At dawn, Japanese warships bombarded the invasion beaches at Lae and Salamaua on eastern New Guinea island; the few defending Australian troops of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles fled into the jungle without putting up an opposition to the subsequent troop landing. At 1200 hours, 5 Hudson bombers attacked Japanese shipping in Huon harbor, lightly damaging transport Yokohama Maru. Later on the same day, B-17 bombers from Horn Island at the tip of Queensland, Australia attacked Japanese positions at Lae and Salamaua, damaging two hangars at the airstrip at the latter location.
