down and forcing them to call for reinforcements. He carried out a particularly determined attack on 15 September, bringing the whole Allied effort on Arundel to a halt, and with far fewer troops than his opponents. General Griswold ordered a full-scale effort, including Marine Corps tanks, to drive the Japanese off the island. After vicious fighting on 17 and 18 September, the Japanese abandoned Arundel for good on the night of 20–21 September. Vella Lavella Admiral Halsey had earlier seen the wisdom of bypassing the heavily fortified island of Kolombangara and invading Vella Lavella instead, the latter island lying closer to Bougainville and Rabaul and being less well defended. Thus, a month before New Georgia was secured by the Allies, they landed a reconnaissance party on Vella Lavella to gain information about Japanese strength and dispositions as well as about suitable landing sites, before returning to Guadalcanal on 31 July. The village of Barakoma near the island's southeastern tip was selected as the landing place. A large invasion force of about 6,500 troops led by Major General Robert B. McClure, escorted by 12 destroyers under the command of Admiral Wilkinson was dispatched from Guadalcanal early on 14 August. That night, Japanese planes attacked multiple Allied bases, but completely missed this fleet headed for Vella Lavella. The next morning, disembarkation began at Barakoma. The Japanese high command in Tokyo had already decided that no more troops would be wasted in the central Solomons. Rather than reinforce and defend Vella Lavella, it was to be used merely as a way station for the evacuation of the troops on Kolombangara that had been bypassed by the Allies with this new landing. Horaniu, on the northeast coast, was selected as a barge staging point and on the night of 17–18 August a small force of ground and naval troops was sent to secure the area. The Japanese destroyer covering force was met in The Slot by four US destroyers under Captain Thomas J. Ryan, and subsequently fought an inconclusive action off Horaniu. No ships of either side were lost and the Japanese succeeded in establishing a barge base. Meanwhile, throughout August, the Allies pushed the remaining Japanese ground forces on Vella Lavella into a pocket in the northwest corner of the island. The 3rd New Zealand Division, under the command of Major General Harold E. Barrowclough, was tasked with destroying this pocket. The New