While George Warfe's men were playing merry hell with the Japanese on Bobdubi Ridge, plans were afoot to increase Australian presence in the Missim area significantly in order to carry out a new offensive plan, Operation Doublet. The 15th Brigade, comprising the 24th Battalion, the 58/59th Battalion and the 57/60th Battalion, would be deployed. Warfe's 2/3rd Independent Company would also come under 15th Brigade control. The 15th would be the only original brigade from the 3rd Division deployed for the Salamaua campaign.

The new structure of 15th Brigade had little semblance to that which had formed part of the 3rd Division in Australia, both in units and in commanders. The original brigade had comprised the 57/60th, 58th and 59th Battalions. The 24th Battalion had then come across from the 10th Brigade when that brigade had been removed from the division in 1942, and part of the 59th Battalion was merged with the 58th in August 1942. Before leaving for New Guinea, the 15th Brigade commander, Brigadier Alfred Jackson, was replaced by the younger 10th Brigade commander, Brigadier Frank Hosking.

Adding greatly to the brigade's problems was the area over which it was deployed and the tasks the battalions were asked to perform. The 24th Battalion was spread far and wide whereas Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Marston's 57/60th Battalion was relegated to the role of protecting the new airfield site at Tsili Tsili in the upper Watut Valley.