More than mopping up: Bougainville

Abstract

Bougainville was one of the largest campaigns fought by Australians during the Second World War. More than 30,000 Australians served on the island, over 500 were killed and two Victoria Crosses were awarded. By 1945, Australia had been marginalised from the key battles that would defeat Japan, relegated instead to bypassed areas in Australia's Mandated Territory of New Guinea and Bougainville, and on Borneo. The necessity of these campaigns was debated in parliament while the press echoed such criticisms. As this author has argued elsewhere, Bougainville was a necessary campaign. It fulfilled the Australian government's long-stated policies of maintaining an active military effort and employing Australian forces in Australian territory, and was conceived when the war was expected to continue until at least 1946.