Buna
This is the infamous beach at Gona where the Japanese forces were pushed back to the sea and defeated with heavy casualties to both sides, in addition to the effects of malaria and tropical disease. This campaign marked US forces joining the fight with Australians. It also marked stiff Japanese defenses from bunkers and pillboxes that had to be eliminated at close range.

A little known fact was that the Japanese had an airstrip at Gona. The area is pot marked by bomb craters and the remains of overgrown trenches and bunkers are everywhere. This photo show John Douglas and the group at a Japanese Antitank Gun, with an ammunition crate next to it. This particular gun was responsible for destroying several tanks. It is remarkable that it still standing where the war left it.

Wrecked on the strip are the badly destroyed remains of several twin engine Japanese bomber. Michael Claringbould identified these planes as G3M Nell bombers that were destroyed by air raid and burned.

The wreckage and the pot marked landscape immediately brings one back to the intense fighting that happened here. Although there is no jungle, the tall grass and inescapable heat of the sun made fighting equally dangerous.

Another unknown fact was that several Zeros were captured intact from this strip, and were transported to the beach where they were shipped to Australia for technical evaluation at Eagle Farm, Brisbane Australia. This twisted bit of wreckage that of another Zero that was recently discovered. It is in very poor condition, but none the less is full of history.

After a full day of wreck hunting, we paused for a fresh coconut and bully beef cracker break, during the heat of the afternoon sun.

Return Popondetta | Main Page