General Hatazo Adachi was in a trap. Since General MacArthur's leapfrog landings along the New Guinea coast at Aitape and Hollandia last April 22, his Eighteenth Army had been hemmed between the sea to the north, Australians to the east, mountains to the south and Americans to the west. Adachi had seen his force dwindle from 60,000 to 45,000 (round numbers estimated at General MacArthur's headquarters), as a result of daily bombings and disease hastened by hunger.
There was no room for Adachi to maneuver in the 7-mile-wide corridor of swamp and jungle. But anything was better than death by stagnation....
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