Neutralisation of Rabaul | |||||||
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Part of the Solomon Islands Campaign and New Guinea Campaign of World War II | |||||||
Photo taken from US Marine SBD dive bomber on 2 August 1944, during an air raid on Rabaul. The aircraft are attacking Rabaul's defenses and a previously sunken cargo ship | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
USMC, USAAF, USN, RAAF, and RNZAF aircraft | IJAAF and IJN aircraft | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
151 aircraft, 25 of them bombers | 250 aircraft (Japanese claim) 789 aircraft (Allied claim) |
The neutralisation of Rabaul was an Allied campaign to render useless the Imperial Japanese base at Rabaul in eastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Japanese forces landed on Rabaul on 23 January 1942, capturing it by February 1942, after which the harbor and town were transformed into a major Japanese naval and air installation. The Japanese heavily relied on it, using it as a launching point for Japanese reinforcements to New Guinea and Guadalcanal. Throughout the Solomon Islands campaign, neutralizing Rabaul became the primary objective of the Allied effort in the Solomons.
After its capture by the South Seas Force in February 1942, Rabaul was developed into a major fleet base by the Japanese, eventually becoming the most heavily defended Japanese position in the South Pacific. [1] Rabaul's strategic location, multiple airfields and large natural harbor made it the ideal staging base for ships, aircraft, troops and supplies during the New Guinea and Guadalcanal campaigns. The Japanese army dug many kilometers of tunnels as shelter from Allied air attacks. They also expanded the facilities by constructing army barracks and support structures. By 1943 there were about 110,000 Japanese troops based in Rabaul.[ citation needed ]
After the Japanese lost their hold on Guadalcanal in early 1943, Allied forces began the push up the Solomon Islands towards Rabaul. Marine Raiders and United States Army troops landed in the Russell Islands shortly after, and a naval base was established there. U.S. forces then pushed the Japanese out of the New Georgia Islands in August 1943. The Japanese command had invested men and supplies into building an airfield at Munda, all of which proved to be a waste. The U.S. Fifth Air Force aircraft made small attacks in October, and a major Allied air raid on Rabaul took place on 3 November. This raid destroyed 52 Japanese aircraft and 5 warships. Starting on 1 November, U.S. Marines began landing at Cape Torokina on Bougainville Island, where several airfields were constructed by Allied forces. [2] Most of Japan's warships were withdrawn by 6 November.[ citation needed ]
With the major Japanese possessions around Rabaul captured, Allied air forces could then begin the permanent neutralization of Rabaul. And as part of efforts to isolate the Rabaul base, U.S. Army troops landed at Arawe on western New Britain on 15 December, and the 1st Marine Division landed at Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943. [3]
As the major Japanese fleet base in the South Pacific, Rabaul had been under continuous Allied air attack since the first raid by Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Catalinas in January 1942. [4] However a lack of resources and the enormous distances involved (Rabaul was 500 miles from the nearest RAAF airfield at Port Moresby) ensured that these attacks remained small and sporadic for nearly two years.
As a part of Operation Cartwheel the U.S. Fifth Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNAF), all under the command of U.S. General George Kenney, began a sustained bombing campaign against the airfields and port of Rabaul in late 1943. The initial mission was delivered by 349 aircraft on 12 October 1943, but it could not be followed up immediately because of bad weather. A single raid by 50 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers reached the target on 18 October. Sustained attacks resumed on 23 October, culminating in a large raid on 2 November.
After the first Japanese attempt to repel the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville was thwarted by the United States Navy surface forces at the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, the Imperial Japanese Navy sent a large naval force from Truk to Rabaul for a second attempt. [5] Lacking a comparable surface force of his own, Admiral William Halsey responded by ordering Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman to launch a dawn attack on the Japanese fleet at Rabaul using the airgroups of the aircraft carriers USS Saratoga and USS Princeton, followed up an hour later by a Fifth Air Force raid of B-24 Liberator heavy bombers. These attacks succeeded in damaging six of the seven Japanese cruisers present in Simpson Harbour, ending the Japanese threat to the Bougainville landings. A following raid on 11 November including the three carriers of Task Group 50.3 commanded by Rear Admiral Alfred E. Montgomery inflicted additional damage on the light cruiser Agano and shot down 35 Japanese aircraft.
The capture of Bougainville and Buka brought Rabaul within range of land-based U.S. Navy and Marine Corps tactical bombers, setting the stage for the pacification campaign to follow. Rather than attempt to capture the heavily fortified position, the Allies determined to neutralize Rabaul by isolating it and eliminating its airpower. The first air attack in the pacification campaign was planned for 17 December 1943. It would be based out of Torokina Airfield on Bougainville and consisted of 31 Marine F4U Corsairs, 23 RNZAF P-40 fighters, 22 U.S. Navy F6F Hellcats, and a slightly smaller number of Army Air Forces B-24 bombers. The attack did not receive a large response from the Japanese, so only seven Japanese fighters were lost. Three RNZAF P-40s were lost, two with their pilots. A similar attack took place on 19 December, which cost the Japanese four aircraft, two credited to Marine fighters.
The first "large scale" strike took place on 23 December. Different from previous strikes, the Army Air Forces bombers went in first, and the fighters followed afterwards. Forty Japanese fighters responded this time, with 30 claimed to be destroyed by Allied fighters, though Japanese records do not match the Allied claims. Following another raid on Christmas Eve, U.S. Navy carriers attacked the Japanese force at Kavieng, New Ireland in unison with an air raid on Rabaul. The Navy carriers returned to Kavieng on 1 January 1944.
Throughout January 1944, the Japanese command devoted valuable carrier aircraft and carrier pilots to the defense of Rabaul. The seemingly hopeless situation which the Japanese pilots were being fed into was nicknamed "the sinkhole in the Bismarcks," or the "Bismarcks sinkhole." [6] [7] January proved costly for the Japanese: 266 fighters were credited to U.S. Marine Corps fighters and bomber gunners alone, not including the physical damage done to Rabaul's land defenses. In February, the Japanese command decided to pull all remaining Japanese airmen and their crews from Rabaul. Between 70 and 120 Japanese aircraft flew from Rabaul to Truk (which had recently been raided by U.S. Navy carrier aircraft) on the morning of 19 February. Their valuable mechanics attempted to leave Rabaul by ship on 21 February but their ship, the Kokai Maru, was sunk by Allied bombers. [8] This marked the end of Japanese air resistance to Allied planes over Rabaul.
With Rabaul's offensive capabilities neutralized, the Allies decided to forgo a ground assault, electing instead to reinforce their foothold on the southern coast of New Britain against any potential Japanese counter-attack while allowing the Rabaul garrison to "wither on the vine." Allied fighters and bombers continued to attack Rabaul through 1944 and 1945. The regular attacks became known as "milk runs" among the Allied air crews. The only opposition over Rabaul was anti-aircraft fire, so attacking became straightforward for Allied airmen and their maintenance crews. Eventually Allied forces came to use Rabaul as a live-fire exercise to give aircrew some taste of combat before committing them elsewhere in the theater.
The neutralization of Rabaul was ultimately a disaster for the Japanese. Most of their experienced carrier pilots were lost over Rabaul, large numbers of their sorely needed aviation maintenance personnel were either lost during their attempted evacuation or trapped there, and the Japanese no longer had a base from which they could threaten the Allied presence in the Solomons. By isolating Rabaul, the Allies effectively made its large garrison (which outnumbered the defenders on Okinawa) prisoners of war without having to fight them. The last Allied airstrike on Rabaul took place on 8 August 1945, only weeks before the Japanese surrender.
The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific theater of World War II. It was the first major land offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan.
The naval Battle of the Eastern Solomons took place on 24–25 August 1942 and was the third carrier battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II and the second major engagement fought between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the Guadalcanal campaign. As at the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway, the ships of the two adversaries were never within sight of each other. Instead, all attacks were carried out by carrier-based or land-based aircraft.
The Battle of Empress Augusta Bay, on 1–2 November 1943 – also known as the Battle of Gazelle Bay, Operation Cherry Blossom, and in Japanese sources as the Sea Battle off Bougainville Island (ブーゲンビル島沖海戦) – was a naval battle fought at night in Empress Augusta Bay near Bougainville Island. The naval battle was a result of Allied landings at Cape Torokina with the bay in the first action in the Bougainville campaign of World War II and may also be considered as part of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns. The battle was significant as part of a broader Allied strategy—known as Operation Cartwheel—aimed at isolating and surrounding the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The intention was to establish a beachhead on Bougainville, within which an airfield would be built.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1942:
Operation Cartwheel was a major military operation for the Allies in the Pacific theatre of World War II. Cartwheel was an operation aimed at neutralising the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The operation was directed by the Supreme Allied Commander in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA), General Douglas MacArthur, whose forces had advanced along the northeast coast of New Guinea and occupied nearby islands. Allied forces from the South Pacific Area, under Admiral William Halsey, advanced through the Solomon Islands toward Bougainville. The Allied forces involved were from Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the US, and various Pacific Islands.
The bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 was an air attack conducted by the Allies of World War II upon a cruiser force at the major Japanese base of Rabaul. In response to the Allied invasion of Bougainville, the Japanese had brought a strong cruiser force down to Rabaul from Truk, their major naval base in the Caroline Islands about 800 miles north of Rabaul in preparation for a night engagement against the Allied supply and support shipping. Allied carrier- and land-based planes attacked the Japanese ships, airfields, and port facilities on the island of New Britain to protect the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville. As a result of the Rabaul raids, the Japanese naval forces could no longer threaten the landings. The success of the raid began to change the strongly held belief that carrier-based air forces could not challenge land-based air forces.
The New Georgia campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific Theater of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied strategy in the South Pacific to isolate the Japanese base around Rabaul. The campaign took place in the New Georgia Islands in the central Solomon Islands and followed the Allied capture of the Russell Islands. The main fighting took place on New Georgia itself, although significant actions also took place around the island chain throughout the campaign.
Cactus Air Force refers to the ensemble of Allied air power assigned to the island of Guadalcanal from August 1942 until December 1942 during the most heavily contested phases of the Guadalcanal Campaign, particularly those operating from Henderson Field. The term "Cactus" comes from the Allied code name for the island. In 1943, the Cactus Air Force was absorbed into AirSols, a joint command of Allied air units in the Solomon Islands.
Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) forces under the overall direction of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters (IGH). Commanders of the operation included Isoroku Yamamoto and Hitoshi Imamura.
The Bougainville campaign was a series of land and naval battles of the Pacific campaign of World War II between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan, named after the island of Bougainville. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific.
The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and capture of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Territory of New Guinea on 23 January and Territory of Papua on 21 July and overran western New Guinea beginning on 29 March. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then New Guinea, and finally from the Dutch colony.
The Battle of Vella Lavella was fought from 15 August – 6 October 1943 between the Empire of Japan and the Allied forces from New Zealand and the United States at the end of the New Georgia campaign. Vella Lavella, an island located in the Solomon Islands, had been occupied by Japanese forces early during the war in the Pacific. Following the Battle of Munda Point, the Allies recaptured the island in late 1943, following a decision to bypass a large concentration of Japanese troops on the island of Kolombangara.
The invasion of Tulagi, on 3–4 May 1942, was part of Operation Mo, the Empire of Japan's strategy in the South Pacific and South West Pacific Area in 1942. The plan called for Imperial Japanese Navy troops to capture Tulagi and nearby islands in the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. The occupation of Tulagi by the Japanese was intended to cover the flank of and provide reconnaissance support for Japanese forces that were advancing on Port Moresby in New Guinea, provide greater defensive depth for the major Japanese base at Rabaul, and serve as a base for Japanese forces to threaten and interdict the supply and communication routes between the United States and Australia and New Zealand.
The Landings at Cape Torokina, also known as Operation Cherryblossom, took place at the beginning of the Bougainville campaign in World War II. The amphibious landings were carried out by elements of the United States Marine Corps in November 1943 on Bougainville Island in the South Pacific, as part of Allied efforts to advance towards the main Japanese base around Rabaul under Operation Cartwheel. Coming in the wake of Allied successes at Guadalcanal and in the central Solomons, the landings were intended to secure a beachhead with the purpose of establishing several bases from which to project air and naval power closer towards Rabaul, in an effort to neutralize the large Japanese force that had been established there.
The Landings on Rendova were amphibious military assaults by United States Army, Marine Corps and Navy forces on Rendova Island in the Solomon Islands on 30 June 1943. The small Japanese garrison was quickly overwhelmed by US troops, but the island was subjected to heavy attack by Japanese aircraft over several days. The landings were some of the first Allied landings during the New Georgia campaign of the Pacific War and were successful in securing the island and providing a base from which the Allies could support the subsequent invasion of New Georgia island and the eventual capture of Munda airfield in early August 1943.
The New Georgia counterattack was a counterattack on 17–18 July 1943 by mainly Imperial Japanese Army troops against United States Army forces during the New Georgia campaign in the Solomon Islands. The U.S. and its allies were attempting to capture an airfield constructed by the Japanese at Munda Point on New Georgia with which to support further advances towards the main Japanese base around Rabaul as part of Operation Cartwheel.
The Battle of Munda Point was a battle from 22 July – 5 August 1943 between primarily United States Army and Imperial Japanese Army forces during the New Georgia campaign in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific War. The battle took place following a landing by U.S. troops on the western coast of New Georgia from Rendova Island, as part of an effort to capture the Japanese airfield that had been constructed at Munda Point. This advance had become bogged down, and while the Allies brought forward reinforcements and supplies, the Japanese had launched a counterattack on 17–18 July. This effort was ultimately unsuccessful, and afterwards U.S. forces launched a corps-level assault to reinvigorate their effort to capture the airfield. Against this drive, Japanese defenders from three infantry regiments offered stubborn resistance but were ultimately forced to withdraw, allowing U.S. forces to capture the airfield on 5 August. The airfield later played an important role in supporting the Allied campaign on Bougainville in late 1943.
Operation I-Go was an aerial counter-offensive launched by Imperial Japanese forces against Allied forces during the Solomon Islands and New Guinea campaigns in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Taking place from 1–16 April 1943, Japanese aircraft—primarily from Imperial Japanese Navy units under the command of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka—attacked Allied ships, aircraft, and land installations in the southeast Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The goal of the operation was to halt the Allied offensives to give Japan time to prepare a new set of defenses in response to recent defeats in the Guadalcanal campaign and in New Guinea at Buna–Gona, Wau, and the Bismarck Sea.
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