Part of the Bougainville Campaign of the Pacific Theatre (World War II)
25 pounder guns from the Australian 4th Field Regiment fire upon Japanese positions near Porton Plantation, June 1945
Date
8–10 June 1945[1]
Location
Bougainville, New Guinea
Result
Japanese victory
Belligerents
Australia New Zealand
Japan
Commanders and leaders
John Stevenson Joseph Kelly Clyde Downs (KIA)
Eikichi Kato
Units involved
31st/51st Infantry Battalion
87th Naval Garrison Force
Strength
190 infantrymen Artillery and air support
400–500 infantrymen
Casualties and losses
23 killed, 106 wounded
26 killed
v
t
e
Bougainville campaign
Japanese Invasion
1943
1st Cape Torokina
Empress Augusta Bay
Koromokina Lagoon
Piva Trail
Coconut Grove
Piva Forks
Cape St. George
Koiari Raid
Hellzapoppin Ridge & Hill 600A
1944
2nd Cape Torokina
Pearl Ridge
1945
Tsimba Ridge
Slater's Knoll
Hongorai River
Porton Plantation
Ratsua
The Battle of Porton Plantation (8–10 June 1945) took place near the village of Soraken on Bougainville Island, in the Solomon Islands archipelago during World War II. Involving forces from Australia, New Zealand and Japan, the battle was part of the wider Bougainville campaign, which had begun in late 1943 and lasted until the end of the war in August 1945. The battle formed part of Australian efforts to liberate the northern part of Bougainville.
The fighting occurred after a company-sized Australian force from the 31st/51st Infantry Battalion made an amphibious landing north of the Porton Plantation[Note 1] jetties in an attempt to outflank the Japanese positions on the Ratsua front, which were holding up the advance of the 26th and the 31st/51st Infantry Battalions from the 11th Brigade. The Australians landed unopposed and established a small perimeter, but some of their landing craft ran aground and they were unable to bring their heavy weapons and support elements ashore. Troops from the Japanese 87th Naval Garrison Force quickly surrounded the beachhead and, as their supply situation grew desperate, the Australians were forced to withdraw. In the course of their evacuation by sea another landing craft ran aground. Over the next two days several unsuccessful rescue attempts were made until eventually, in the early morning of 11 June, the last Australian survivors were picked up.
The battle was a victory for the Japanese and it proved instrumental in helping them to regain the initiative in the northern sector of Bougainville. As a result, shortly afterwards the Australian forces on Bougainville changed the focus of their operations to the southern sector of the island where they were able to advance along the coastal plain towards the main Japanese position at Buin. Since the end of the war, there has been considerable criticism of the planning undertaken by the Australians prior to the operation, and it has been argued that the operation failed due to poor intelligence and lack of resources and was ultimately unnecessary.
^Davidson 2005, p. vii.
^Tanaka 1980, p. 296.
Cite error: There are <ref group=Note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=Note}} template (see the help page).
and 20 Related for: Battle of Porton Plantation information
The BattleofPortonPlantation (8–10 June 1945) took place near the village of Soraken on Bougainville Island, in the Solomon Islands archipelago during...
Überlingen, Germany. The BattleofPortonPlantation ended in Japanese victory. The Battleof North Borneo began. The Battleof Labuan began between Allied...
Battalion, Far North Queensland Regiment. Porton Barracks was named after the BattleofPortonPlantation. A battle during the Second World War that involved...
and on the verge of being exterminated. Although Japanese losses were probably higher in the resulting BattleofPortonPlantation, the defenders received...
at PortonPlantation in early June, which was part of an attempt to outflank a series of strong points that the Japanese had built across the base of the...
of the Imperial Japanese Navy forces on the Bonis Peninsula and Buka Island. Captain Kato was charged of the murder of seven civilian inhabitants of North...
The Battleof Empress Augusta Bay, on 1–2 November 1943 – also known as the Battleof Gazelle Bay, Operation Cherry Blossom, and in Japanese sources as...
The Battle for Piva Trail was a battle between United States Marine Corps and Imperial Japanese Army forces on Bougainville Island. The battle took place...
The Battleof the Coconut Grove was a battle between United States Marine Corps and Imperial Japanese Army forces on Bougainville Island during the Pacific...
The Battleof Piva Forks, also known as the Battleof Numa–Numa Trail, was an engagement that took place during the Bougainville campaign in World War...
The Battleof Pearl Ridge (30–31 December 1944) was an engagement of the Second World War fought between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville...
The Battleof the Koromokina Lagoon was fought between the United States Marine Corps and Imperial Japanese Army forces on Bougainville Island. It took...
The Battleof Hellzapoppin Ridge and Hill 600A consisted of a series of engagements fought in mid-December 1943 on Bougainville between forces of the...
the base of the Bonis Peninsula between Ratsua and Ruri Bay. The 31st/51st would later take part in the failed landing at PortonPlantation in June, where...
Maitland, Gordon (1999). The Second World War and its Australian Army Battle Honours. East Roseville, New South Wales: Kangaroo Press. ISBN 0-86417-975-8...
1944 until close to the end of the war. Major actions were fought around Slater's Knoll, Tsimba Ridge, PortonPlantation, and Ratsua, and along the Hongorai...
was a battle that occurred between 28 and 29 November 1943 in the Pacific theater of World War II between American and Japanese forces. Part of the Bougainville...
but administratively part of the Territory of New Guinea at the time of the battle, Bougainville lies at the northwestern end of the Solomon Islands chain...
Japanese lines at PortonPlantation, but was forced to withdraw after hitting a strong Japanese position. The next month was mostly a period of rest, although...