Aitape–Wewak campaign

Aitape–Wewak campaign
	Part of World War II, Pacific War
	; Australian infantrymen resting on a river bank before attacking Japanese positions near Matapau in January 1945
Date	November 1944 – August 1945
Location	Aitape/Wewak/Sepik region, Territory of New Guinea
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Australia; United States; United Kingdom;	Japan;
Commanders and leaders
Jack Stevens	Hatazō Adachi
Strength
~13,000 men	~30,000–35,000
Casualties and losses
442 killed in action; 145 dead from other causes; 1,141 wounded;	7,000–9,000 killed in action; 14,000 dead from disease and hunger; 269 captured;

The Aitape–Wewak campaign was one of the final campaigns of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. Between November 1944 and the end of the war in August 1945, the Australian 6th Division, with air and naval support, fought the Imperial Japanese 18th Army in northern New Guinea. Considered a "mopping up" operation by the Australians, and although ultimately successful for them with the Japanese forces cleared from the coastal areas and driven inland, amidst difficult jungle conditions, casualties from combat and disease were high. With Japan on the verge of defeat, such casualties later led to the strategic necessity of the campaign being called into question.

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