Qualla: Landing on Long Island

Landing on Long Island: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The men of Company D, Shore Battalion, 592nd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment had their Christmas dinner of roast turkey on 25 December 1943 at Finschhafen, then at 14:15 boarded landing craft for the 105-mile run north to an island they had been told might or might not be held by the Japanese. The island itself was stranger than most maps suggested. Long Island is a collapsed volcanic caldera about fourteen miles across, its interior nearly filled by Lake Wisdom - a freshwater lake five hundred feet above the sea, with an active volcanic cone rising from its center. When the first wave came ashore at Malala village at 02:00 on 26 December, wet from capsized rubber boats, there was no one waiting to shoot at them. The Japanese garrison had already left. What followed was one of the quietest amphibious landings of the Pacific War, and, for a few weeks, the furthest Allied advance into enemy-held territory.

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla

Landing on Long Island: The Island and Its Lake

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Long Island sits at the northern end of the Vitiaz Strait - roughly circular, about 14 miles in diameter, 160 square miles of rainforest and volcanic rock. Two peaks rise from its rim: Mount Reamur in the north at 4,278 feet, and Cerisy Peak in the south at 3,727 feet. Between th...

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla

Landing on Long Island: Why Long Island Mattered

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Long Island mattered because of what passed around it. Japanese barges carrying troops and supplies from Rabaul to the New Guinea fighting fronts used the island as a staging point, anchoring in its sheltered bays during daylight hours and running again by night. Allied commander...

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla

Landing on Long Island: The Plan and the Christmas Dinner

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 22 December 1943, Lieutenant General Walter Krueger, commander of Alamo Force, issued Field Order No. 8, directing the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade to seize Long Island. The operation was codenamed Sanatogen and was timed to coincide with the landings at Cape Gloucester on New...

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla

Landing on Long Island: A Landing Without Shots

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Three PT boats carrying 90 men of Company D set out from Finschhafen at 18:00 on Christmas Day. The landing craft - three LCVPs and five LCMs - had set out at 14:15 and were making their slower way along the coast in broad daylight, unmolested by Japanese aircraft. The PT boats o...

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla

Landing on Long Island: A Radar on a Hilltop, and a Quiet War

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 27 December the Australians moved their radar equipment to a 150-foot hilltop on the east coast, towing 1,700-pound generators on sleds up the ridge. The equipment, briefly dunked in salt water on arrival, now had to contend with heat, humidity, and a wet season that was just ...

Read more: Landing on Long Island on Qualla