Battle of Vella Lavella (land)

Battle of Vella Lavella
	Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
	; New Zealand soldiers land at Baka Baka, Vella Lavella to relieve the U.S. 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division, on 17 September 1943.
Date	15 August – 9 October 1943
Location	Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
United States; New Zealand; Colony of Fiji	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
	Theodore S. Wilkinson; Oscar Griswold; H. E. Barrowclough
Strength
9,588	700
Casualties and losses
150 killed	200 killed

7°44′S 156°38′E / 7.733°S 156.633°E / -7.733; 156.633 The Battle of Vella Lavella was fought from 15 August – 9 October 1943 between Japan and the Allied forces from New Zealand and the United States. Vella Lavella is an island located in the Solomon Islands that had been occupied by Japanese forces. The Allies successfully recaptured the island. Barakoma Airfield on Vella Lavella was later the homebase of VMF-214 "Blacksheep" and its CO Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington.

Notes

^ Miller, Cartwheel, p. 176 & Gillespie, Official History, p. 128. Ground forces included 5,888 U.S. and 3,700 New Zealanders.
^ Gillespie, Official History, p. 128 & 139.
^ Gillespie, Official History, p. 142. Includes ground force and naval support personnel.
^ Gillespie, Official History, p. 139.

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Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). "Chapter XIII: Vella Lavella". Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0-7858-1307-1.
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"The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, 1939–1945: I: Vella Lavella".
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Miller, John, Jr. (1959). "CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul". United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. p. 418. Retrieved October 20, 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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