This was followed in October 1943 by the Battle of the Treasury Islands, involving the 8th Brigade and which was the first amphibious landing mounted under fire by New Zealand forces since the Gallipoli landing in 1915. This, like the operations at Vella Lavella, was a success with the Japanese opposition being quickly suppressed. In early 1944, Barrowclough commanded a force of nearly 16,500 men during the Battle of the Green Islands, only a third of which were elements of his own division. The remainder were American forces.