Devoir de Philosophie

Biak Island, Battle of

Publié le 22/02/2012

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During the New Guinea Campaign, elements of the 41st U.S. Division under Maj. Gen. Horace Fuller landed on Biak (an island off the northern coast of Dutch New Guinea) on May 27, 1944. Their objective was to take this important Japanese air base and seize it for basing U.S. aircraft to support the campaign to retake the Philippines. The Japanese garrison of 11,400 made a typically tenacious stand and, despite a U.S. naval cordon around the island, managed to land 1,200 reinforcements. The rugged terrain of the island favored the defenders. Anticipating little resistance on Biak, the often impetuous Gen. Douglas MacArthur had prematurely announced victory on the island when he learned that Biak had yet to be taken. Embarrassed and also deeply dissatisfied with the slow progress of the American advance on Biak, MacArthur relieved Fuller and replaced him with Lt. Gen. Robert Lawrence Eichelberger on June 14. Under new leadership, the 41st Division began quickly rolling up the defenders, except for holdouts at Ibdi (the so-called Ibdi Pocket), who held off the attackers until July 28. Although victory was now announced again, mop-up operations continued on Biak until August 17. American forces lost 400 killed and 2,000 wounded, with another 7,000 disabled by endemic tropical diseases, including typhus and a fever of mysterious origin that was never identified. Japanese losses exceeded 5,000 killed. Some 800 were taken prisoner. Others slipped off into the dense jungle, and a very few holdouts continued to resist as late as January 1945.

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