Qualla: Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns

Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. The valley opens so wide that men standing on its grass seem to disappear against the surrounding walls of mountain. The Markham Valley runs more than two hundred kilometres inland from Lae, a corridor of kunai grass and meandering river, and at its head it narrows into the steeper Ramu before climbing into the Finisterres. In September 1943, Australian soldiers began walking that corridor. Seven months later, on 24 April 1944, they reached the sea again at Madang. Between those dates lay one of the longest sustained advances of the Pacific war, fought across country that would defeat most armies before the enemy ever fired a shot.

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Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: After Lae

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. The campaign began because Lae had fallen faster than anyone expected. Major General George Vasey's 7th Division, dropping in at Nadzab and pushing down the valley, met Major General George Wootten's 9th Division coming from the coast. The pincer closed on 16 September 1943, but ...

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Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: Airfields and Intentions

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. The prize at the end of the valley was not a town. It was a line of airstrips. Control the Ramu Valley and you could build bases at Gusap from which Allied aircraft could reach the great Japanese anchorages at Wewak and beyond. The 7th Division spent much of the autumn building a...

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Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: Into the Finisterres

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. The fighting in October around Palliser's Hill and John's Knoll was only the beginning. When Brigadier Ivan Dougherty's 21st Brigade pushed onto John's Knoll, a single understrength platoon held off three companies of Japanese infantry supported by artillery and heavy machine gun...

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Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: Two Arms Closing

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. While Vasey's men fought in the mountains, an American force had been grinding along the coast. On 2 January 1944, the US 32nd Infantry Division had landed at Saidor, cutting the coastal track behind the retreating Japanese. What followed was a double squeeze: Australians pressin...

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Markham, Ramu and Finisterre Campaigns: What Remains

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Public domain. The Australian Army later awarded battle honours for the campaign: Ramu Valley, Shaggy Ridge, Finisterres, Barum, Bogadjim, and Madang. Six names for seven months of mountain climbing under fire. Flying over the area now, the corridor is still obvious from altitude, a long green ...

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