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, and the 200th-largest island in the world. Geography New Georgia island is located in the New Georgia Group, an archipelago including most ...

in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Japan used Bairoko Harbor to resupply its forces at Munda 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, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

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 American and Imperial Japanese Army and Navy forces on 20 July 1943 on the northern coast of New Georgia island. Taking place during World War II, it formed part of the New Georgia campaign of the Pacifi ...

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 r ...

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 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