The 15th Brigade, excluding the 57th/60th, moved north to take part in the battle around the Huon Peninsula and the Huon Gulf, specifically in the Salamaua–Lae campaign. While the rest of the 15th Brigade took part in this fighting, the 57th/60th Battalion began in early July 1943 to move to the Watut Valley to set up and conduct the defensive garrison for the Allied airbase being secretly constructed at Tsili Tsili by American airborne engineers. The base at Tsili Tsili was required to provide fighter support for bombers on long-range bombing missions.