NEW BRITAIN
SCENE OF RECENT LANDING RUGGED INTERIOR. MUCH OF ISLAND UNEXPLORED. The importance of New Britain, where Allied forces have made the latest landing in the war against Japan, lies largely with its chief town, Rabaul, where the enemy have developed a most important base for their operations in New Guinea and the Solomons, New Britain itself is a narrow, crescent-shaped island 370 miles in length, with a mean breadth of 50 miles. Rabaul is right at the northern end and Arawe, where the main landing has been made, is well distant from it, being about threequarters of the way along the coast on the south side. Separating Arawe and all other centres,on the same side of the island from Rabaul and the other coast is a high and very rugged range of mountains that runs from one end of New Britain to the other.. They are highest on the north-west coast, where Mount Ulawun, more commonly known as the Father, rises to 7546 ft. It is an active volcano and near it are two extinct cones, Mount Bamus, or South Son, of 7376 ft., and Likuranga, or North Son, of 3248 ft. FORMIDABLE MOUNTAINS. Partly because of the ranges, much of the interior of the island remains unexplored, although patrols have crossed both at the northern and western extremities of the island, while the tendency of recent years has been to develop roads into the interior as much as possible. However, in the main the best means of reaching one point on the island from another point is by sea or by progression along the coast. The mountains have had their effect upon the choice of dates for the Allied landing. From December to April the north coast, including Rabaul, experiences thick and stormy weather, with mist and low clouds, but for the same period the south coast, including Arawe, is comparatively clear, as the heavy monsoonal rains of this season largely expend themselves in the ranges as they sweep down from the north-west. From May to November this part of the coast receives heavy rains, but at present the rainfall is considerably lighter. New Britain has one of the highest average rainfalls in the South-West Pacific, the figure in some localities being as much as 168 inches. GOOD HARBOUR AT ARAWE. Arawe is one of several good harbours on the south coast, which in this area has deep indentations and many, off-shore islands. Other good anchorages are Linden Harbour and Jacquinot Bay, both well north of Arawe and also north of Gasmata, where the Japanese have a good airfield in spite of the fact that the town is the wettest place in the whole New Guinea Territory, with an average annual rainfall of 250 in, In one year it reached 346 in. There are few rivers of any importance in the Arawe area, most of them being short but rapidly-flowing streams. However, fairly close to Arawe is the Pulie River, which is without a bar and has a depth of 16 to 20ft. at- its mouth and up to 33ft. further inland. It is navigable by small steamers for 12 miles from its mouth. The Pulie ‘is north of Cape Merkus, the most outstanding promontory of the coastal sweep on which Arawe is situated.
Arawe was an important centre of Melanesian mission work, as also was Gasmata, and large areas of the coastal strip on this part are under cultivation, offering very different conditions for the landing forces from those experienced by the Allies in many other areas of the South and South-West Pacific.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1943, Page 4
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597NEW BRITAIN Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1943, Page 4
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