bigpigeon.us webpage WWII Japan > South & SW Pacific < Solomon Is., Bougainville, © 2024 by Robert A. Christiansen, updated by RAC 12 Mar 2024.
Northern Solomon Islands, Bougainville, 1 November 1943 - August 1945
The actions mentioned herein were part of Operation Cartwheel, the encirclement of Rabaul.
Northern Solomon Islands, Bougainville, 1 November 1943 - August 1945
The actions mentioned herein were part of Operation Cartwheel, the encirclement of Rabaul.
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US forces landed at Cape Torokina at the north end of Empress Augusta Bay on the west coast of Bougainville on 1 November 1943.
US forces soon established a perimeter adequate for construction and defense of air facilities. There was no attempt to secure all of Bougainville, a large island with multiple Japanese bases. Most combat on Bougainville happened later, in March 1944 when Japanese forces staged a major attack on the US enclave. After this attack was beaten off, the US front-line combat units were withdrawn, being replaced first with the Black US 93rd Infantry Division and then with Australian troops. |
US Enclave on Bougainville - Mar 1944
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Late in WWII, Australian troops engaged in offensive actions against the surviving Japanese, but large numbers of Japanese troops still remained on Bougainville when the War with Japan ended.
Sources for Big Pigeon's South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Bougainville webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Bougainville:
† Bird, Francis Dale, SN 37-472-728, US Army, Pott. Co.
- The US Enclave on Bougainville - Mar 1944 map by F. Temple is courtesy of the US Army Center for Military History.
Pottawattamie Area WWII Dead - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Islands, Bougainville:
- Taken from the bigpigeon.us WWII Dead module.
- See also the Solomons Naval War webpage.
† Bird, Francis Dale, SN 37-472-728, US Army, Pott. Co.
- Co. F., 132nd Inf. Regt., Americal Div.; KIA 17 Mar 1944 during Japanese counterattack on Bougainville, Solomon Is.; Operation Cartwheel - South & SW Pacific > Solomon Is., Bougainville.