Raid on Choiseul

Raid on Choiseul
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
A map of the raid on Choiseul
Date October 28 – November 3, 1943 Location 6°53′S 156°37′E / 6.883°S 156.617°E / -6.883; 156.617 Choiseul in the Solomon Islands Result Indecisive
Belligerents
United States  Australia	Japan
Commanders and leaders
Victor H. Krulak	Minoru Sasaki
Strength
656–725	3,000–7,000
Casualties and losses
11–13 killed, 15 wounded	143 killed, two barges sunk

The Raid on Choiseul (Operation Blissful) was a small unit engagement that occurred from 28 October to 3 November 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign of the Pacific War. The raid was launched to divert the Japanese from the Allied landings at Cape Torokina on Bougainville Island.

United States Marines from the 2nd Parachute Battalion landed on Japanese-occupied Choiseul in the northern Solomon Islands and carried out raids on Japanese army and navy forces over a 25-mile (40 km) area over the course of seven days with the assistance of local Choiseul islanders and an Australian coastwatchers. The force was withdrawn back to Vella Lavella by landing craft following the successful lodgment of US troops on Bougainville.