Hansa Bay is a bay located on the north coast of

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

, in

Madang Province Madang is a province of Papua New Guinea. The province is on the northern coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and has many of the country's highest peaks, active volcanoes and its biggest mix of languages. The capital is the town of Madang. ...

, between

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

and

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. ...

, northeast of Bogia.

World War II history

During the New Guinea campaign, Hansa Bay was a major

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

naval base A naval base, navy base, or military port is a military base, where warships and naval ships are docked when they have no mission at sea or need to restock. Ships may also undergo repairs. Some naval bases are temporary homes to aircraft that u ...

and transit station, between the Wewak region and south eastern bases. The

airfields An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...

and

encampment Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

s of

Awar Awar ( ar-at, اعور) is one of the five sons of Iblis, mentioned by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj. He is a devil who encourages debauchery. His four brothers are named: Dasim (داسم), Zalambur (زلنبور), Sut In Islamic demonology, Sut (مس� ...

and

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

were also located nearby On 12 June 1944 the Australian 35th Battalion reached Hansa Bay, pushing inland to the

Sepik River The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

. The abandonment of Japanese stores made it one of the largest arms dumps captured in the New Guinea campaign to that date. The extensive number of marine and aircraft engagements in the area during World War II, resulted in many wrecks, which are still to be found. These include approximately 35 shipwrecks, which are popular with recreational divers. Wrecks in the area include: * : United States Navy motor torpedo boat * ''Sydney Maru'' (also known as (''Shishi Maru''): an Imperial Japanese Navy cargo ship) *a B-25D Mitchell (serial number 41-30345 tail "Y")

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

bomber *a B-24J-35 (serial number 42-73338) USAAF bomber *a

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...

USAAF fighter

References

*
Intelligence and Military Operations
' by Michael I.(ed.) Handel at

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

Chapter VI - The Westward Drive Along New Guinea
from Reports of

General MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American military leader who served as General of the Army for the United States, as well as a field marshal to the Philippine Army. He had served with distinction in World War I, was C ...

The Campaigns of Gen. MacArthur in the Pacific – Vol. 1 *
A Chronology of Australian Armed Forces at War 1939-45
' by Bruce T. Swain at

Papua New Guinea in World War II Madang Province South West Pacific theatre of World War II {{WWII-battle-stub

World War II history

See also

References