The Bougainville counterattack (also known as the Second Battle of Torokina[3]) was an

unsuccessful Japanese offensive against the Allied base at Cape Torokina, on Bougainville Island,
during the Pacific War of World War II. The Japanese attack began on 8 March 1944 after months of
preparation, and was repulsed by United States Army forces in fighting which lasted until 25 March.
The attack was hampered by inaccurate intelligence and poor planning and was defeated by the
well-prepared Allied defenders, who greatly outnumbered the Japanese force. The Japanese
suffered severe casualties, while Allied losses were light.
The goal of the offensive was to destroy the Allied beachhead, which accommodated three
strategically important airfields. The Japanese wrongly believed that their forces were about as large
as the units deployed to defend the Allied positions. The Allies detected Japanese preparations for
the attack shortly after they began in early 1944 and strengthened the base's defenses. None of the
three Japanese forces which conducted the attack was able to penetrate far into the Allied
perimeter, though there was intense fighting for several positions.
The Bougainville counterattack was the last big Japanese offensive in the Solomon Islands
Campaign. Following the engagement the Japanese force withdrew from the Empress Augusta
Bay area and only limited fighting took place until late 1944, when Australian troops took over from
the Americans and began a series of advances across the island until the end of the war in August
1945.