Battle of Milne Bay

Battle of Milne Bay
Part of the New Guinea Campaign of the Pacific Theater (World War II)
Australian troops at Milne Bay in 1942, shortly after the battle
Date 25 August 1942 (1942-08-25) – 7 September 1942 (1942-09-07) Location Milne Bay, Territory of Papua Result Allied victory
Belligerents
Australia  United States	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Cyril Clowes	Gunichi Mikawa Masajiro Hayashi Minoru Yano
Units involved
7th Infantry Brigade 9th Battalion 25th Battalion 61st Battalion 14th Infantry Brigade 55th Battalion 18th Infantry Brigade 2/9th Battalion 2/10th Battalion 2/12th Battalion RAAF No. 75 Squadron RAAF No. 76 Squadron RAAF Support elements of: 101st Anti-Tank Regiment 9 Battery, 2/3rd Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment 2/5th Field Regiment 46th Engineers Battalion 101st Coast Artillery Battalion (Anti-Aircraft)	Special Naval Landing Force 3rd Kure SNLF 5th Kure SNLF 5th Sasebo SNLF 5th Yokosuka SNLF Naval support from: 8th Fleet 18th Cruiser Division 29th Destroyer Division
Strength
8,824[1]	1,943[2] Land Troops with Tanks
Casualties and losses
Australia: 167 killed or missing 206 wounded[3] United States: 14 killed[3]	625 killed[4] 311 wounded[2]

The Battle of Milne Bay (25 August – 7 September 1942), also known as Operation RE or the Battle of Rabi (ラビの戦い) by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines, known as Kaigun Tokubetsu Rikusentai (Special Naval Landing Forces), with two small tanks attacked the Allied airfields at Milne Bay that had been established on the eastern tip of New Guinea. Due to poor intelligence work, the Japanese miscalculated the size of the predominantly Australian garrison and, believing that the airfields were defended by only two or three companies, initially landed a force roughly equivalent in size to one battalion on 25 August 1942. The Allies, forewarned by intelligence from Ultra, had heavily reinforced the garrison.

Despite suffering a significant setback at the outset, when part of their small invasion force had its landing craft destroyed by Royal Australian Air Force aircraft as they attempted to land on the coast behind the Australian defenders, the Japanese quickly pushed inland and began their advance towards the airfields. Heavy fighting followed as they encountered the Australian Militia troops that formed the first line of defence. These troops were steadily pushed back, but the Australians brought forward veteran Second Australian Imperial Force units that the Japanese had not expected. Allied air superiority helped tip the balance, providing close support to troops in combat and targeting Japanese logistics. Finding themselves heavily outnumbered, lacking supplies and suffering heavy casualties, the Japanese withdrew their forces, with fighting coming to an end on 7 September 1942.

The battle is often described as the first major battle of the war in the Pacific in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces. Although Japanese land forces had experienced local setbacks elsewhere in the Pacific earlier in the war, unlike at Milne Bay, these earlier actions had not forced them to withdraw completely and abandon their strategic objective. Nor did they have such a profound impact upon the thoughts and perceptions of the Allies towards the Japanese, and their prospects for victory. Milne Bay showed the limits of Japanese capability to expand using relatively small forces in the face of increasingly larger Allied troop concentrations and command of the air. As a result of the battle, Allied morale was boosted and Milne Bay was developed into a major Allied base, which was used to mount subsequent operations in the region.