Attack on 'Pearl Ridge'

Drawn from Artillery Ridge during the action. Pearl Ridge is on the skyline and from there it is possible to see the other side of Bougainville island. Air bombing and strafing were followed by artillery, and smoke can be seen rising from the valleys. Japanese snipers were holding up the attack by troops of A and D Companies, 25th Infantry Battalion. It was thought there was a sniper in the large tree on the left but several well placed shells removed large sections of it and a body was seen to fall. A small cluster of troops just below the crest of the continuation of Artillery Ridge in the centre are sheltering from another sniper across the valley on the left. Nearer is a group of native carriers, and two stretchers are bringing out wounded. Someone's washing hangs in the foreground. Pearl Ridge was finally occupied on 1 January 1945.