9 January 1943

US commander at Sanananda, General Eichelberger is ropeable at MacArthur’s claim of victory at Sananada. He knows the final battle for Sanananda, the last major assault in the Papuan campaign, is a few days away.

More importantly, he knows that many more fine soldiers – Australian, American, Papuan and Japanese – are still to sacrifice their lives or their health.

Eichelberger would later describe the battles as the bitterest kind of “siege warfare”, which had to be fought until there was not one Japanese soldier “capable of lifting a rifle.”