On 22 September, elements of the Australian 9th Division, commanded by Major General George Wootten, landed at Scarlet Beach from where they began to fan out to the south and west to capture Finschhafen and to begin the advance towards Sio, further around the coast on the northern side of the Huon Peninsula.

Due to heavy shipping losses earlier in the year during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, they employed a small force of submarines in an effort to avoid Allied air attack.

Several key tracks and junctions were located by troops from the 2/43rd Infantry Battalion,[27] who named them "Imperial", "Oriental", "Norfolk" and "Exchange", after Adelaide pubs.

After bringing up mortars and Vickers medium machine guns, they began to attack the Japanese resupply parties moving through the area, inflicting heavy casualties.

Despite being short of food and receiving repeated mortar fire,[27] the 2/32nd held its ground with the assistance of strong artillery support,[36] and in doing so inflicted heavy casualties upon the Japanese.

[38][39] The Japanese commanding general, Hatazo Adachi, later pinpointed the Australian capture of Pabu Hill as one of the main reasons for the defeat of his force during the Huon Peninsula campaign.

Commencing in the afternoon of 27 November,[6] they began clearing operations between Bonga and North Hill along the coast with a secondary task of sending a company towards Pabu to facilitate the relief of the 2/32nd.

At the same time, a platoon advanced north from Pabu and occupied a position named "Exchange" by the Australians, capturing a 75 mm artillery piece in the process.

By mid-morning Bonga had been taken and shortly after midday, Australian reconnaissance patrols found Gusika undefended and so the main body subsequently occupied a local feature called "Oriental" to its south.

[34] The terrain over which the two brigades were to advance was generally steep with the track having been cut along a high spur line that dropped on either side into deep ravines that were covered by kunai grass interspersed with areas of thick jungle.

North of Bonga, the ground was markedly different, with the track having been pushed through flat swamp land that was punctuated by many deep creeks; vegetation in the area was mainly thick secondary growth, although to the west, in the steep hills, kunai grass was predominate.

[34] As a result of the harsh conditions and terrain, as the Australian advance continued it was increasingly hampered by vehicle break downs and fatigue amongst their crews.

Crossing the Kalueng River, they penetrated only 0.25 miles (0.40 km) before meeting Japanese resistance, which was overcome with the assistance of an artillery barrage and mortars.

[34][47] The Japanese had developed the position considerably, establishing a complex defensive network and, whereas up until that point they had usually withdrawn in the face of the advancing Australians, they decided to make a stand.

[48] Moving up a steep slope that was covered by kunai grass, one of the tanks broke down,[34] nevertheless the Australian armour was able to deliver a significant bombardment which enabled the infantry to take the position early in the evening.

After darkness fell and it began to rain, the patrol, however, was able to extricate itself back to the river where they spent the night before rejoining their battalion early on 2 December.

[34][49] Overnight, the Japanese pulled the two guns off the high ground and left a small force behind which was quickly overwhelmed by the Australians when they resumed their advance the following day.

[50] Together the composite force overcame the Japanese resistance around the Lakes around midday on 3 December, and at this point they were re-tasked with taking over the drive in the central sector from the 20th Infantry Brigade, which was to be rested for later in the campaign, and pushing on to the Christmas Hills.

The lead company crossed the river west of a fjord and shortly after completing this manoeuvre, a force of Japanese engaged them with machine gun fire, killing one and wounding three others.

[51] Once this was completed, the 2/15th began to send out patrols to the west to probe the Christmas Hills, and to the east towards the Kalueng Lakes, to make contact with the 24th Infantry Brigade.

[56] The 2/23rd advanced down the steep escarpment towards Fior, descending some 2,300 feet (700 m) into the valley through which the river flowed, crossing several creeks and entering the undefended town.

Together they moved up the steep slope to the Kuanko Track where they split up: one company went north to continue the advance, while the other turned to the south to attack the Japanese that had fired upon them earlier, taking them from the rear.

[52] The next morning the Australians sent out patrols and as they probed forward through the dense bamboo it became apparent to them that the Japanese had established themselves in strength along a ridge line that stretched off to a position called Peak Hill.

In order to regain the initiative, the 2/23rd Infantry Battalion launched a night attack, which, although supported by very accurate artillery fire from the 2/12th Field Regiment, proved unsuccessful.

[54] By 5 December, the Australians had managed to stockpile enough supplies in forward areas to enable the 2/24th Infantry Battalion, which had been engaged in moving the stores, to be released from this task and thrown back into the fighting.

The Japanese defences held and the attack beaten off, the Australians attempted to outflank to the north but they were prevented from doing so by the thick jungle and as the sun set, they had to be content to dig-in on the western approach to Peak Hill.

[62] At this point fatigue amongst the Australians stalled their advance; it did not last long, though, and early on 8 December Kwatingkoo was captured by elements of the 2/24th Infantry Battalion without opposition as its defenders had fallen back earlier.

[61] The Australian advance had been hampered by bad weather, steep terrain, supply problems, fatigue and the strong defence mounted by the Japanese,[63] nevertheless they had secured the Wareo–Gusika spur and the track that ran between Wareo and Bonga.

In the face of the Australian advance on Wareo, early in December the Japanese commander, Katagiri, had ordered his troops, who were weary from the fighting and hungry due to a lack of supplies, to fall back to the north.

[67] A strong force of Japanese also held out on the 2200 feature, which lay about 1,700 yards (1,600 m) north-east of Wareo, threatening the Australian hold on the newly won Wareo–Bonga track.