[4][5] Operations Reckless and Persecution were supported by 217 ships, along with almost 23,000 personnel of all types of service units, to transport and protect the 52,000 men, their equipment, and supplies over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) to conduct the separate amphibious landings at Aitape and Hollandia deep in Japanese territory.

[8][9] A naval bombardment, carried out by Task Force 58 led by Vice Admiral M. A. Mitscher, struck Japanese facilities at Sawar, Wadke Island, Hollandia and Sarmi on 21 and 22 April.

Naval gunfire support in the immediate vicinity of the landing beaches was provided by a force of five destroyers, nine high-speed transports and one Liberty Ship.

[18] Two battalions of the 163rd Regimental Combat Team landed in nine waves against only light opposition Initially, the only resistance they encountered from consisted of only a few rifle shots, with most Japanese defenders fleeing into the hills as the overwhelming force continued to arrive.

62 Works Wing of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) went ashore on the morning of 22 April to help secure and repair Tadji Airfield.

[19] While securing areas westward of the airfield strip, the 163d Infantry Regiment did not encounter much resistance, only suffering two casualties, one man wounded and another missing.

[22] The following day on 24 April, infantry and tanks proceeded further west, crossed the Raihu river without much resistance, reaching Aitap town and Rohm Point, which had been hastily abandoned by their Japanese defenders.

On 28 and 29 April, upon reaching Kamti village, around present day Paiawa, members of the 3rd Battalion encountered the only signs of organized Japanese resistance found in the Aitape area to 4 May.

On 30 April the men at Kamti withdrew while Battery A, 126th Field Artillery Battalion, fired 240 rounds of 105 mm ammunition into the village and its environs.

[27] The landings at Aitape, along those of Hollandia, effectively contributed to strengthening the Allied push toward western New Guinea and the Philippines, while successfully bypassing and cutting off large Japanese forces at Wewak.

[30] Elements of the Japanese 20th Division started digging in between Babiang and the Danmap River around Suain during early May in order to slow down or stop a potential American push eastward.

78 Wing, Royal Australian Air Force, now based at Taji Airfield bombed and strafed Japanese positions east of Babiang.

[36] Eventually, they made a last attempt at delaying the Japanese at Yakumol on 4 June, before being compelled to retreat by sea the following night under constant artillery shelling, relocating on a defensive line along the west bank of the Driniumor River.

[38] Those constant and well organized attacks, along with intelligence provided by documents captured by AIB patrols at the end of May, indicated that the Japanese 18th Army, using 20th and 41st Divisions based at Wewak and its surroundings, were preparing something much bigger.

[39] Having broken Japanese codes earlier in the war, they found out that Adachi planned to retake Tadji Airfield, in order to delay the American forces push toward Western New Guinea and the Philippines.