leaving Hill in command. Berrima subsequently landed reinforcements, including a half-battalion commanded by Lieutenant Commander Charles Elwell, as well as a machine-gun section and medical detachment. Among the reinforcements was the battalion commander, Beresford, and the intelligence officer. Fighting for the wireless station Elwell advanced inland rapidly and was soon also engaged, losing one killed and two wounded in a brief skirmish. During the advance the Australians had also uncovered and defused a large pipe mine the Germans had buried under a narrow track and set to detonate using a command wire. These mines had been laid beneath the road with wires leading to an electric battery and a firing key at the bottom of a lookout tree. By 13:00 however, Hill's position was reached and the Australians—now under Elwell's overall command—launched another flanking attack on the main trench blocking the road. Despite suffering casualties they pressed their attack, forcing the defenders to surrender after charging the trench with fixed bayonets. A German officer and 20 Melanesians were captured. Four Australians were killed, including Elwell who died leading the charge with his sword drawn, and another five were wounded. Now under the command of Hill, and accompanied by two German prisoners acting as interpreters, the Australians proceeded down the road under a flag of truce and persuaded the garrisons of two more trenches to surrender, but not before another skirmish in which the Germans counter-attacked, wounding three more Australians, one fatally. During the firefight, the Australians killed one of the unarmed German interpreters and several of the Melanesians. The advance continued and another group of defenders was encountered and disarmed by nightfall. By 19:00 the Australians reached the radio station which was found abandoned; the mast had been dismantled, although the instruments and machinery remained intact. The surviving defenders had abandoned the defences and withdrawn. Aftermath Casualties During the fighting at Bita Paka, seven Australians were killed and five wounded, while casualties among the defenders included one German and about 30 Melanesians killed, and one German and 10 Melanesians wounded; 19 Germans and 56 Melanesians were captured. Later it was alleged that the heavy losses among the Melanesian troops were the result of the Australians bayoneting a number that they had captured. While the casualties suffered by the Australians were light in the context of later operations, they were disproportionately heavy given the modest territorial and strategic gains and were