page_title: Landing at Saidor
section_title: Base development
hierarchical_section_title: Landing at Saidor / Base development
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Troupes du génie de l'US Army près de Saidor English: US Army engineers from the 114th Engineer Battalion, Saidor, January 1944
context_page_description: The Landing at Saidor was an Allied amphibious landing at Saidor, Papua New Guinea on 2 January 1944 as part of Operation Dexterity during World War II. In Allied hands, Saidor was a stepping stone towards Madang, the ultimate objective of General Douglas MacArthur's Huon Peninsula campaign. The capture of the airstrip at Saidor also allowed construction of an airbase to assist Allied air forces to conduct operations against Japanese bases at Wewak and Hollandia. But MacArthur's immediate objective was to cut off the 6,000 Imperial Japanese troops retreating from Sio in the face of the Australian advance from Finschhafen.
  Following the landing at Saidor, the Japanese elected to retreat rather than fight, and withdrew over the foothills of the rugged Finisterre Range. For the Japanese soldiers involved, the march was a nightmare, as they struggled through the jungles, across the swollen rivers, and over cliffs and mountains. Men succumbed to fatigue, disease, starvation, drowning, and even exposure, the nights in the Finisterres being bitterly cold.
context_section_description: With a large construction programme, engineers made up 29.3% of Michaelmas Task Force. An Engineer Section headquarters was organised on 24 December 1943, only nine days before landing, consisting of five officers and five enlisted men. Later a jeep and a driver were borrowed from the 114th Engineer Battalion to provide transportation. The officers did not know each other and therefore were unaware of each other's capabilities. As it turned out, none of them had experience with amphibious operations, and only one had experience in airbase construction, although this was to be their most important task.
  Saidor had an existing grass civilian airstrip. Before they had abandoned it in 1942, Australian troops had sabotaged the airstrip by digging trenches across the runway. These were quickly filled in, and the overgrown Kunai grass was flattened by driving 2½-ton trucks over it. By the afternoon of 4 January, 1,800 feet (550 m) of runway was ready for use. A Piper Cub took off from it the next day.  The 863rd Engineer Aviation Battalion arrived on 9 January and improved the strip, permitting twelve C-47 Skytrains loaded with ammunition to land on 11 January. Alamo Force wanted an all-weather runway 6,000 feet (1,800 m) by 100 feet (30 m), preferably where a second, parallel runway could be constructed if need be. Construction of the second runway was requested by the Fifth Air Force on 24 January. The 8th Engineer Squadron survey detachment laid out a new runway oriented about 10° from the existing airstrip.
  The Michaelmas Task Force engineers had the entire site stripped, leaving the subgrade exposed. This was a serious error, as from 10 to 31 January there were only three days during which it did not rain, and 25 inches (640 mm) of rain fell over the period—quite normal for the time of year. As a result, construction was delayed. Gravel was taken from the Nankina River which was laid up to 0.7 feet (0.21 m) deep and topped with crushed aggregate. The rains, and frequent rolling, gave a good water-bound surface. Part was sealed with bitumen but delays caused by the weather prevented it all being sealed before being overlaid with Marston mats. The runway was declared ready for emergency landings on 4 February but the surface deteriorated under use. The runway was finally completed on 6 March. Construction of the taxiways and dispersal areas continued through April, with the airbase being complete and in operation on 7 May.
  On 5 March, the engineers began construction of the bulk petroleum installation. Storage was provided for 20,000  barrels (~2,700 t) of avgas in one 10,000-barrel (~1,400 t) tank and five 2,000-barrel (~270 t) tanks. A fuel jetty was constructed, allowing tankers to discharge into a pipeline which ran over a catwalk to the storage tanks. Work was completed on 8 April. Considerable effort had to be expended on road construction. The 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion had to be assigned to road work, the task being beyond the resources of the Shore Battalion. Gravel was laid up to 2 feet (0.61 m) thick. By late January, the weather and damage to the roads by heavy military traffic forced the engineers to impose a ban on morning road use. By midday the sun had dried out the roads and traffic could resume.
  Initially, the Nankina River could be forded but the heavy seasonal rains turned it into a fast-flowing torrent. A portable bridge was flown in from Milne Bay and erected in a day but it took two weeks to construct the approaches. In the meantime the troops on the other side had to be supplied by water. To open up the most suitable area for camp sites, another bridge had to be erected over the Nakina. This was a permanent bridge with concrete abutments. A rise in the river level of 8 feet (2.4 m) complicated work, but the 112-foot (34 m) bridge opened to traffic on 17 February.
  Local labour was supplied by an Australian New Guinea Administrative Unit (ANGAU) detachment, initially consisting of eight Australian Army officers and eleven native police. A week after the landing, 199 native labourers were brought 
caption: Engineers attempt to keep a road passable
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