Combat· World War II
Laruma River Japanese Counterlanding
About a week after the Bougainville landing, the Japanese tried to strike back.
Destroyers carried hundreds of soldiers down from Rabaul and put them ashore at night, west of the Marine perimeter between the Laruma River and Koromokina Lagoon. The enemy hoped to roll up the Marine flank and drive the landing force into the sea. They came ashore scattered along too wide a front, which kept them from organizing a single hard blow. A Marine company met the first attackers and called in artillery and mortars. The fighting was close and fierce in dense jungle. Fresh Marine companies pushed through to keep up the pressure, and over the next day the counterlanding force was hemmed in, then crushed by infantry, artillery, and dive bombers. The Japanese plan to break the beachhead had failed completely.
Podcast episodes on World War II
Record no. 857