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| Location Viru Harbor is an inlet located on the southeastern tip of New Georgia Island in the New Georgia Islands (New Georgia Group) in the central Solomon Islands. The entrance is 300 yards wide and 800 yards long bordered by coral cliffs with a narrow entrance then opens into the wider inner harbor fed by the mouths of three rivers: Mango River, Tita River and Viru River feed into the harbor. Tombe on the eastern side and Tetemara on the western side. Prewar, a 50' x 30' wharf was built at Viru Harbor for small ships. Prewar and during the Pacific War part of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP). Today located in Western Province in the Solomon Islands. Wartime History During the middle of 1943, occupied by 245 soldiers from the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), 229th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion under the command of Lt. Takagi. Later, reinforced by Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) personnel from 6th Kure Special Naval Landing Force (Kure 6th SNLF) and Yokosuka 7th Special Naval Landing Force (7th SNLF). The combined force was part of the 8th Combined Special Naval Landing Force. The Japanese emplaced a 76mm gun, four 80mm guns plus eight other guns were emplaced at Tetemara Point to defend the approach to Viru Harbor. The Japanese garrison was supported by barge. By late June 1943, they setup rear guard defensive positions to the east and fought rear guard actions as U.S. Marines advanced from Regi. On June 28, 1943 375 Marines from the 4th Marine Raider Battalion, 1st Raider Regiment under the command of Col. Michael S. Currin began advancing westward from Regi while overcoming Japanese rear guard positions as they approached Viru Harbor divided into two forces for a double envelopment maneuver to attack villages on each side of Viru Harbor. On June 30, 1943 in the early morning, USS Kilty APD-15 and USS Crosby APD-17 pass the mouth of Viru Harbor but learned the Marines were delayed and came under fire from the 76mm gun then diverted to Regi. Meanwhile, the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) 4th Marine Raiders, 1st Raider Regiment were still advancing towards Viru Harbor. Overnight, the eastern group of two platoons from Company P bivouac to the east of Tombe on the east side of Viru Harbor while Company P and Company O advanced further north, crossed the Viru River, Tita River and Mango River then established a bivouac west of Tetemara. Battle of Viru Harbor On July 1, 1943 in the morning, the Marines Raider began a double envelopment at 9:00am when two platoons from Company P assaulted Tombe. They surprised the small Japanese garrison quickly occupied the village counting 13 dead and scattering the remainder without any loss but the sounds of battle alerted the larger garrison at Tetemara. To support that Marines, seventeen SBD Dauntless dive bombers from VB-11 and VMSB-132 conduct a morning strike on Tetemara. Fifteen minutes later, Company P and Company O attacked from high ground and reached the edge of the village by 1:05pm. While the fighting was still in progress, U.S. landing craft to to resupply the Marines. As the Japanese realized they were trapped, they attempted to break out and were cut down with 48 Japanese dead in and captured the 76mm gun, four 80mm and eight other guns. The Japanese garrison was defeated with 61 killed and estimated 100 wounded. Roughly 170 Japanese managed to withdraw into the jungle and fled westward where they would join the Japanese garrison at Munda. The Marines lost 13 killed and 15 wounded from the force of 375 Marines. On July 4, 1943 U.S. Army Company B, 103rd Infantry Regiment reaches Tombe after a difficult jungle march from Nono. On July 10, 1943 additional Army reinforcements arrived and the Marines Raiders were withdrawn to Guadalcanal. Afterwards, Viru Harbor was surveyed for use as a forward PT Boat base, but it was determined to be unfavorable and the base was instead established at Rendova PT Boat Base (Lumbaria). During July 1943 until October 1943, Viru Harbor was used as a forward staging base for barges to support U.S. forces on Rendova Island and New Georgia. U.S. Navy 20th Naval Construction Battalion (20th NCB) "Seabees" arrived at Viru Harbor and repaired the prewar 50' x 30' wharf using coral rubble and coconut logs and provided stevedore services, build roads, build a marine railway and establish beach defenses. In October 1943, the Seabees departed to develop Rendova PT Boat Base (Bau Island). References History of the U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II - Chapter 2 pages 63, 64, 65, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 78, 85 Footnotes 5, 13 Marines in the Central Solomons Chapter 2 Plans and Preliminary Operations pages 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 U.S. Army in WWII The Reduction of Rabaul Chapter VI Toenails: The Landings in New Georgia pages 70, 71, 73, 76, 81, 83-85 (Viru Harbor), footnotes 20, 30 Contribute
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 Map June 30, 1943 Map July 1, 1943 |
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