Lat 8° 35' 60S Long 148° 16' 0E  Coastal area connected by a trails from Soputa.  Several natural swamps limit the routes of aporach by land.

History
Buna-Gona-Sananada Timeline Occupied by the Japanese after their occupation of Gona.  The Japanese constructed a system of strong defenses including bunkers, machine guns and and snipers along a 20km beachhead spanning from Gona, Sanananda and Buna. 

Japanese forces included 1/14th Battalion and a compnay of 111/41st Battalion, 15th Independent Engineers and about 700 Formosan Naval laborers, mountain gunners and some anti-aircraft gunners commanded by General Yokomata who transfered here after the fall of Gona.  After the Australian liberation of Gona, the Allies began moving on Sanananda, meeting stiff resistance. On December 28th Japanese commander Yokomata was ordered to transfer his remaining troops from Gona to Sanananda.

The Reduction of Sananada
On November 28, 1942, US Army 32nd Infantry Division arrive on the Sanananda from Wairopi. A roadblock was established outside Sananada, and barely held against stuff Japanese resistance. After the fall of Buna US forces of the 128th Infantry Regiment attacked begining on January 5, 1943 northwest along the coast toward Tarakena as preliminary moves for an all-out assault on Sanananda. Australian forces with three Stuart tanks M3A1 2561, M3A1 2565 and M3A1 (Hull Unknown) advanced from the south through a swampy area. This was the last battle where enemy fire was encountered by Stuarts in the Gona-Buna-Sanananda area.

The main Japanese garrison was evacuated by ship at night to Guadalcanal. By January 13th, only pockets of resistance were being enveloped and destroyed with resistance ending on the 22nd. In the end, 600 Australians, 274 Americans and over 1,600 Japanese were killed in action.

American Missions Against Sanananda
September 5, 1942 - January 13, 1943

Today
The orginal coastline is now located behind a strip of land created by tidal action and ash deposited by the 1951 erruption of Mount Lamington.

Huggins Road Block (Road Block)
A road block was established on November 30, 1942 at the junctions of the Soputa and Sanananda Tracks in front of Japanese forces to prevent them from advancing.  The road block remained precarious in early December with Japanese counter attacks against all sides and hold off US reinforcements. American forces were also unable to make progress against the Japanese. A memorial was errected at this location in April 1992 which reads:

Wirraway A20-492
Pilot Hart shot downJanuary 17, 1943

Japanese Memorial A simple Japanese memorial plaque errected across from the Huggins Road Block Memorial.  A display of several Japanese wartime helmets and relics are placed nearby. It is possible this memorial is located at the site of the wartime Japanese cemetery. The plaque reads: "The war dead from Kochi-ken lies here. 1974, July Govenor of Kochi, Kochi-ken, Masumi Mizobuchi, representative of bereaved New Guinea society"

White Tree Camp Large white colored tree that exisited next to the Australian camp site.

Sanananda Memorial Plaque Brass battlefield history plaque written in English and Tok Pidgin, dedicated in 1994.

Sanananda 53, 55, 53/53 Memorial The plaque reads: "To the memory of the 161 members of the 53, 55, 55/53rd Australian Infantry Battalion (A.I.F) who gave their lives in Papua New Guinea 1942-1945.

Diahatsu Barges The remains of at least five Japanese Diahatsu landing barges are present along the old coastline of Sanananda. Not much remains of most of them, covered over with sand and heavily rusted. They remained relativily intact into the early 1970s. Today, only rusted remains are visible in the water at low tides. Several pieces, armor plating and ramp wheel are displayed in Girewo village.

Girewo Village This village did not exisit during the war, and is built on the spit of 'new' land created by wave action and deposits from the Mt. Lamington eruption in 1951, just to the north of Sanananda. The village has a guest house and the first war museum of relics collected from the Sanananda area.

Sanananda War Museum (Girewo Village) Displayed in three huts divided into sections for  the Australian, American and Japanese. The collection includes a wide variety of bullets, munitions, water bottles, mess tins and other assorted relics.  In addition, supplies from a Japanese communication and hospital site at Sanananda. Also, several infantry guns and other weapons.

Girewo Guest House
P.O. Box 436
Popondetta, Oro Province, PNG
Lynn, Rose, Justin, George

Cape Killerton
Lat 8 37 S Long 148 20 E  Located to the west of Sanananda, about 6.5 miles north-west of Cape Endiaadere. Cape Killerton is the nearest anchorage to Popondetta, 11 miles inland.

B-26 Marauder Serial Number 40-1406
Pilot McGlasson crashed September 12, 1943