[Illustration: _An essential element in the defensive air war was the
use of radar by the Americans for surveillance, target acquisition,
and ground-controlled intercepts. This is one of the 9th Defense
Battalion’s SCR268s installed on New Georgia._]
Captain Reichner’s Battery A moved to Piru Plantation on 29 August and
two days later began shelling the Vila area of Kolombangara. The move
was made by landing craft and foot. Recalled Captain William T. Box,
with the artillery group’s advance party, “we hiked up from Munda using
a native guide. I remember we hiked through jungle most of the way. I
remember I was scared. I remember I was glad to see that open area with
the supply parachutes” left by the Army. Soon afterwards, Battery B
moved to Piru and on 2 September participated in the shelling of Vila.
A Japanese defender there with the _8th Combined Special Naval Landing
Force_ wrote in his diary, with “the situation as it is, one just can’t
help but distrust the operational plans of the Imperial Headquarters.”
[Illustration: