After an attack across the Ilebbe Creek by the 2/13th Infantry Battalion, which cost the Australians 80 casualties on 1 October, the Japanese naval troops which were holding Finschhafen began to withdraw. On 2 October, the town fell to the Australians and the Japanese abandoned the Kakakog Ridge amidst heavy Australian air and artillery attacks. Once the 20th Brigade was established in Finschhafen, it linked up with the 22nd Infantry Battalion, a Militia infantry battalion. This unit had cleared the coastal area in the south of the peninsula, advancing from Lae over the mountains. Meanwhile, the Japanese that had been around Finschhafen withdrew back into the mountains around Sattelberg. Allied air operations from the airfield at Finschhafen commenced on 4 October. The following day, the 2/17th Infantry Battalion was sent to Kumawa to follow up the retreating Japanese forces, and for the next couple of days minor clashes resulted before it established itself at Jivevaneng again on 7 October.