SOLOMON ISLANDS
INFANTRYMEN FIRING MORTAR, located on one side of a bitterly contested hill, at Japanese positions on the other side of the hill, 8 March 1944. The mortar is a 60-mm. M2 on mount M2. The Japanese forces had been ordered to drive the Allied forces from Bougainville because of the precarious situation at Rabaul.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
MEMBERS OF A PATROL CROSSING A RIVER on Bougainville. The bamboo poles on the right in the river form a fish trap. At the end of 1943, further offensive action on Bougainville had not been planned because of expected new strategic plans of operations against the enemy; however, renewed enemy activity evidenced in February 1944 necessitated further action.
SOLOMON ISLANDS
HALF-TRACK PERSONNEL CARRIER M3 mounting a .30-caliber machine gun parked at base of hill, its machine gun trained on a hillside target. This vehicle was used to bring men and supplies to the fighting lines and had seating capacity for thirteen men. The roller in front assisted in climbing out of ditches (top). Infantrymen, walking through a lane between barbed wire, carry 60-mm. mortar shells to the front lines (bottom).
