The Battle of Piva Forks, also known as the Battle of Numa–Numa Trail, was an engagement that took place during the Bougainville campaign in World War II. Occurring between 18 and 25 November 1943 on Bougainville Island in the South Pacific, the battle involved troops from the United States Marine Corps and the United States Army fighting against Imperial Japanese Army forces and took place amidst the context of the expansion of a beachhead that US forces had established around Torokina on the western side of the island.
First phase of the battle
Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines advance through the mud
A US flamethrower team assaults a Japanese pillbox
The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific.
United States Army soldiers hunt Japanese infiltrators on Bougainville in March 1944.
Landing beaches near Cape Torokina
Landing craft circling off Cape Torokina
Antiaircraft gunners at Cape Torokina