Qualla: Battle of the Hongorai River

Battle of the Hongorai River: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Lieutenant General Stanley Savige thought he was facing 17,500 Japanese soldiers on Bougainville. He was wrong by more than half. The actual figure, uncovered only after the war, was closer to 40,000 - and in early 1945 he sent Australian Militia battalions south down the Buin Road to clear them out. The Battle of the Hongorai River was what happened when that arithmetic met the jungle. Between 17 April and 22 May 1945, the Australian 15th Brigade advanced roughly seven thousand yards - just under four miles - at a cost of 38 dead and 159 wounded. Japanese losses ran to at least 275 killed. None of it was strategically decisive. The war ended three months later, before the Australians reached Buin.

Battle of the Hongorai River: An Offensive No One Needed

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By April 1945, the Pacific War's center of gravity had moved far away. MacArthur was in the Philippines; the B-29s were burning Tokyo. On Bougainville, the Americans who had taken Cape Torokina in late 1943 had chosen a sensible plan: hold the perimeter, let the Japanese starve i...

Battle of the Hongorai River: Dawe's Creek, 17 April

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The first fight came almost immediately. At Dawe's Creek the 24th Infantry Battalion, supported by Matilda tanks from the 2/4th Armoured Regiment, ran into concealed pillboxes and machine guns. For two days, two companies clawed across a muddy creek under more than 700 artillery ...

Battle of the Hongorai River: The Tanks and the Jungle

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Matilda tanks were ungainly things, but in the dense Bougainville bush they were often the difference between life and death. On 5 May, along the Buin Road, the lead Matilda's machine gun jammed in front of a hidden field gun. The Japanese gunners hit it, wounding the crew. The s...

Battle of the Hongorai River: Egan's Ridge

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The crossing of the Hongorai was planned for 20 May, with three battalions moving on a broad front - the 58th/59th hooking right, the 57th/60th feinting left along the Commando Road, the 24th driving straight up the middle through the Pororei ford. Between them and Buin loomed Eg...

Battle of the Hongorai River: The Rain That Ended the War

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By 22 May the Hongorai was behind the Australians and the Buin Road was open. The 15th Brigade pushed on - crossed the Hari on 10 June, crossed the Mobiai in July, and handed off to the 29th Brigade for the drive on the Mivo. Then the sky broke. The Mivo rose two meters. The Buin...