bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Japan > South & SW Pacific < Solomon Islands, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.   Webpage not complete.
Prelude to The Guadalcanal Campaign, March - July 1942
  • Starting in March 1942, Japanese forces began developing bases on the northern Solomon Island of Bougainville.
  • In May, as part of Japan's planned Operation Mo expansion further into the South and Southwest Pacific, the japanese began developing a naval base at Tulagi, a small island near Guadalcanal, and at the time the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate.
  • In July, the Japanese began to build an airfield on the large island of Guadalcanal near Tulagi.
The Japanese expansion into the southern Solomon Islands alarmed Australian and United States military planners, as it increased the threat to the vital sea lanes between Australia and America. Thus the US began planning a response.
The Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands
The subsequent campaign to recapture the Solomon Islands had three major stages as US forces moved northward up the Solomons chain.
I - Southern Solomons - Guadalcanal, 7 August 1942 - 7 February 1943
  • Elements of the First Marine Division landed on Tulagi and smaller islands near Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942 and brief but sharp combat followed.
  • On 8 August the landing began on the north side of Guadalcanal near Lunga Point. There was no resistance to the initial Guadalcanal landing, as the Japanese did not yet have combat troops on Guadalcanal.

Japanese combat troops soon began landing on the west end of Guadalcanal. Intense combat soon followed and over the following months Japan continued to reinforce its troops on Guadalcanal.

As late as the end of October 1942, American troops were confined to only a small portion of the island. However, Japanese naval losses eventually made it prohibitive to continue to transport replacement troops to Guadalcanal. Thus Japanese troop strength declined while US strength grew.

Finally, after nearly six months, Japanese troops were secretly withdrawn and the Guadalcanal campaign ended after six months on 7 February 1943.
Guadalcanal Area in 1942
Guadalcanal Area in 1942
Concurrent with the land battle on Guadalcanal were a series of massive sea battles in the Solomon Islands. I have split off a list these battles into a separate webpage, Solomons Sea War.
II - Central Solomons - New Georgia, 30 Jun 1943 - 27 Oct 1943 
After Japanese ground forces abandoned Guadalcanal, Japanese aircraft continued their air attacks, using a forward air base constructed in December 1942 at Munda on New Georgia. ​

I will not try to outline the long and complex New Georgia Campaign, which also included the capture of Villa Lavella, an island just north of Kolombangara.

Several naval battles accompanied the New Georgia Campaign, and are mentioned in the Solomons Sea War page.
The New Georgia Campaign
The New Georgia Campaign
III - Northern Solomons - Bougainville, 1 November 1943 - August 1945
US forces landed at Empress Augusta Bay on the west coast of Bougainville on 1 November 1942.

A beachhead adequate for construction of air facilities was soon established. There was no attempt to secure all of Bougainville, a large island with multiple Japanese bases.

The major 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 combat units were withdrawn and replaced first with a Black US division and then with Australian troops. Late in the war, Australian troops engaged in offensive actions against the surviving Japanese, but Japanese troops still remained on Bougainville when the War with Japan ended.
US Enclave on Bougainville - Mar 1944
US Enclave on Bougainville - Mar 1944
Sources for the WW II - The Solomon Islands webpage
  • The webpage header photo, Mired Jeep on Guadalcanal, is courtesy of Fine Arts America.
  • The Guadalcanal Area in 1942 map is courtesy of emersonkent.com.
  • The New Georgia Campaign map is courtesy of en.wikipedia.com
  • The US Enclave on Bougainville - Mar 1944 map by F. Temple is courtesy of the US Army Center for Military History.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - The Solomon Islands
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)
See also the Solomons Sea War webpage.
  • 05-01 - South & Southwest Pacific - The Solomon Islands: (six dead, updated 5 Oct ’19)
    † Babcock, Victor Ross - SN 37-428-855, US Army
    145th Inf. Regt., 37th Inf. Div.; KIA 25 Jul ‘43, New Georgia, Solomon Is.
    † Bird, Francis Dale - SN 37-472-728, US Army
    Co. F., 132nd Inf. Regt., Americal Div.; KIA 17 Mar ’44 on Bougainville, Solomon Is.
    † King, Clarence Rudolph - SN 37-112-581, US Army
    161st Inf. Regt., 25th Inf. Div., KIA 2 Aug ‘43 New Georgia, Solomon Is.
    † + Leu, Robert Carroll - SN 3814766, US Navy
    DNB 16 Mar '44 in fall from signal tower in Solomon Islands.
    † Maassen, Dale George - SN 457309, USMC
    4th Marine Raider Bn.; KIA 20 Jul ’43 Bairoko, New Georgia, Solomon Is.; posthumous Distinguished Service Cross.
    † Wagner, Egbert Vernon - SN O-9476, USMC Aviation
    Fighter Sqdn. VMF-112, MAG 11 stationed at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, Solomon Is.; F4F-4 #5087 pilot; KIA 26 Jan ’43 off Henderson Field, air collision on patrol over Ironbound Sound; BNR.
    ​