Solomon Islands campaign

Solomon Islands campaign
Part of the Pacific War of World War II
Map of the Solomon Islands showing the Allied advance during 1943 and key air and naval bases.
Date January 1942 – 21 August 1945 Location British Solomon Islands/Territory of New Guinea, South Pacific Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States  United Kingdom  • Solomon Islands  • Fiji  • Tonga  Australia  New Zealand	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Chester Nimitz Douglas MacArthur Alexander Vandegrift Robert Ghormley William Halsey Jr. Alexander Patch Frank Jack Fletcher Richmond K. Turner Roy Geiger Theodore Stark Wilkinson Oscar Griswold William Rupertus Eric Feldt[a] Stanley Savige Harold Barrowclough William Sydney Marchant[b]	Isoroku Yamamoto † Chūichi Nagumo † Shigeyoshi Inoue Nishizo Tsukahara Takeo Kurita Kiyohide Shima Jinichi Kusaka Shōji Nishimura † Gunichi Mikawa Raizo Tanaka Hitoshi Imamura Harukichi Hyakutake Minoru Sasaki Hatazō Adachi
Casualties and losses
10,600 killed 40+ ships sunk, 800 aircraft destroyed[c]	86,000 killed 50+ ships sunk, 1,500 aircraft destroyed (Most of the Japanese deaths were from disease or starvation)[c]

The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War during World War II. The campaign began with the Japanese seizure of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. Japanese troops subsequently began the construction of several naval and air bases in the area. Japan's initial goals were to protect the flank of their ongoing offensive in New Guinea, establish a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and construct bases from which they could interdict supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.

In order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, the Allies initiated a counteroffensive in New Guinea and counterattacked Japanese forces in the Solomons via landings on Guadalcanal (see Guadalcanal campaign) and small neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. The ultimate Allied objective was to capture, isolate, or otherwise neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul. These Allied offensives initiated a series of land, air and naval engagements with Japan, beginning with the amphibious landings on Guadalcanal. Over the course of the campaign, multiple major battles were fought in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and on Bougainville Island.

In a campaign of attrition fought on land, at sea, and in the air, the Allies inflicted heavy losses on Japanese forces. Japan was ultimately unable to replace these losses, particularly in terms of experienced aircrew and pilots. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands by force (although Japanese resistance continued until the end of the war), while simultaneously isolating and otherwise neutralizing other Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign eventually converged with the New Guinea campaign.
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