Remembering the war in New Guinea
Bougainville, 1944–45 (Photographs)
Module name: Campaign history (All groups perspective)
This page was contributed by Damien Fenton (Australian War Memorial)

AWM 077305 (Australian War Memorial) Australian infantrymen of “D’ Company, 9th Battalion, in full battle order prepare for their assault on Little George Hill in the Torokina area, Bougainville, 29 November 1944. This attack marked the beginning of the first major action carried out by the Australians on Bougainville. By days’ end the Australians had secured the position and killed 20 Japanese for the loss of two dead and six wounded.
AWM 092547 (Australian War Memorial) Australian soldiers examine a modified Japanese Type 95 Ha-Go light tank amidst abandoned Japanese positions near Ruri Bay on the Bonis Peninsula, Bougainville, 24 May 1945. The original 37 mm gun turret had been replaced by one from a Type 97 medium tank (with a more powerful 47 mm gun) and the resulting hybrid had been dug in and used as a pillbox. When the Australians took over from the Americans on Bougainville in October 1944 they estimated that they faced no more than 25,000 Japanese troops. In fact the Japanese 17th Army had a strength of approximately 40,000 men and possessed large quantities of tanks and artillery on a scale not seen elsewhere in New Guinea.
AWM 018052 (Australian War Memorial) Gunners of the 2nd Australian Mountain Battery fire their 75 mm pack howitzer at Japanese positions on Tsimba Ridge, Bougainville, 2 February 1945. By the end of the war the Australians could call upon four field regiments of 25-pounder guns as well as a number of independent batteries like this one. This was the first time the Australian army had amassed such a large amount of artillery for a single campaign in New Guinea.
AWM 077940 (Australian War Memorial) The forward gun crews of a US Navy LCI(G)-2 (Landing Craft Infantry – Gunship) bombard Japanese positions on the coastline near the Toko River, Bougainville, 31 December 1944. These modified LCIs were primarily intended to provide close in-shore fire support during amphibious operations and were fitted out with 20mm and 40mm AA guns, heavy machine guns and surplus stocks of obsolescent American naval guns (like the 3-inch (76.2 mm) Mark 10 gun seen here).
AWM 078647 (Australian War Memorial) Soldiers of “A” Company, 1st New Guinea Infantry Battalion, parade outside their company headquarters south of the Jaba River, Bougainville, 25 January 1945. This company had been detached from the rest of the battalion (which fought in New Britain) to act as advance scouts and guides for Australian infantry units on Bougainville. Usually operating in platoon or section strength, “A” Company suffered 17 battle casualties during the course of the campaign.
AWM 018089 (Australian War Memorial) Australian soldiers belonging to the 31st/51st Battalion load their 3-inch mortar during the battle to capture Tsimba Ridge, Bougainville, 8 February 1945. The position, held by a company of the Japanese 81st Infantry Regiment, was taken by the Australians after three days of tough fighting. The 31st/51st Battalion suffered 40 casualties during this engagement, while the Japanese lost an estimated 70 men.
AWM 093927 (Australian War Memorial) An F4U-D1 Corsair fighter-bomber of the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) takes off from Piva airstrip on a mission, Bougainville, 12 July 1945. With the withdrawal of all surviving Japanese navy aircraft to Truk in February 1944 the New Zealanders enjoyed complete control of the skies over Bougainville by the time the Australians arrived. Taking full advantage of this the RNZAF Corsairs spent the rest of the war bombing Japanese positions and installations at will.
AWM 078546 (Australian War Memorial) Soldiers of a patrol from the Australian 42nd Infantry Battalion negotiate their way through deep swampland near the Hupai River, Bougainville, 21 January 1945. Much of the north-western part of the island was dominated by extensive inland swamp systems fed by a chain of streams and rivers running off the Emperor Range. The latter was one of two such mountainous ranges that formed the backbone of Bougainville and it included the island's most dramatic natural feature, Mount Balbi, an 8,500 foot high active volcano.
AWM 091229 (Australian War Memorial) A Matilda tank of the Australian 2/4th Armoured Regiment crosses the ford over the Sindou River, Bougainville, 26 April 1945. This tank and its crew were part of a troop sent forward to support the advance of the 24th Battalion along the Buin road and this was typical of the unit ratio used by the Australians in their armoured-infantry operations on Bougainville. The tanks provided invaluable direct fire-support for the Australian infantry and were used to eliminate Japanese machine gun posts and other strongpoints.
AWM 094071 (Australian War Memorial) A surgical team of the 106th Casualty Clearing Station, Royal Australian Medical Corps, perform an operation on an Australian soldier wounded in the knee, Torokina, Bougainville, 16 July 1945. Bougainville saw the bloodiest fighting experienced by Australian troops in the last year of the war. A total of 516 Australians were killed or died of wounds while a further 1,572 were wounded.
AWM 091526 (Australian War Memorial) Sappers of the 5th Field Company, Royal Australian Engineers, construct a sea wall of corrugated iron and sandbags to protect the Motupena Point - Toko road which had been damaged by heavy seas, Bougainville, 2 May 1945. Building upon the already substantial efforts of their American predecessors the Australians were able to create what was by New Guinea standards an extensive transport and communications network on the island.
AWM P00001.229 (Australian War Memorial) With his signature Lieutenant General KANDA Masatane, commander of the Japanese 17th Army, renders official the surrender of himself and his command to Lieutenant General Sir Stanley Savige (at the head of the table), commander of the Australian forces on Bougainville, 8 September 1945.
AWM ART22846 (Australian War Memorial) Sali Herman, Unloading boats at Torokina, 1945, oil on canvas on plywood, 45.4 x 60.8 cm, Australian War Memorial ART21702.
AWM ART24247 (Australian War Memorial) Geoffrey Mainwaring, Lieutenant General Masatane Kanda, during surrender ceremony at Torokina, 8 September 1945, 1945, charcoal with coloured pastels heightened with white, 56.2 x 40.2 cm, Australian War Memorial, ART24247.
AWM ART23875 (Australian War Memorial) Harold Abbott, Life on Slater's Knoll, 1945, oil on canvas on plywood, 40.7 x 45.6 cm, Australian War Memorial ART23875.