The Island of New Britain is PNG's largest offshore island and is the most volcanically active area of Papua New Guinea. In September of 1995, the capital city of Rabul was nearly wiped off the map as volcanic ash from nearby Mt Tavurvur buried the city. During WWII, this island was occupied by the Japanese and a major supply base was established in city of Rabul. The Allies dropped over 20,000 tons of bombs on the island keeping it from being a viable supply base. However, at one time nearly 97,000 Japanese troops were stationed on the island as well as thousands of POW's. The Japanese dug an amazing 170 kilometers of tunnels during their occupation of the island. To avoid a costly battle to overtake the island, the Allies simply elected to bypass it and keep the Japanese pinned down through repeated bombings.
New Tribes Mission has a supply base in the town of Hoskins... just above and to the right of Kimbe on the above map. This is where the Bittners (Chris Bittner is the one who made this interactive map and gave me permission to reproduce it on my site) will be going initially for national language schooling and field orientation. At that point, they will begin to consider what ministry the Lord would have them to be involved in. The supply base at Hoskins supplies all the tribal church planting works in the entire Islands Region...the offshore islands of PNG. In all, the base supplies 22 tribal church planting missionsry teams on New Britain and many of the smaller surrounding islands. The ministry they take will be somewhat dependent upon the pressing needs in the Islands Region at the time we arrive. In addition to the 22 NTM works, there are still 110 tribal groups in the Islands Region who have never heard the Good News of the Gospel. How will they hear without a preacher?? Romans 10:14
Rabul's Simpson Harbor 1943
Although somewhat hard to see, this picture shows Japanese warships frantically fleeing for the open sea in November of 1943 as Allied aircraft carry out a bombing run from the carriers Saratoga and Princeton. Over 50 Japanese ships were sunk in this harbor during WWII.