anderson | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-why-a-speck-mattered.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Wakde: A Three-Phase Plan https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit U.S. Army Center of Military History, Public domain. The beach frontage on Wakde was too narrow to land a full regimental combat team at once, so planners broke the operation into three phases. Phase one put three battalions of the 163rd Regimental Combat Team - about 7,800 men total under Brigadier General Jens A. Doe - onto the m...

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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/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-a-three-phase-plan.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Wakde: The Crossing https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit Signal Corps Archive from Ireland and United States, Public domain. On the morning of 18 May, three companies from the 1st Battalion plus Company F from the 2nd Battalion loaded into LCVPs crewed by engineers from the 542nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment. Four Sherman tanks from the 603rd Tank Company followed in LCMs. The destroyers Wilkes and...

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Image: Signal Corps Archive from Ireland and United States | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-the-crossing.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Wakde: Three Days and Coral Caves https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit Signal Corps Archive from Ireland and United States, Public domain. The 1st Battalion dug in at 18:00 on 18 May. That night, a small group of Japanese soldiers attacked the American command post; Company D repelled the assault, killing twelve attackers at a cost of three Americans wounded. The next morning at 09:15 the advance resumed. By day's e...

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Image: Signal Corps Archive from Ireland and United States | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-three-days-and-coral-caves.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Wakde: The Mainland Kept Fighting https://qualla.com/battle-of-wakde/ Photo credit Robert Ross Smith, CC BY-SA 2.5. Capturing Wakde did not end the campaign. Fighting on the New Guinea mainland continued until early September as American troops pushed west along the coast toward Sarmi, trying to clear Maffin Bay and take the airfield at Sawar. Japanese defenders held strong positions in the Tr...

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Image: Robert Ross Smith | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/r/p/d/v/battle-of-wakde-wp/rpdv-battle-of-wakde-the-mainland-kept-fighting.mp3 0:06 6 full