New Guinea campaign

New Guinea Campaign
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
7 January 1943. Australian forces attack Japanese positions near Buna. Members of the 2/12th Infantry Battalion advance as Stuart tanks from the 2/6th Armoured Regiment attack Japanese pillboxes. An upward-firing machine gun on the tank sprays treetops to clear them of snipers. (Photographer: George Silk).
Australian forces attack Japanese positions near Buna
Date23 January 1942 – 15 August 1945
Location
Australian Papua and New Guinea;
Dutch New Guinea
Result Allied victory
Belligerents

 Australia

 United States
 United Kingdom
Netherlands		  Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Strength
350,000[1]
Casualties and losses

42,000 total[2]

  • Australia (c.7,000 killed)[3]
  • United States 12,291 (4,684 killed)[4]

202,100 total dead

  • 127,600 on New Guinea main island[3]
  • 44,000 on Bougainville[3]
  • 30,500 on New Britain, New Ireland, and the Admiralty Islands[3]

The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Territory of New Guinea on 23 January and Territory of Papua on 21 July and overran western New Guinea (part of the Netherlands East Indies) beginning on 29 March. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then New Guinea, and finally from the Dutch colony.

The campaign resulted in a crushing defeat and heavy losses for the Empire of Japan. As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. Most Japanese troops never even came into contact with Allied forces and were instead simply cut off and subjected to an effective blockade by Allied naval forces. Garrisons were effectively besieged and denied shipments of food and medical supplies, and as a result some claim that 97% of Japanese deaths in this campaign were from non-combat causes.[5] According to John Laffin, the campaign "was arguably the most arduous fought by any Allied troops during World War II."[6]

  1. ^ Tanaka 1980, p. ii.
  2. ^ New Guinea: The US Army Campaigns of World War II Archived 21 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine. 8,500 prior to January 1943, 24,000 between January 1943 and April 1944, and 9,500 from April 1944 to the end of the war. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Fenton, Damien (1 June 2004). "How many died?". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  4. ^ Statistical and Accounting Branch Office of the Adjutant General 1953, p. 94
  5. ^ Stevens, David. "The Naval Campaigns for New Guinea". Journal of the Australian War Memorial: paragraph 30. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
  6. ^ Laffin 1986, p. 303