New Guinea campaign

The New Guinea campaign was a series of Allied and Japanese military operations on and around New Guinea from 1942 to 1945. It involved fighting across jungle, mountains, and coastal air and sea routes.

Kokoda Track campaign: A 1942 campaign in which Australian forces fought Japanese troops along a mountain track in Papua. Its struggle over the Owen Stanley Range blocked the Japanese advance toward Port Moresby.
Battle of Wau: A 1943 battle in which Australian forces repelled a Japanese attack on the Allied base at Wau, New Guinea. Its outcome secured a key base for Allied advances in the northeast.
Douglas MacArthur: A United States Army general who commanded Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during much of the Second World War. His headquarters directed the major Allied advances through New Guinea.
New Guinea: The world's second-largest island, north of Australia, divided between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. Its mountains, rainforests, and long coasts defined the campaign's operating environment.
Leapfrogging (military strategy): A strategy of bypassing enemy strongholds to capture strategically useful positions beyond them. Allied forces bypassed some Japanese bases in New Guinea instead of attacking every garrison.
Battle of Milne Bay: A 1942 battle in which Allied forces defeated a Japanese landing at Milne Bay in eastern Papua. It was the first major defeat of a Japanese amphibious landing on land.
Salamaua–Lae campaign: A 1943 Allied campaign to capture the Japanese-held towns of Salamaua and Lae in northeastern New Guinea. Its coordinated landings and overland advances opened the route toward the Huon Peninsula.
Thomas Blamey: An Australian Army general who commanded Australian forces in the Southwest Pacific during the Second World War. He led Australian forces through key New Guinea operations and oversaw their campaign-level command.
South West Pacific Area: A Second World War Allied command area encompassing Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding parts of the Pacific. New Guinea was a central theater within this command's broader operations.
Rabaul: A town on New Britain that became Japan's major naval and air base in the Southwest Pacific. The New Guinea advances helped isolate Rabaul without capturing it.

Linked from 7 pages