history · 02 February 1942 · 82 years ago
Major General Tomitaro Horii ordered Lieutenant Colonel Masao Kuwada of Japanese 3rd Battalion to pursue Australian troops who had previously fled into the jungles of southern Gazelle Peninsula on New Britain; Kuwada delegated the task to Lieutenant Tadaichi Noda. After sundown, six Japanese flying boats were launched from Rabaul to attack Port Moresby in British Territory of Papua; they would arrive over the Seven Mile airfield on the next date.
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