Bairoko Harbor is situated along the northwestern shore of the island of

New Georgia New Georgia, with an area of , is the largest of the islands in Western Province (Solomon Islands), Western Province, Solomon Islands, and the List of islands by area, 203rd-largest island in the world. Since July 1978, the island has been par ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

used Bairoko Harbor to resupply its forces at

Munda __NOTOC__ Munda may refer to: Places India * Munda, a village in Hanumangarh district, Rajasthan, India * Munda Majra, a former village in Haryana, India * Munda Pind, a village in Punjab, India Pakistan * Munda, a village near Bilyamin in Kur ...

Point, an airstrip situated along the south coast of New Georgia. Allied forces deemed Munda critical for control of this section of the Solomon Islands and necessary for the continued progress northward toward Japan. After capturing Enogai, a village situated a few miles east of Bairoko Harbor, the Northern Landing Group of

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

comprising the 1st and 4th Marine Raider Battalions assaulted the harbor on June 20, 1943. Greatly outmanned, the lightly armed Marines failed to overcome the deeply entrenched, heavily armed Japanese defenders in the resulting

Battle of Bairoko The Battle of Bairoko was fought between United States, American and Empire of Japan, Imperial Japanese Imperial Japanese Army, Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, Navy forces on 20 July 1943 on the northern coast of New Georgia Island. Taking place ...

and were turned back after losses in dense jungle fighting. The loss marked the first time the Marine Raiders had failed to take an objective, and was blamed in part on failure of the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

to provide air support for the operation as requested. The battle caused the Joint Chiefs to rethink the strategy of pitting lightly armed forces against well-fortified enemy forces, and the operation planners drew the criticism of the Joint Chiefs for having marginalized the entire operation "as if it had been a sideshow". Unable to prevent the loss of Munda to the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

due to assaults on the airstrip by other forces, the Japanese evacuated the entire island of New Georgia via Bairoko Harbor within a month of the initial attack. From New Georgia the Allies continued "up the slot" toward Japan, fighting next at Bougainville.

References

Geography of the Solomon Islands World War II sites in the Solomon Islands {{Solomons-geo-stub