Bougainville campaign

The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific.

For the 1988–1998 conflict, see Bougainville conflict.
Bougainville campaign (1943–45)
Part of the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific Theater (World War II)

United States Army soldiers hunt Japanese infiltrators on Bougainville in March 1944.
Date1 November 1943 – 21 August 1945
Location
Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea (geographically part of the
Solomon Islands)
6°8′S 155°18′E
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
  Japan
Commanders and leaders
Strength
  • 144,000 American troops
  • 30,000 Australian troops
  • 728 aircraft
45,000–65,000 troops
  • 154 aircraft
Casualties and losses
  • United States:
  • 727 dead
  • Australia:
  • 516 dead
 18,500–21,500 dead
Part of a series on the
History of Bougainville

The campaign took place in the Northern Solomons in two phases. The first phase, in which American troops landed and held the perimeter around the beachhead at Torokina, lasted from November 1943 through November 1944. The second phase, in which primarily Australian troops went on the offensive, mopping up pockets of starving, isolated but still-determined Japanese, lasted from November 1944 until August 1945, when the last Japanese soldiers on the island surrendered. Operations during the final phase of the campaign saw the Australian forces advance north towards the Bonis Peninsula and south towards the main Japanese stronghold around Buin, although the war ended before these two enclaves were completely destroyed.

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