Throughout late 1942 and early 1943, the Japanese offensive in New Guinea lost momentum with losses to Australian and US forces at Milne Bay, along the Kokoda Track and around Buna–Gona. The most significant loss for the Imperial Japanese Army was the Battle of Guadalcanal, the first American counteroffensive of the war, in which the Japanese lost over 25,000 men, and, after the capture of the island, Guadalcanal became one of the largest naval and air bases in the region. The battle was the first major Allied victory on land in the Pacific Theater, and Guadalcanal would later be used as the point from which the United States Marines would attack the Palau Islands, Bougainville, and Guam.