 Complete the following phrase:  After hard fighting in the Pacific throughout 1942, the following year Australian and US forces began to gain momentum against the Japanese, and were contemplating going on the offensive. In New Guinea, the bloody Battle of BunaGona had been fought to a conclusion in January, while a Japanese attempt to secure the vital airfield at Wau, near Salamaua, had also been repelled that month. Throughout mid-1943, the Australians had fought a campaign against the Japanese in the Salamaua region, as they had advanced east from Wau towards the Huon Gulf. In September, an amphibious landing near Lae was carried out in conjunction with an airborne assault on Nadzab, aimed at capturing Lae. At the same time, Australian troops, who had been reinforced by several US battalions, continued to keep up the pressure around Salamaua, which fell in mid-September around the same time as Lae. As the Allies sought to follow up the large number of Japanese troops that managed to withdraw from Lae, they subsequently launched the 