Ballalae
| Ballalae | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Waters | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago | Shortland Islands |
| Geographical location | 6 ° 59 '29 " S , 155 ° 53' 9" E |
 |
|
| length | 2 km |
| width | 1.4 km |
| surface | 2 km² |
| Residents | uninhabited |
Ballalae (also called Balalae Island or Ballale ) is a small uninhabited island in the northwest of the island state of the Solomon Islands . The island belongs to the Shortland Islands and is located around 5 km northeast of Alu ( Shortland Island ) and 15 km west of the island of Fauro .
On the approximately 2 km² large island there is an airfield ( Balalae Airport ), which was built in the Second World War from November 1942 to January 1943 by the Japanese naval forces with the use of 517 British prisoners of war. Most of these prisoners were killed in US air strikes during the Pacific War or were murdered during the retreat of Japanese soldiers in late 1943. The remains of 436 Britons were discovered in a mass grave in November 1945 and reburied in Port Moresby , the remaining 81 could not be found and are considered missing.
Web links
- Pacific Wrecks - Ballale Iceland (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://pacificwrecks.com/airfields/solomons/ballale/
- ↑ Dave McDonald: Betty's Last Battle. In: Flugzeug Classic , yearbook 2020, GeraMond, Munich, ISSN 1617-0725, pp. 74/75.