Prior to the battle, US troops had landed at Rice Anchorage, in the Kula Gulf, on the northern coast of New Georgia, tasked with supporting efforts further south to advance on the airfield at Munda.

Following the completion of the Guadalcanal campaign in early 1943, the Allied high command began planning the next step in their effort to neutralize the main Japanese base at Rabaul as part of Operation Cartwheel.

On 2 July, troops from the US 169th and 172nd Infantry Regiments crossed the Blanche Channel to the western coast of New Georgia, landing around Zanana to begin the drive on Munda Point.

Consequently, the Northern Landing Group was tasked with blocking the Munda–Bairoko trail and securing Bairoko Harbor, which provided the sea link with the Japanese base at Vila on Kolombangara to the northwest.

[15][16] Additionally, only three days of rations were carried by the troops, as US commanders intended upon resupplying over the shore at the small port of Enogai on the Dragons Peninsula, after advancing from the landing beach around the Rice Anchorage.

[18] The main unit in the area was Colonel Saburo Okumura's Kure 6th Special Naval Landing Force,[19] guarding Enogai.

[20] Okumura's unit had arrived around Enogai and Bairoko in March 1942, as part of Japanese efforts to secure airbases on New Georgia to support their operations on Guadalcanal.

[21] Liversedge's force landed at the Rice Anchorage, about 600 yards (550 m) past the mouth of the Wharton River, in the Kula Gulf area early on 5 July, having sailed from aboard several high speed transports and minesweepers at Guadalcanal the previous day.

[24] Two shallow sandbars at the mouth of the river briefly held up the landing, but these were overcome by lightening the loads each vessel carried.

It would take several days for these troops to eventually rejoin Liversedge's force; meanwhile, the main landing proceeded largely unopposed, except for artillery fire from Japanese coastal batteries at Enogai.

While US aircraft attacked Japanese guns around Enogai, the advancing troops established a bridgehead on the opposite side of the river, where a defensive harbor was set up overnight.

He was unable to request assistance, though, after his radio was destroyed by a falling tree; as a result, he planned to make another effort to capture Enogai the following day.

[33][34] On 9 July, US forces began their advance to the mouth of the inlet, moving along higher ground west of the swamp they had run into the day before.

In the process, they bypassed several villages, including Maranusa II, Baekineru, and Baevurana, where the Japanese had established strong defensive positions.

[33][35] While the soldiers held blocking positions to the south along the trial and secured Triri, the Marines launched the main assault on Enogai, beginning their approach from 07:00 with three Raider companies and a fourth in reserve, supported by a heavy mortar bombardment and long range machine-gun preparatory fire prior to the attack.

The fighting continued throughout the afternoon, with the Marines advancing cautiously over 1,800 yards (1,600 m) against stiff resistance, before the US commander decided to establish a night harbor.

[36][37] Throughout the night, Liversedge made plans for an aerial resupply as his troops consumed the last of their combat rations, while the wounded—around 28 men—were treated in makeshift hospitals by doctors and corpsmen.

Met by desultory small arms and light machine gun fire, one company captured Baekineru, while another, reinforced from reserve elements, advanced towards the ocean around Enogai Point.

Elsewhere, to interdict Japanese reinforcements moving towards Munda, the roadblock that had been established about 2 miles (3.2 km) inland along the Munda–Bairoko trail, was held by US Army troops from 8 to 17 July until it was abandoned because of supply problems, increasing illness and tactical concerns.