page_title: 34th Battalion (New Zealand)
section_title: Solomon Islands
hierarchical_section_title: 34th Battalion (New Zealand) / History / Solomon Islands
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking from Mono Island, across Blanche Harbour, to Stirling Island, Solomon Islands, during World War 2. Photographer unidentified. New Zealand. Department of Internal Affairs. War History Branch :Photographs relating to World War 1914-1918, World War 1939-1945, occupation of Japan, Korean War, and Malayan Emergency. Ref: 1/2-044769-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
context_page_description: The 34th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the New Zealand Military Forces, which served during the Second World War. Formed in Fiji in late 1940, it saw service in the Pacific against the Japanese.
  The 34th Battalion was initially used for garrison duties on Fiji and New Caledonia before being committed to the fighting in the Solomon Islands, briefly seeing combat against the Japanese in the Treasury Islands in late 1943. Returned to New Zealand in mid-1944 and was disbanded later that year as part of a partial demobilisation of New Zealand forces. Many of its personnel returned to civilian employment while others were sent to Italy as reinforcements for the New Zealand 2nd Division. The battalion was awarded three battle honours for its service during the war.
context_section_description: In the meantime, the rest of the 3rd Division had been progressively sent to New Caledonia where it underwent further combat training. The 34th Battalion, its duties on Tongatapu at an end, joined the division in March 1943. In July 1943, Barrowclough informed the New Zealand Government that it was ready for combat duties, so in early September 1943, it moved to Guadalcanal for a combat role as part of the Solomon Islands campaign. However along the way, the troops stopped briefly at Port Vila in the New Hebrides to carry practice amphibious operations with landing craft before continuing onto Guadalcanal. Arriving off their destination on 14 September, the battalion was landed the same day. Jungle training remained the focus of the battalion although they also took the opportunity to work with Valentine tanks.
  The following month, the 8th Brigade participated in the Battle of the Treasury Islands. This involved landings to secure the Treasury Islands from the Japanese in order to conduct future operations on Bougainville. It was to be the first opposed amphibious landing carried out by New Zealand troops since the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. The 34th Battalion was tasked with securing Stirling Island, which military intelligence believed to be unoccupied, while at around the same time the 29th and 36th Battalions would land on Mono Island to deal with the Japanese garrison. To assist the efforts on Mono Island, one company of 34th Battalion was detached to form part of Logan Force, commanded by Major Logan, formerly of 34th Battalion. This was a small battle group, which also included a section of machine gun troops, to provide security for American construction and technical personnel that would be landed at Soanotalu, on the north coast of Mono Island, to establish a radar station.
  Prior to the landing, the battalion's training intensity was stepped up, including more practice landings, and on 27 October, at 6:25 am, the 34th Battalion landed on Stirling Island at two beaches, designated Purple 2 and Purple 3. As expected, the landing was unopposed. The initial landing involved two companies, one at each beach. These secured the perimeter of landing zones before a third company landed and moved into the interior of the island to confirm the absence of Japanese. With the island secure, a platoon moved over to nearby Mono Island to assist 36th Battalion in manning the perimeter it had established on that island. In the meantime, while the Japanese were not physically on the island, they still carried out bombing raids at the landing zones. On 29 October, the battalion detached another company to assist 29th Battalion and two days later a further company was sent to Mono Island to replace one of the hard pressed 36th Battalion's which in turn took over that company's positions on Stirling Island for a rest.
  On Mono Island, the main landing along the south coast had been achieved with relative ease, with few casualties although they had to fend off some attacks that night. However, Logan Force which had landed as planned at Soanotalu, on the opposite side of the island to 29th and 36th Battalions, experienced some difficulty. Initially unopposed, a defensive perimeter had been established and the American technicians got to work. Over the next three days, some contact had been made with Japanese soldiers, which had evaded the New Zealanders to the south, looking to escape the island by seizing a barge. During the evening of 1 November, a party of 80 Japanese, began attacking Logan Force. A small group of six soldiers from 34th Battalion plus three Americans held a blockhouse throughout the night and by dawn, over 50 Japanese had been killed for the loss of five men. By early November, Japanese resistance had largely been overcome although patrols still made contact with small parties of Japanese and on 12 November, Mono Island was considered to be secure. By this stage, the battalion had reassembled on Mono Island. There were still isolated Japanese that needed to be captured or killed and patrols were ongoing well into J
caption: During the Battle of the Treasury Islands, the 34th Battalion was tasked with securing on Stirling Island, seen here in the distance, while the 29th and 36th Battalions landed on Mono Island, the southern coast of which is in the immediate foreground
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