An Australian infantry commander impatiently signaled a force of Flying Fortresses which were dropping their eggs on Lae. "Forward troops are at the outskirts of Lae. I am prevented from entering by the Fifth Army Air Force." The Fortresses retired, leaving Lae a shambles, leveled by twelve days of concentrated bombing, shelling and machine-gunning. The Diggers swept in. Lae was in the hands of the Allies.
Most of the Japs had gone. Some 20,000 were originally reported to have been surrounded in the Salamaua-Lae area. Some of them had fled into the jungle, where a few were tracked down and...