Us Official Photographs

Japanese freighter off Vunapope

Aden Maru class freighter, it is 385 feet long. The typical collection of Jap supplies on the beach includes small arms ammunition or canned foods (1); long wire-bound cases, possibly containing machine parts or hardware (2); tarpaulin-covered stores, probably perishable (3); oil drums (4); cloth sacks, containing about 100 pounds of perishable goods, possibly rice (5); small boxes (6). Note strafing fire (lower left), the trucks between (5) and (6), the road back of (1) and (2). The evenly spaced trees of the coconut plantation form a pattern that might appeal to a South Seas Grant Wood. JAP SUPPLY DUMP - A 5,800 ton Jap freighter, 385 feet long, lies on the bottom off a beach at Vunapope, south of Rabaul on New Britain Island. Jap supplies, piled on the beach, include food and ammunition. The evenly spaced trees of the coconut plantation form an interesting background for this "impromptu supply dump", one of several used by the Japs since Simpson Harbor at Rabaul has been made untenable by constant bombings by Allied war planes.