Battle of Bita Paka

Battle of Bita Paka
Part of the Australian occupation of German New Guinea
An Australian soldier of the AN&MEF and his mother in Sydney, 1914, prior to departing for Rabaul
Date 11 September 1914 Location Bita Paka, south of Kabakaul on New Pomerania, German New Guinea Result Australian victory
Belligerents
Australia	Germany German New Guinea
Commanders and leaders
Charles Elwell †	Hans Wuchert
Strength
500 1 light cruiser several destroyers	61 Germans 240 Melanesian police
Casualties and losses
7 killed 5 wounded	31 killed (1 German, 30 Melanese police) 11 wounded (1 German, 10 Melanese police) 75 captured

The Battle of Bita Paka (11 September 1914) was fought south of Kabakaul, on the island of New Britain, and was a part of the invasion and subsequent occupation of German New Guinea by the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. Similar to New Zealand's operation against German Samoa in August, the main target of the operation was a strategically important wireless station—one of several used by the German East Asia Squadron—which the Australians believed to be located in the area. The powerful German naval fleet threatened British interests and its elimination was an early priority of the British and Australian governments during the war.

After an unopposed landing, a mixed force of German reservists and half-trained Melanesian police mounted a stout resistance and forced the Australians to fight their way to the objective. After a day of fighting during which both sides suffered casualties, Australian forces captured the wireless station at Bita Paka. The battle was Australia's first major military engagement of the war and the only significant action of the campaign; in its aftermath the remaining German forces on New Britain fled inland to Toma. Following a brief siege there the German garrison capitulated, ending resistance to the Australian occupation of the island.