Aitape

Infobox PNG Place
type = town
name = Aitape
othername =
province = wsp
llg =
lang =
langarea =
dot_x = 21
dot_y = 29

---

caption = Aitape from space
pop = 8,000
popdate =
poprank = 21st
est = 1905
postcode =
elevation = 5
coor = coord|3|08|S|142|21|E|region:PG_type:city
maxtemp =
mintemp =
rainfall =
dist1 = 126
location1 = Vanimo
dir1 = ESE
dist2 = 148
location2 = Wewak
dir2 = WNW

Aitape is a small town of about 8,000 people on the north coast of Papua New Guinea in the Sandaun province. It is a coastal settlement that is almost equidistant from the provincial capitals of Wewak and Vanimo, and marks the midpoint of the highway between these two capitals. Aitape was established as a station by German colonists in 1905 as part of German New Guinea. During the Second World War the town was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army.

History

The first Christian missionary arrived in the Aitape area in 1896. It was Societatis Verbi Divini (the Society of the Divine Word) from Germany. By 1914 there were 68 missionaries and 6 new stations established along the coast. The town along with the rest of German New Guinea passed to Australian control after the First World War and became part of the Territory of New Guinea.

econd World War

During the Second World War the town was occupied, along with the rest of the Territory of New Guinea, by the Imperial Japanese Army.

During the recapture American forces bypassed the Japanese 18th Army based at Wewak, taking Aitape on 22 April 1944. A base was developed here and repulsed a major Japanese counter-attack. The Americans were content to hold Aitape and not advance far towards Wewak. There was little or no strategic gain to be had in doing so as the Japanese force based at Wewak no longer posed a real threat – cut off, short of supplies, and weakened from battle and diseases. In mid-1944, General Douglas MacArthur, the American Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces in the South-West Pacific Area, secured an agreement from the Australian government for Australian forces to take over at Aitape.

The Aitape-Wewak campaign was the final Australian military campaign on mainland New Guinea. It ran from November 1944 to the war’s end in August 1945. It was fought by the 6th Division, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) with air and naval support.

Tsunami

In July 1998 the area surrounding the town suffered from an enormous tsunami in which killed over 2,000 people in total. The earthquake, a magnitude 7.0, which triggered the tsunami occurred, just before 7 p.m., on Friday, 17 July 1998, it resulted in a large undersea earth slippage, which then in turn resulted in the tsunami.

The area worst hit was Sissano village about 8 km west of Aitape. The village was situated on a narrow spit between the coast and a large lagoon. It is estimated that waves with an average height of 10.5 metres passed over the spit into the lagoon.http://www.vereinswiki.de/index.php/Gemeinschaft_der_Briefmarkenfreunde_Neuguineas

In Popular Culture

Aitape was the setting for the 2007 film The Condemned, Although the film itself was shot in Queensland.