22 APRIL 1944 – BATTLE OF AITAPE BEGINS

22 APRIL 1944 – BATTLE OF AITAPE BEGINS

In a supporting effort for the assault on Hollandia (Operation RECKLESS), a task force spearheaded by the 163rd Regimental Combat Team of the 41st Infantry Division simultaneously invaded Aitape on New Guinea’s north coast, securing an important airbase for the campaigns to come.

U.S. Army General Douglas MacArthur’s bold plan for Operation RECKLESS would take the American forces attacking Hollandia outside the range of supporting Allied land-based aircraft; with U.S. Navy carrier-based aircraft cover a rare and precious commodity, General MacArthur sought to seize a closer airbase.

MacArthur elected to attack Aitape, a coastal Japanese base and airdrome about 140 miles east of Hollandia, in an assault codenamed Operation PERSECUTION. 

On 22 April 1944, as the 24th Infantry Division and the rest of the 41st Infantry Division attacked Hollandia, the 41st Infantry Division’s 163rd Regimental Combat Team waded ashore unopposed at Aitape.

The ill-prepared Japanese garrison fled into the jungle, driven away from Aitape by an effective naval bombardment and the oncoming American infantrymen. 

Within days, Allied engineers repaired, expanded, and upgraded the existing airdrome at Aitape into a major facility for Allied aircraft, and the 32nd Infantry Division landed in early May to relieve the 163rd Regimental Combat Team.

Aitape subsequently became the target of Japanese counteroffensives in the summer of 1944; the Allies stubbornly resisted these Japanese attacks, holding onto Aitape and its critical airbase.