The Islander formations can be used to represent entities such as the Papuan Infantry Battalion and the Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion.*
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The Islander units also represent the many independent island "tribal militias" sympathetic to the Allied cause, and who fought alongside the Australian Independent Companies and Commando units, as well as CMF & AIF formations.*
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The Papuan Infantry Battalion saw valuable service in Papua, New Guinea and on Bougainville, while the Torres Strait formation served on Thursday Island. The New Guinean Rifles were the first to oppose the Japanese landings on New Guinea.*
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Source accounts credit A Company of the 1st Papuan Infantry Battalion of killing 500 Japanese soldiers at the loss of one of their own during the early months of 1944.*
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Documents captured after the fierce fighting in Gona, in the Northern Province, in December 1942 revealed that a Japanese Officer referred to the Papuan Infantry Battalion as "Rykuin" (Green Shadows) when he wrote the following words in his diary before he was killed:*
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"GREEN SHADOWS MOVING SILENTLY IN THE JUNGLE INFLICTING CASUALTIES ON US AND THEN GONE, LIKE GREEN SHADOWS."*