Numa Numa Trail

American soldiers advancing through the jungle, while on patrol in Japanese territory off the Numa-Numa Trail, 1 May 1944

The Numa Numa Trail is a trail on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea that runs from Numa Numa near Wakunai, Teperoi and Casuarina Island, a large coconut plantation[1] on the east coast, where it also gave its name to Numa Numa Harbour,[2] over the central mountains of Bougainville to Torokina on the western coast.

The trail was central to the Torokina perimeter defence during the initial phases of the Bougainville campaign during World War II with a number of battles fought along the trail.[3][4]

  1. ^ DiscoverBougainville.org: Wakunai
  2. ^ Australian War Memorial: Numa Numa, Bougainville Island
  3. ^ Australia 1944-45: Victory in the Pacific, ed. Peter J Dean, CUP 2016, ISBN 9781107083462, p. 238 (online version)
  4. ^ Benis M. Frank: A Brief History of the 3rd Marines, Marine Corps Historical Reference Series No 35, Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington DC, repr. 1962, pp. 9-10 (online version)