New Guinea campaign
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[[Image:Buna (AWM 014008).jpg|300px|thumb|January 7, 1943. Australian forces [[Battle of Buna-Gona|attack Japanese positions near Buna]]. Members of the 2/12th Infantry Battalion advance as [[Stuart tank]]s from the 2/6th Armoured Regiment attack Japanese pillboxes. An upward-firing machine gun on the tank spray treetops to clear them of snipers. (Photographer: George Silk).]]
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[[Image:A20BismarckSea.jpg|thumb|300px|An Allied [[A-20 Havoc|A-20]] bomber attacks Japanese shipping during the [[Battle of the Bismarck Sea]], March, 1943.]]
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[[Image:USNHC-Photo SC 264436 Hollandia.jpg|300px|thumb|April 22, 1944. US [[Landing Vehicle Tracked|LVTs]] (Landing Vehicles Tracked) in the foreground head for the invasion beaches at [[Yos Sudarso Bay|Humboldt Bay]], Netherlands New Guinea, during the [[Operations Reckless and Persecution|Hollandia landing]] as the cruisers [[USS Boise (CL-47)|USS ''Boise'']] (firing tracer shells, right center) and [[USS Phoenix (CL-46)|USS ''Phoenix'']] bombard the shore. (Photographer: Tech 4 Henry C. Manger.)]]
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[[Image:Deadjapanese.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Two dead Japanese soldiers in a water filled shell hole somewhere in New Guinea]]
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{{Campaignbox New Guinea}}
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{{Campaignbox South West Pacific}}
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The '''New Guinea campaign''' ([[1942]]–[[1945|45]]) was one of the major [[military campaign]]s of [[World War II]]. The island of [[New Guinea]] was split between the [[Australia]]n [[League of Nations mandate]] [[Territory of New Guinea]] (the north-eastern part of the island of New Guinea and surrounding islands), the [[Territory of Papua]] (the south-eastern part of the island of New Guinea, an Australian colony), and [[Dutch New Guinea]]. It was strategically important because it was a major landmass to the immediate north of Australia. Its large land area provided locations for large land, air and naval bases.
Fighting between [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] and [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] forces commenced with the Japanese [[Battle of Rabaul (1942)|assault on Rabaul]] on [[January 23]], [[1942]]. [[Rabaul]] became the forward base for the Japanese campaigns in mainland New Guinea, including the pivotal [[Kokoda Track campaign]] of July 1942–January [[1943]], and the [[Battle of Buna-Gona]]. Fighting in some parts of New Guinea continued until the war ended in August [[1945]].
General [[Douglas MacArthur]] as Supreme Commander, [[South West Pacific Area (command)|South West Pacific Area]], led the Allied forces. MacArthur was based in [[Melbourne]], [[Brisbane]] and [[Manila]]. The [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s [[8th Area Army (Imperial Japanese Army)|8th Area Army]], under General [[Hitoshi Imamura]], was responsible for both the New Guinea and [[Solomon Islands campaign]]s. Imamura was based at Rabaul. The [[18th Army (Imperial Japanese Army)|Japanese 18th Army]], under Lieutenant General [[Hatazō Adachi]], was responsible for Japanese operations on mainland New Guinea.
==Major battles and sub-campaigns==
* [[Operation Mo]] (1942)
* [[Battle of the Coral Sea]] (1942)
* [[Kokoda Track campaign]] (1942)
* [[Battle of Milne Bay]] (1942)
* [[Battle of Buna-Gona]] (1942-43)
* [[Battle of Wau]] (1943)
* [[Battle of the Bismarck Sea]] (1943)
* [[Operation Cartwheel]] (1943)
* [[Salamaua-Lae campaign]] (1943)
**[[Battle of Nassau Bay]]
**[[First Battle of Mubo]]
**[[First Battle of Bobdubi]]
**[[Battle of Lababia Ridge]]
**[[Second Battle of Bobdubi]]
**[[Landing at Nassau Bay]]
**[[Second Battle of Mubo]]
**[[Battle of Roosevelt Ridge]]
**[[Battle of Mount Tambu]]
**'''Operation Postern'''
*** [[Landing at Lae]]
*** [[Landing at Nadzab]]
*[[Bombing of Wewak]]
* [[Finisterre Range campaign]] (1943-44; including a series of actions known as the Battle of Shaggy Ridge)
** [[Ramu Valley campaign]]
** [[Battle of Johns' Knoll-Trevor's Ridge]]
** [[Battle of The Pimple]]
** [[Battle of Cam's Saddle]]
** '''Operation Cutthroat'''
*** [[Battle of Faria Ridge]]
*** [[Battle of Prothero I and II]]
*** [[Battle of McCaughey's Knoll]]
*** [[Battle of Kankiryo Saddle]]
* [[Huon Peninsula campaign]] (1943-44)
** [[Battle of Scarlet Beach]]
** [[Battle of Finschhafen]]
** [[Battle of Sattelberg]]
** [[Battle of Jivevaneng]]
** [[Battle of Sio]]
* [[Bougainville campaign]] (1943-45)
* [[New Britain campaign]] (1943-45)
* [[Admiralty Islands campaign]] (1944)
* [[Western New Guinea campaign]] (1944-45)
** [[Operations Reckless and Persecution]]
** [[Battle of Wakde]]
** [[Battle of Lone Tree Hill (1944)]]
** [[Battle of Morotai]]
** [[Battle of Biak]]
** [[Battle of Noemfoor]]
** [[Battle of Driniumor River]]
** [[Battle of Sansapor]]
** [[Aitape-Wewak campaign]]
==References==
===Books===
*{{cite book
| last = Dexter
| first = David
| year = 1961
| url = http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=22
| title = Volume VI – The New Guinea Offensives
| series = [[Australia in the War of 1939–1945]]
| location = Canberra
| publisher = [[Australian War Memorial]]
| accessdate = 2006-12-16
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Drea
| first = Edward J.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 1998
| chapter =
| title = In the Service of the Emperor: Essays on the Imperial Japanese Army
| publisher = University of Nebraska Press
| location = Nebraska
| id = ISBN 0-8032-1708-0
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Gailey
| first = Harry A.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 2004
| chapter =
| title = MacArthur's Victory: The War In New Guinea 1943-1944
| publisher = Random House
| location = New York
| id = ISBN
}}
*{{cite book
| last = McCarthy
| first = Dudley
| year = 1959
| url = http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/chapter.asp?volume=21
| title = Volume V – South–West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau
| series = [[Australia in the War of 1939–1945]]
| location = Canberra
| publisher = [[Australian War Memorial]]
| accessdate = 2006-12-16
}}
*{{cite book
| last = Taafe
| first = Stephen R.
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| year = 2006
| chapter =
| title = MacArthur's Jungle War: The 1944 New Guinea Campaign
| publisher = University Press Of Kansas
| location = Lawrence, Kansas, U.S.A.
| id = ISBN 0700608702
}}
* Zaloga, Steven J. ''Japanese Tanks 1939-45.'' Osprey, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84603-091-8.
===Web===
*{{cite web
| last = Hank Nelson
| first =
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| date =
| year =
| month =
| url = http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/sources.html
| title = Report on Historical Sources on Australia and Japan at war in Papua and New Guinea, 1942-45
| format =
| work =
| pages =
| publisher =
| language =
| accessdate = 2006-12-13
| accessyear =
}}
*{{cite web
| last = U.S. Army Center of Military History
| first =
| authorlink =
| coauthors =
| date =
| year =
| month =
| url = http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/wwii/MacArthur%20Reports/MacArthur%20V2%20P1/macarthurv2.htm#contents
| title = Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I
| format =
| work = Reports of General MacArthur
| pages =
| publisher =
| language =
| accessdate = 2006-12-08
| accessyear =
}} 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]].
*[http://www.wwiireels.com National Archive Video of Hollandia Bay, New Guinea Invasion <b>VIEW ONLINE</b>]
===Notes===
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
[[Category:South West Pacific theatre of World War II|New Guinea 1942-45]]
[[Category:History of Papua New Guinea]]
[[ja:ニューギニアの戦い]]