Military history buffs may be interested in a few things I
came across in Madang and its environs.
The northern part of what is now Papua New Guinea was originally one of
the few German colonies in the world.
After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles gave it to the
Australians and, for a while during World War II, the
Japanese occupied this area.
In the
village of Alexishafen, about 15 miles north of Madang (and the subject of some
serious Allied bombing), the rusted remnant of what locals assume is a Japanese tank (though, at a glance, what is left of it resembles a US-built Sherman) sits quietly by
the waterfront. There is no marker, no
plaque, no museum. It is just
there. And in Madang itself, a
lighthouse memorial has been constructed in honor of the “Coastwatchers” –
Aussies and locals left behind enemy lines who were able to report out to the
Allies on troop and ship movements. A separate
marker denotes the day in 1944 when the Australian Army re-took the town after
a short battle.
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| The remnants of a tank in Alexishafen, PNG. |
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| The Coastwatchers Lighthouse in Madang. |
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