The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE, was a battle of the Second World War which took place on the eastern tip of New Guinea from August 25 to September 7, 1942, during the Pacific campaign. The Battle of Milne Bay broke out when Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on August 25. The Japanese objective was to capture the Allied airfields at Milne Bay to provide air and naval support to the Japanese Kokoda Track campaign to take Port Moresby, New Guinea.
The 18th Infantry Brigade of the Australian 7th Division and elements of the Australian 14th Brigade, under the command of Cyril Clowes, were in charge of the defense of the base at Milne Bay. The attacking force was the elite Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces commanded by Minoro Yano. The Battle of Milne Bay began at 11:30 hours on August 25, when the the Japanese landed 1,150 troops and two Type 95 Ha-Go tanks, at Ahioma on the northern shore of Milne Bay, ten miles east of their intended landing area.
The fighting was ferocious as the Australian forces put up fierce and stiff resistance. On September 5, the Japanese high command ordered a withdrawal, and on September 6 the Australian counter-offensive reached the main camp of the Japanese landing force. By September 7, 1942, most of the Japanese had withdrawn and the last enemy troops that remained behind annihilated. This military engagement was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces, forcing them to withdraw and completely abandon their strategic objective.
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