Battle of Koromokina Lagoon

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Battle of Koromokina Lagoon
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
U.S. Marines battle Japanese infantry on November 8, 1943 on Bougainville during the Battle of the Koromokina Lagoon.
Date November 7 – 8, 1943 Location Bougainville in the South Pacific Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Roy Geiger Allen H. Turnage	Hitoshi Imamura, Harukichi Hyakutake
Strength
10,000	850
Casualties and losses
16 killed	377+ killed

The Battle of the Koromokina Lagoon was a battle between United States Marine Corps and Imperial Japanese Army forces on Bougainville. The battle took place November 7 – 8, 1943, during the Bougainville campaign.

Responding to the Allied landings on Bougainville at Cape Torokina on November 1, 1943, Japanese General Hitoshi Imamura, commander of the 8th Area Army at Rabaul, underestimating the size of the Allied landing forces, despatched a force of 850 soldiers to execute a counter landing to attempt to drive the Allied forces back into the sea. The Japanese soldiers landed from four destroyers near Koromokina Lagoon on the night of November 7 and engaged two battalions of U.S. Marines from the 9th Marine Regiment under the command of Allen H. Turnage.

Over the next two days the Japanese attacks were defeated with heavy losses to the Japanese attackers. After the battle, Allied forces continued to expand their beachhead on Bougainville with the goal of constructing airfields to attack and neutralize Japanese forces located at Rabaul and nearby areas.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Gailey, Harry A. (1991). Bougainville, 1943–1945: The Forgotten Campaign. Lexington, Kentucky, USA: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9047-9. - neutral review of this book here:[1]
• Long, Gavin (1963). Volume VII – The Final Campaigns, Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 2006-11-02. 
• McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942–1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville—Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-1307-1. 
• Odgers, George (1968). Volume II – Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945, Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra: Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on 2006-11-02. 
• Rottman, Gordon L.; Dr. Duncan Anderson (consultant editor) (2005). Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942–43. Oxford and New York: Osprey. ISBN 1-84176-870-7. 

[edit] External links

• Craven, Wesley Frank; James Lea Cate. Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. The Army Air Forces in World War II. U.S. Office of Air Force History. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
• Chapin, John C. (1997). TOP OF THE LADDER: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons. World War II Commemorative series 1. Marine Corps History and Museums Division. Retrieved on August 30, 2006. Also available at: [2]
• Fuquea, David C. (1997). Bougainville: The Amphibious Assault Enters Maturity. Naval War College Review, Winter 1997, Vol. L, No. 1 418. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
• Lofgren, Stephen J.. Northern Solomons. The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II. Retrieved on October 18, 2006.
• Mersky, Peter B. (1993). Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942–1944. Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
• Miller, John, Jr. (1959). CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul. United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific 418. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
• Rentz, John M. (1946). Bougainville and the Northern Solomons. USMC Historical Monograph. Historical Branch, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on October 18, 2006.
• Shaw, Henry I.; Douglas T. Kane (1963). Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
• U.S. Army Center of Military History. Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I. Reports of General MacArthur. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.- Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War.
• Uyehata, Roy T. (2003). Roy Uyehata's Personal History. The Leland Stanford Junior University. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.- Account of a Japanese-American interrogator on Bougainville.

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