South West Pacific Area: Douglas MacArthur U.S. Navy: William F. Halsey Richmond K. Turner Theodore S. Wilkinson Frederick Moosbrugger Aaron S. Merrill Walden L. Ainsworth Thomas J. Ryan John F. Kennedy U.S. Marines: Harry B. Liversedge U.S. Army: Oscar W. Griswold Millard F. Harmon John H. Hester Robert B. McClure I.J.

The New Georgia campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific Theater of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan.

The campaign began on 30 June 1943, when US troops carried out landings in the Kula Gulf, in the north of New Georgia, and around the Munda area on the western coast.

[1] The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) believed that holding the Solomon Islands would be ultimately unsuccessful and that it would be better to wait for an Allied attack on Bougainville which would be much less costly to supply and reinforce.

[3][4] By early 1943, some Allied leaders had wanted to focus on capturing Rabaul, but Japanese strength there and lack of landing craft meant that such an operation was not practical in 1943.

The Allies attempted to neutralize Munda with repeated bombing raids and naval shelling, but the Japanese were always able to repair the airfield in short order.

In early February, he instructed Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner, Commander Amphibious Force, to undertake Operation Cleanslate.

[11] Beginning 21 February, Turner landed the US Army 43rd Infantry Division under Major General John H. Hester and the 3rd Marine Raider Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Harry B. Liversedge on the Russell Islands, a total of approximately 9,000 troops and their equipment.

[12] Alarmed that the Allies were working their way up the Solomons chain, the Japanese bombed the new American base in the Russells and began strengthening their own airfields at Munda and at nearby Vila on Kolombangara.

From southeast to northwest, these were: (1) Wickham Anchorage on the southeast coast of Vangunu; (2) Segi Point on the southeastern tip of New Georgia; (3) Viru Harbor on the southwest coast of New Georgia, just a few miles up from Segi; and (4) Rendova Harbor on Rendova Island just across Blanche Channel from Munda, placing the Japanese base well within range of land-based artillery.

He sent two companies of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion to capture Segi Point on the morning of 21 June, where Kennedy and his native comrades were rescued.

[17] A force consisting of portions of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion and the 103rd Infantry Regiment landed at Oloana Bay on the south coast of Vangunu Island on 30 June.

[18] Meanwhile, the remainder of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion captured Viru Harbor, supported by dive bombers, on 30 June, after advancing overland from Lambeti Plantation.

A total of 6,000 soldiers, sailors and marines of the US Army's 172nd Infantry Regiment, the 9th Marine Defense Battalion, and the Navy's 24th NCB landed at Rendova Harbor early on 30 June while Companies A and B of the 169th Infantry Regiment along with the New Zealand-trained and led commando unit of 130 South Pacific islanders took three strategic islets in the Blanche Channel opposite Munda.

[25][26] The crossing was undertaken in daylight by elements from two regiments in the afternoon of 2 July; a small perimeter was established around Zanana and defenses built up before the advance westwards towards Munda Point began several days later.

[27] Vice Admiral Jinichi Kusaka and Lieutenant General Hitoshi Imamura had no intention of allowing New Georgia to fall the way Guadalcanal had.

They loaded 4,000 troops on destroyers, brought them down "The Slot" on the night of 4–5 July via the "Tokyo Express," and landed them at Vila on the southeast coast of Kolombangara.

[28] From there, the men would be ferried across Kula Gulf on barges to Bairoko on the northwest coast of New Georgia, before moving along eight-mile jungle trail to Munda.

Halsey had dispatched transports carrying 4,600 troops consisting of Marine Raiders and two US Army battalions under Colonel Liversedge to Rice Anchorage on the northwest coast of New Georgia.

At the same time, a long-anticipated change in naval command took place with Rear Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson taking over leadership of the amphibious forces from Turner on 15 July.

[41] US forces, bolstered by the arrival of the 37th Infantry Division, subsequently launched a corps-level offensive under Griswold aimed at capturing Munda Point.

But the Japanese defensive positions were well designed and had been reinforced since the initial US landing at the Rice Anchorage;[45] as a result, neither force made any progress, and US casualties began to mount.

Under the protection of a single destroyer, 940 troops and 700 naval personnel were loaded aboard three destroyer-transports and sent down under the command of Rear Admiral Kaju Sugiura to Kolombangara on the night of 6–7 August.

[50] Following this major reversal, Sasaki moved his headquarters to Kolombangara on 8–9 August, leaving behind a token force to defend the west coast of New Georgia.

His mission now was simply to hold the remaining islands of the New Georgia group as long as possible, giving the Japanese a chance to reinforce the northern Solomons.

[54] A large invasion force of about 6,500 troops led by Major General Robert B. McClure, escorted by 12 destroyers under the command of Wilkinson was dispatched from Guadalcanal early on 14 August.

Horaniu, on the northeast coast, was selected as a barge staging point and on the night of 17–18 August a small force of ground and naval troops was sent to secure the area.

[57] On the night of 6–7 October, Rear Admiral Ijuin Matsuji led a naval force to take the 600 remaining ground troops off Vella Lavella.

[63] Elsewhere, in New Guinea, commencing in late September, the Allies launched campaigns in the Markham Valley and on the Huon Peninsula as part of efforts to secure Lae and Finschhafen.

Morison further criticizes the failed flanking move undertaken by Hester's troops to break the deadlock during the initial drive on Munda, describing it as "perhaps the worst blunder in the [campaign]".