Skip to main content

Naval History and Heritage Command

National Museum of the U.S. Navy

Bougainville Land Campaign:  November 1, 1943

The initial landing force for Bougainville was the 3rd Marine Division, commanded by Marine General A. H. Turnage, USMC.   The amphibious force led by Rear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson, USN, landed approximately 14,300 troops at Cape Toronkina.   The main objective of the landing was the Japanese base at Rabaul, though resistence was fierce until August 1945.   U.S. Navy Seabees and New Zealand engineers constructed three airstrips due to the lack of expansion of the perimeter at Rabaul.   With the capture of the Green Islands in Aprill 1944, the Seabees continued the construction of airfields.    In October, the Australians replaced the Americans until the end of the war. 

Image:  80-G-202485:  U.S. Marines going ashore in waist-deep water from USS LST-353 at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, November 6, 1943.   Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.