The division was defending Cape Torokina when US forces landed there, launching the Bougainville Campaign in November 1943. It was subsequently annihilated on Bougainville in 1945. In March 1944, the division took part in a large-scale counterattack aimed at capturing the Allied perimeter around Torokina. During this action, the division suffered heavy losses (the division's infantry group had 1,787 men remaining alive of 4,923 men initially) and ceased to exist as an organized unit. The parts of division cornered in the Buin district of New Guinea suffered heavily from the loss of supplies and food. Losses mounted after the Australians started another offensive in November 1944. The surrender document was signed in September 1945 on the nearby Fauro Island.