This area heavily fortified by Japanese Army troops was choosen to be bypassed, in favor of a landing further west at Atapie and Hollandia (Jayapura) in Irian Jaya. Wewak, and its airfield complexes were left to 'wither on a vine', where entrenced Japanese held out until the end of the war, cut off from their supplies or any hope of reinforcement or escape. Wewak was the target of many Allied bombing missions to reduce it, and in the last months of the war was a battle ground for Japanese and Australian ground forces.