20 January 1943

The senseless slaighter continues again today near Sanananda village as 43 Diggers are killed in action, the second highest daily loss in the campaign. They are killed as they are forced to

Along the coast some of the Japanese commanders commit hara kiri as they realize their hopes of rescue by sea are forlorn. CO of 2/12 Bn Lt Col Arthur Arnold calls it “a scene of mud, fiflth and death.”