HUON PENINSULA

peninsula extending from northeastern Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific. The promontory (55 miles wide) is bounded by the Vitiaz Strait of the Bismarck Sea (north), the Solomon Sea (east), Huon Gulf (south), and the Markham River (west). The peninsula's terrain rises to more than 13,000 feet (4,000 m) in the Saruwaged, Cromwell, and Rawlinson ranges. Receiving 180190 inches (4,6004,800 mm) of rainfall annually, it is densely forested. The town of Lae is in the southwest; Finschhafen, in the east. Occupied in 1942 by the Japanese, the peninsula was recaptured by Allied forces in 1943.