The Landings at Cape Torokina were the beginning of the Bougainville campaign in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, between the military forces of the Empire of Japan

Empire of Japan

The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...

 and the Allied powers

Allies of World War II

The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...

. The amphibious landings

Amphibious warfare

Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...

 by the United States Marine Corps

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

 commenced on November 1, 1943 on Bougainville Island in the Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands

Solomon Islands is a sovereign state in Oceania, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. It covers a land mass of . The capital, Honiara, is located on the island of Guadalcanal...

 of the South Pacific

Oceania

Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...

.

The 3rd and 9th Marines of the 3rd Marine Division assaulted Cape Torokina along an 8,000-yard front at 0710. Because of the possibility of an immediate Japanese counterattack by air units, the initial assault wave landed 7,500 Marines by 0730. These seized the lightly defended area by 1100, suffering 78 killed in action while virtually annihilating the 270 troops of the Japanese 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment. Marine Raiders

Marine Raiders

The Marine Raiders were elite units established by the United States Marine Corps during World War II to conduct amphibious light infantry warfare, particularly in landing in rubber boats and operating behind the lines...

 also seized Puruata Island just offshore.

Sgt. Robert A. Owens

Robert A. Owens

Sergeant Robert Allen Owens was a United States Marine who was killed in action during World War II. He was posthumously awarded his nation's highest military award — the Medal of Honor — for his heroic actions on his first day in combat at Bougainville...

 was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor

Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

for singlehandedly seizing the sole Japanese artillery emplacement shelling the landing force, at the cost of his life, after it had destroyed four landing craft and damaged ten others.