Lat 2° 34' 0S Long 150° 48' 0E  Located at the western tip of New Ireland. Ofshore is Kavieng Harbor and Nusa Island.

History
Located on the east coast of New Ireland, the town was first settled by the German administration established a network of fine roads. A small Australian Imperial Force, No 3 Section and a small force about 250 commandos of the 1st Independent Company arrived in July 1941.  As the threat of war seemed imminent, white women and children were evacuated on Christmas, 1941 with only a few opting to stay behind to destroy installations. Most Australians were evacuated the town on the night of January 21/22 at 2230. Others planned to escape on small ships including Navanor and Shamrock.

Japanese Occupation
A Japanese landing force from Truk arrived to occupy the town on January 23-24 1942 while other forces simultaneously occupied Rabaul. Facing virtually no opposition, the Mai No 2 Special Infantry was transported to New Hanover, Mussau and Emirau looking for Allied forces but found no oppositions, returning to Rabaul in mid-January. Many Japanese veterans recalled the location as: "That it is a beautiful place as the heaven." the kanji KA-BI-EN meant "excellent-beautiful-garden".

American plans originally called for a land invasion of Kavieng, but on March 12, 1944 the Joint Chiefs canceled the scheduled invasion, as part of the island hopping strategy to bypass the heavily fortified area and liberated Hollandia and Emirau instead. Allied bombing had neutralized the base and cut it off from the air and sea.

Don Fetterly adds:
"There are still bomb craters in Kavieng township itself and one can look and imagine the B-25 staffers coming along the sea front and pounding away at anything that moves. I have with me some very good war time maps of Kavieng and these will help me to trace the gun pits and taxi ways along the airfield."

Japanese & American Missions Against Kavieng
January 21, 1942 - April 8, 1944

Kavieng Airfield
Built by the Australians prior to the war, occupied by the Japanese until the end of the war.

Japanese Pillar (13th Aerial Torpedo Adjustment)
Located in the tourism office in Kavieng.  Thanks to Harumi Sakaguchi for this description: The unit which raised the pillar to commemorate its presence was from the '13th Aerial Torpedo Adjustment Squadron', based in Kavieng. Theirs was one of the units specialized in adjusting the aerial torpedoes used by the bombers of the Japanese naval air force based in Rabaul and in Kavieng. Identifying the pillar required search and review of source materials in Tokyo as well as request for information by correspondence.

Chinatown
Prewar Chinese quarter of Kavieng township.

B-25G Mitchell 42-64873
Pilot Difilippo crashed February 15, 1944

Japanese Naval Guns & Fortifications
Japanese Naval guns hidden in the jungle near the coast a few kilometers from Kavieng. Also, there are a number of bunkers, pillboxes near the modern golf course.

Kavieng Warph
The order to kill all the European prisoners in Kavieng if an imminent invasion by Allied forces was expected, was given by Rear Admiral Ryukichi Tamura, commander at Kavieng. Sometime in early 1944, (possibly late February or mid-March 1944) at least 25 unnamed Australian civilians were murdered on the Kavieng wharf. At dusk they were led, blindfold, one at a time, from the road to the edge of the wharf and garroted with wire, including 14 year old David Topal. The bodies were put in two small barges, with concrete blocks tied to their feet, and thrown overboard between Nago and Edmago islands.

After the war, Admiral Tamura went on trial with five of his subordinates in 1947 in Hong Kong. he law for War Crimes permitted only British deaths to be prosecuted and the others, some German priests and other non British civilians were not mentioned. While many of the names can be guessed at, it is not known exactly who died on the day.

References
The Japanese Invasion of New Ireland by Jim Ridges

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Last Updated
December 17, 2008