The Battle of Finschhafen was part of the Huon Peninsula campaign

Huon Peninsula campaign

The Huon Peninsula campaign was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of the Second World War. Australian forces assaulted Japanese bases on the Huon Peninsula....

 during the Second World War between September and October 1943 between Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n and Japanese

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 forces. The operation to capture Finschhafen

Finschhafen

Finschhafen is a district on the northeast coast of the Morobe province of Papua New Guinea. It is named after the port of the same name.The port was discovered in 1884 by the German researcher Otto Finsch. In 1885 the German colony of German New Guinea created a town on the site and named it...

 was important to capture the western cape of the Vitiaz Strait

Vitiaz Strait

Vitiaz Strait is a strait between New Britain and the Huon Peninsula, northern New Guinea .The Vitiaz Strait was so named by Nicholai Nicholaievich Mikluho-Maklai to commemorate the Russian corvette Vitiaz in which he sailed from October 1870 by way of South America and the Pacific Islands reaching...

 for the construction of airfields and naval facilities for the upcoming New Britain campaign as part of Operation Cartwheel

Operation Cartwheel

Operation Cartwheel was a major military strategy for the Allies in the Pacific theater of World War II. Cartwheel was a twin-axis of advance operation, aimed at militarily neutralizing the major Japanese base at Rabaul...

.

Backgorund

Finschhafen was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army on 10 March 1942. Following the landing at Nadzab

Landing at Nadzab

The Landing at Nadzab was an airborne landing on 5 September 1943 during the New Guinea campaign of World War II that began with a parachute drop at Nadzab in conjunction with the Landing at Lae....

 and capture of Lae

Landing at Lae

The Landing at Lae was an amphibous landing, as part of ', to the east of Lae in the Salamaua-Lae campaign of World War II between 4–6 September 1943....

, the Allies attempted to exploit their success with an advance to Finschhafen to begin the Huon Peninsula campaign

Huon Peninsula campaign

The Huon Peninsula campaign was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of the Second World War. Australian forces assaulted Japanese bases on the Huon Peninsula....

.