The 8th Brigade remained on New Caledonia until early September when they moved to Guadalcanal as the 3rd Division was assigned a combat role in the Solomon Islands campaign. As a part of this campaign, the 8th Brigade – with supporting Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter aircraft as well as engineers and anti-tank, anti-aircraft and field artillery units – took part in the capturing the Treasury Islands in October–November 1943. The Treasuries were a small group of islands that were south of the larger island of Bougainville and were seen by the Allies as a stepping-stone towards landing forces there. For the operation, the brigade was detached from the New Zealand 3rd Division and placed under the operational command of the US 1st Marine Amphibious Corps.