Qualla: Battle of the Treasury Islands

Battle of the Treasury Islands: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. The operation was codenamed Goodtime. That kind of black humor was typical of the Pacific war's planners, who knew exactly what they were asking infantry to do. Mono and Stirling - the two little islands the Allies called the Treasuries - were worth taking for a single strategic reason: they were not the real target. Somewhere to the north, the bigger landing at Cape Torokina on Bougainville was about to open the final phase of the Solomons campaign. The New Zealanders and their American supporters would land at Mono and draw Japanese attention the wrong way. At 06:06 on 27 October 1943, in driving rain, two infantry battalions climbed into landing craft and went ashore.

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain

Battle of the Treasury Islands: Two Islands in the Middle of Everything

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. The Treasuries sit 300 miles northwest of Guadalcanal, tucked 18 miles south of the Shortlands - close enough to Japanese airfields that the roar of engines could reach them on a still morning. Mono is the larger island, mountainous and jungled; Stirling is its flatter neighbor a...

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain

Battle of the Treasury Islands: Rain and First Light

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. The assault wave numbered 3,795 men. They had rehearsed off Florida Island, but nothing cleans the nerves off an amphibious landing, and the heavy rain that morning cut visibility to yards. Seven fast destroyer-transports disgorged their smaller landing craft west of Cummings Poi...

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain

Battle of the Treasury Islands: The Fight Inland

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. Resistance came later, and piecemeal. The Japanese defenders - soldiers of a small garrison with no naval support - fell back into the caves of Mono's northern coast and the high ground above Falamai. Over eleven days, New Zealand patrols worked through the jungle to clear them. ...

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain

Battle of the Treasury Islands: What Planners Call a Success

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. The distraction worked. Japanese air units focused on the Treasuries and on a simultaneous raid on Choiseul, and the landing at Cape Torokina on 1 November got its critical first days without the air storm that might otherwise have fallen. Late on 27 October, 25 Japanese dive bom...

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain

Battle of the Treasury Islands: After the War

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, Public domain. What came next was the engineering. The 87th Naval Construction Battalion built 21 miles of road, a PT boat base on Stirling, and an airstrip 5,600 by 200 feet that was later extended to 7,000. Wharves rose on timber crib piers to accept ocean-going ships. A 100-bed hospital open...

Image: Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps | Public domain