Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 2:15PM 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.”
Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 2:14PM Each day more Diggers die at Sanananda as they prise out the remaining Japanese defenders and grant them their death wishes.
This needless loss continues as the Allied leadership insists that the infantry press on with the mopping up instead of starving the defenders in submission. 14 Diggers are killed in action today.
Friday, January 18, 2013 at 9:36AM 24 Diggers are killed in action against the deperate last band of Japanese resistance at Sanananda, inland from the village, in a repulsive surreal sludge of mud, debris and grotesque swollen bodies.
In this nightmare Australians and Americans fall as they work to extinguish an enemy who refuses to surrender and lies patiently in wait determined to kill their hunters with their last breaths.
Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 11:11AM Overnight the 2/9th Battalion under Major Bill Parry-Okeden finds an undefended section of the Sanananda position, pushing through deep swamp which the Japanese thought would have provided a natural barrier.
The Diggers attack at dawn, catching the exhausted defenders totally unaware and quickly overwhelming them. Sanananda finally falls. The Australians find only sick and wounded Japanese. The rest have fled, most to the west where they hope to be evacuated by sea. Some have retreated to Girua to the east
Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 9:05AM A spectacular tropical storm lashes Sanananda, rendering the Allies’ telephone communications useless as it dumps 300mm of torrential rain in 12 hours.
The swamps rise and break the banks of the surrounding creeks and rotting bodies float throughout the Australian positions.
Those Japanese healthy enough to make the move, take advantage of the storm and slip away to join their retreating comrades to the west.