Vila airfield

The Vila Flugfeld is located on the southeast coast of Kolombangara , an island in the New Georgia Archipelago in the western province of the island state of the Solomon Islands . It was created by the Japanese around mid-December 1942 after the completion of the Munda Point airfield on New Georgia as an alternate airfield during the Pacific War .

The old coconut plantation area of ​​the Lever Brothers near Vila was used for the construction. For this purpose, the Japanese created a runway that was stabilized using crushed corals .

Arthur Reginald Evans, a soldier in the Australian Coast Guard , sat at an observation post not far from the island and gave the Allies constant information about the Japanese movements. They often served to prepare Allied air strikes on the Vila airfield in order to neutralize it as far as possible. From January 28 to March 15, 1943, the United States flew 12 air raids with bombers and fighters . There was also a sea bombardment by the light cruiser USS Nashville on May 11th and 12th.

On May 31, 1943 , the south-east division of the Japanese army under Major General Noboru Sasaki landed on Kolombangara to set up its headquarters there as part of the defense plan of the Central Solomon Islands. The units included the 13th Japanese Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Battalion of the 229th Japanese Infantry, and the 7th Yokosuka Special Sea Landing Force, which was commanded by Koshin Takeda . Other transport destroyers landed on July 13 after the battle of Kolombangara 1,200 men at Vila. This gave the airfield an important role in terms of Japanese supplies .

Kolombangara was initially bypassed during the Allied advance through the Central Solomon Islands. Only after the nearby islands of Arundel and New Georgia had been captured by the Americans did the 25th US Infantry Division land on Kolombangara on September 25, 1943 and sealed off the airfield from the rest of the island. The unit was replaced by another battalion in October. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese left Kolombangara.

At the beginning of 1944, six American soldiers from a pioneer regiment began to set up a farm to raise fresh vegetables and fruit on the airfield together with 16 local residents .

Today, the old airfield is occasionally used as a runway by a local timber company, and aircraft wrecks and Japanese anti-aircraft guns from World War II can still be seen in the surrounding forests .

Coordinates: 8 ° 7 ′ 50 ″  S , 157 ° 8 ′ 35 ″  E