Wiktionary
n. 1 A small island north of New Guinea. 2 A language spoken on this island and others near it.
Wikipedia
Biak is a small island located in Cenderawasih Bay near the northern coast of Papua, an Indonesian province, and is just northwest of New Guinea. Biak is the largest island in its small archipelago, and has many atolls, reefs, and corals.
The largest population centre is at Kota Biak (Biak City) on the south coast. The rest of the island is thinly populated with small villages.
Biak is part of the Biak Islands (Kepulauan Biak).
Usage examples of "biak".
A check of the chart showed Biak as about 1, I 00 miles southeast of Leyte at the mouth of the great gulf that almost severs the island of New Guinea at its western end.
From the patrol line a few miles offshore the DE sailors could watch the big transports approaching the airstrip at Biak, some of them towing boxy-looking troop gliders which they cut loose to angle down and disappear behind the trees.
The PT sailors told us that Biak was the major staging point for squadrons of boats deploying north to the Philippines and east to the Marianas.
February the transports completed loading troops and equipment, and the pleasant Biak interlude was over.
In the middle of the year it advanced to Biak, a small island north of New Guinea, where it was nearly strangled by the thick jungle, and it went ashore on Leyte about five days after the first wave of invasion troops.
His final bound was to Biak Island, where the 41st United States Division had a fierce struggle against an enemy garrison nearly ten thousand strong.
Scattered about in the waters of the great Geelvink Bay are many islands of various sizes, such as Biak or Wiak, Jappen or Jobi, Run or Ron, Noomfor, and many more.
Their original home is believed to be the island of Biak or Wiak, which lies at the northern entrance of the bay, and from which they are supposed to have spread southwards and south-westwards to the other islands and to the mainland of New Guinea.
Before the next operation came off an invasion of the Wakde-Sarmi area on 17 May the disquieting discovery had been made that heavy bombers could not use the Lake Sentani airfields, and that no site suitable for them existed in Dutch New Guinea, short of Biak Island.
Hence, until Biak could be taken, the heavies would have to continue operating from Nadzab, 440 miles east of Hollandia or from the Admiralties.
The need for full speed ahead being evident, General MacArthur decided to simplify the Wakde-Sarmi operation and move on into Biak as soon as possible.
Colonel Kuzume, their commander, denied to us for a month the two Biak airfields within ten miles of the landing beaches by a skillful defense in depth tactics later developed at Peleliu and Iwo Jima.
They first pitched upon the almost circular island of Noemfoor, about eleven miles in diameter, midway between Biak and Manokwari.
This advance of 550 miles from Hollandia to Cape Sansapor required little more than three months, with three big Japanese air bases-Hollandia, Wakde, Biak picked up en route, and a fourth, Wewak, leapfrogged.
Pacific Strategy Again WE LEFT THE PACIFIC WAR at the end of July 1944, with the Battle of the Philippine Sea won, Saipan, Tinian and Guam secured, and General MacArthur in control of Biak and the New Guinea Vogelkopf, poised to cross the Celebes Sea into Mindanao.