Campaigns: land, sea and air operations in New Guinea

These pages have been prepared by members of the project to provide a comprehensive overview of the campaigns conducted in Papua, New Guinea and the Solomons in the Second World War. The accounts focus on land campaigns but also contain overviews of air and sea operations.

These pages have been written to try and take into account the perspective of all parties involved in the conflict. This has proved an extremely difficult task and somewhat illusive task, not least because different terminology for battes and even places mentioned in histories. For example, the campaign in the east of Papua in August-September 1942 is generally refered to as the Milne Bay campaign by the Allies. However, it is known as the Rabi campaign by Japanese historians due to the planned Japanese landing at the village of Rabi in the area.

To further balance the sometimes Australian centred feel to the accounts, we have provided a translation of Southern Cross, an account of the Japanese campaigns in New Guinea written by the Chief of Staff of the 18th Army, Yoshihara Kane, and originally translated by Doris Heath in the 1960s.