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Three groups of transports converged in Empress Augusta Bay on the morning of 1 November 1943. Unfortunately, the existing maps of the Bougainville coast were highly unreliable German Admiralty charts from about 1890. A few corrections had been made by reconnaissance flights and submarine scouting, but some longitudes were still wrong. "Near the end of the approach, when the navigating officer of a transport was asked by the captain for his ship's position, he replied, 'About three miles inland, sir!�?? To the forces, as they approached, Empress Augusta Bay presented a magnificent but somewhat terrifying spectacle. Behind the curved sweep of the shore line, a heavy, dark green jungle...swept up over foothills and crumpled ridges to the cordillera which was crowned by a smoking volcano, Mount Baranga, 8,650 feet above sea level. It was wilder and more majestic scenery than anyone had yet witnessed in the South Pacific. From the difficult landings at Guadalcanal and the New Georgians, Admiral Wilkinson learned a significant lesson about the necessity of rapid unloading and getting his slow, vulnerable transports away from the landing area. To this end, he only loaded his transports half full and his cargo ships one-quarter full, and made sure that 30% of the troops on the beach assisted in unloading. The Japanese, having never conceived that the Allies were capable of a move as bold as one to Empress Augusta Bay, were unable to mount an air assault on the invasion fleet. Admiral Wilkinson, grateful that his transports were able to land almost the entire troop contingent and a large amount of materiel unmolested by air attack, ordered them out of the area around sundown. Defense and expansion of the position at Cape Torokina involved protracted and often bitter jungle warfare, with many casualties resulting from malaria and other tropical diseases. Except for patrol skirmishes, all of the major combat to expand the beachhead occurred in the Marine sector. From 6�??19 November, the remaining regiment of the 3rd Marine Division and the 37th Infantry Division (Army) were landed and the beachhead gradually expanded. On their third attempt, the Japanese successfully landed four destroyer-loads of men just beyond the eastern limit of the American beachhead before dawn on 7 November (to the great embarrassment of the PT boat base on Puruata Island, the Japanese effected this landing completely undetected by the Americans). The Marines annihilated this force the next day in the Battle of Koromokina Lagoon. Under extremely difficult conditions, the Naval Construction Battalions (CBs or Seabees) and a group of New Zealand engineers carried on work on the three airstrips. The fighter strip at the beach was the first to begin full-time operations (10 December).
Other Comments:
Silver Star
The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Corporal Clarence A. Barineau (MCSN: 318729), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the First Marine Parachute Battalion during action against numerically superior enemy Japanese forces near Koi-ari, Bougainville, Solomon Islands, on 29 November 1943. When close range sniper and machine gun fire had pinned down his platoon, Corporal Barineau charged forward with three other Marines and although subjected to terrific hostile fire, succeeded in putting one machine gun and several snipers out of action, thereby holding casualties in his platoon to a minimum. His valiant fighting spirit and gallant conduct in the face of grave peril were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. Action Date: November 29, 1943
Northern Solomon Islands Campaign (1943-44)/Battle of Bougainville
From Month/Year
November / 1943
To Month/Year
January / 1944
Description After New Georgia, the next major operation was an invasion of the island of Bougainville, which was approached by landings at Mono and Stirling in the Treasury Islands on October 25-27, 1943. A Marine division landed on the west coast of Bougainville at Empress Augusta Bay on November 1, 1943. The Marines were followed within the month by an Army division and replaced in the next month by another Army division.
It was late November before the beachhead at Empress Augusta Bay was secure. This beachhead was all that was needed, and no attempt was made to capture the entire island. Allied planes neutralized enemy airfields in the northern part of the island, and the Allied command made use of its naval and air superiority to contain the Japanese garrison on Bougainville and cut its supply line to Rabaul by occupying the Green Islands (February 14, 1944).
Despite these measures, the Japanese maintained pressure against the beachhead, mounting an especially heavy but unsuccessful counterattack as late as March 1944. Success at Bougainville isolated all Japanese forces left in the Solomons. The Japanese sustained comparatively heavy air and naval losses during the campaign, which further crippled the Japanese Combined Fleet and had a vital effect on the balance of naval power in the Central Pacific.
