Battle of Slater's Knoll

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Slater's Knoll
partof=the Pacific Theater of World War II


caption=April 5, 1945. The view forward of Australian 25th Battalion positions on Slater's Knoll, Bougainville.
date=March 28, 1945-April 5, 1945
place=Bougainville, Territory of New Guinea, South Pacific
result=Decisive Australian victory
combatant1=flagicon|Australia Australia
combatant2=flagicon|Empire of Japan Empire of Japan
commander1=flagicon|Australia John McKinna
commander2=flagicon|Empire of Japan Tsutomu Akinaga
strength1=756
strength2=2,700
casualties1=189 casualties
casualties2=292 dead, an unknown number of wounded, four POW

The Battle of Slater's Knoll was a major attack by Japanese forces on Australian positions around the Puriata River and Buin Road, in south eastern Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during March and April 1945.

Background

At the beginning of 1945, the south eastern part of Bougainville was occupied by the Japanese 6th Division, under Lieutenant General Tsutomu Akinaga. On January 21, the commander of Australian II Corps, Lt Gen Stanley Savige, directed the 3rd Division to take "swift and vigorous action" to destroy Japanese forces in southern Bougainville. The division's immediate task was to advance eastward to the Puriata, and send patrols across it. Savige considered that the Japanese division was "weak and off balance." This was an accurate reflection of the impact that casualties, disease and a shortage of supplies had inflicted on the division. The Australian 25th Battalion, under Lt Col. John McKinna, advanced north east from Toko on the coast, along the west bank of the Puriata, towards the Buin Road.

On March 4, a company from the 25th Battalion crossed the Puriata River southward, at the point where the Buin Road crossed, on a north-facing bend, later known as Galvin's Crossing. The following day the Japanese were forced off a small knoll close to the river and the road, about a kilometre (1,000 yards) south of the crossing. On March 6, Japanese shelling of the knoll wounded one Australian, Private Carl Slater, who held his post until relieved. The knoll was named after him as a result. The 25th Battalion continued to expand its perimeter, to the north and south, along the Buin Road.

Although the Japanese made sporadic shelling attacks on the knoll during March, there were no further casualties. The 25th Battalion sent out patrols every day, and on March 9, one of these reported having killed ten Japanese soldiers without loss to itself. The Japanese also began making dawn attacks, in which light machine gunners would approach by stealth, set up and fire on to the Australian positions, before retiring to their own lines, 250 metres away. The Australians began to expect a major attack in the area of the knoll.

The battle

References

* [http://www.awm.gov.au/cms_images/histories/23/chapters/07.pdf Gavin Long, "Official Histories – Second World War Volume VII — The Final Campaigns" (1st edition, 1963) "Chapter 7: To Slater's Knoll and Soraken"]
* [http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/uploads/approved/adt-NWU20060712.150556/public/02Whole.pdf Karl James, "The Final Campaigns: Bougainville 1944-1945" (PhD thesis, University of Wollongong)]