Follow
'"Land Battle"'
The Battle of Vella Lavella was fought from 15 August – 6 October 1943 between Japan and the Allied forces from New Zealand and the United States at the end of the New Georgia campaign. Vella Lavella, an island located in the Solomon Islands, had been occupied by Japanese forces early during the war in the Pacific. Following the fighting around Munda Point, the Allies recaptured the island in late 1943, following a decision to bypass a large concentration of Japanese troops on the island of Kolombangara.
After a landing at Barakoma on 15 August, US troops advanced along the coasts, pushing the Japanese north. In September, New Zealand troops took over from the Americans and they continued to advance across the island, hemming the small Japanese garrison along the north coast. On 6 October, the Japanese began an evacuation operation to withdraw the remaining troops, during which the Naval Battle of Vella Lavella was fought. Following the capture of the island, the Allies developed it into an important airbase which was used in the reduction of main Japanese base at Rabaul.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vella_Lavella_(land)
Naval Battle
The Battle of Vella Lavella (第二次ベララベラ海戦, Dainiji Berarabera kaisen) was a naval battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought on the night of 6 October 1943, near the island of Vella Lavella in the Solomon Islands. It marked the end of a three-month fight to capture the central Solomon Islands, as part of the Solomon Islands Campaign.
The battle took place at the end of the ground campaign on Vella Lavella, as the Japanese sought to evacuate the 600-strong garrison from the island. The garrison had become hemmed into a small pocket on the northern end of the island around Marquana Bay. While a force of around 20 auxiliary ships and barges evacuated the stranded soldiers, a force of nine Japanese destroyers fought a short, but sharp engagement with six US Navy destroyers to the north of the island, thus diverting attention from the evacuation. As a result of the engagement, the Japanese evacuation effort was successfully concluded. Each side lost one destroyer sunk.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vella_Lavella_(naval)