In March, therefore, they postponed plans to seize it and its sister base, Kavieng, at the north end of New Ireland until 1944. The Joint Chiefs were hardly home from Casablanca when it became obvious that not enough planes and ships could be provided to complete the capture of Rabaul in 1943. Walter Krueger devotes Chapter V of his From Down Under to Nippon: The Story of Sixth Army in World War II (Washington, 1953) to the (Washington, 1946), treats the Admiralties fighting in detail. Historical Division, War Department Special Staff, The Admiralities: Operations of the 1st Cavalry Division (29 February-) In the AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION series, by the CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul treats theĬampaigns from 30 June 1943 through March 1944 and includes theĪdmiralities operations. (Washington, 1957) Robert Ross Smith, The Approach to the Philippines STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II: John Miller, jr., Guadalcanal: The First Offensive (Washington, 1949) Samuel Milner, Victory in Papua These campaigns are treated in the following volumes of UNITED Save those assigned to the land defense of New Zealand, which were Offensively, possession of Rabaul would give the Allies a great air and naval base to support MacArthur's projected, but not yet approved, advance along the north coast of New Guinea to the Philippines. They were designed to protect the Allied sea and air lines of communication from the United States to New Zealand and Australia which the Japanese had threatened by moving southward from Rabaul. Initial operations in the great series of campaigns were defensive in purpose. Ĭapture of Rabaul, as envisaged in early 1943, would advance the Allied cause in several respects. All operations against Rabaul by South and Southwest Pacific forces after the Guadalcanal campaign were under MacArthur's strategic direction, with Halsey in direct command of the Allied land, sea, and air forces in the South Pacific Area. Once Rabaul was isolated by land, sea, and air action, both forces were to converge and capture the base. Halsey's South Pacific forces would drive northward through the Solomons to Bougainville while MacArthur's Southwest Pacific forces advanced up the northeast New Guinea coast, crossed the Vitiaz and Dampier Straits, landed on New Britain, and seized the Admiralties to cut the Japanese line of communications to Rabaul. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the theater commanders called for the Guadalcanal and Papuan operations to be followed by two co-ordinated advances involving Allied land, sea, and air forces. ( See Map IX, inside back cover.) When President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and the U.S.-British Combined Chiefs of Staff met at Casablanca in January 1943 to determine Allied courses of action for 1943, they approved, among other projects, a westward advance through the Central Pacific and a continuation of the campaigns against Rabaul, which had begun in 1942 with the seizure of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and the Japanese base at Buna in the Papuan Peninsula of New Guinea. Occupied the Allied forces of the South and Southwest Pacific Areas for nearly two years and the Allied westward advance along the north coast of New Guinea and into the Philippines. Rabaul, UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II (Washington 1959). This study is based on John Miller, jr., CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Seizure of the Admiralties was an integral part of two major Allied offensives: the campaign against the great Japanese air and naval bases at Rabaul, New Britain, in the Bismarck Archipelago, which The Background: Rabaul and the Central Pacific From these decisions blossomed a complex series of events which materially aided the Allied cause. Behind his decision to go to the Admiralties with the thousand men, and to keep them there, lay a complex series of decisions and operations. The thousand soldiers came from the 1st Cavalry Division the island was Los Negros in the Admiralties group of the Bismarck Archipelago the general was Douglas MacArthur, commander in chief of all Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific Area. How many more Japanese opposed them was not clear, but in the afternoon the general told them to stay and defend their ground until reinforcements arrived. At the day's end they had killed a few Japanese, lost two killed and three wounded themselves, and captured an airfield. They were accompanied by a famous American general whose youthful appearance and physical vigor belied his sixty-four years. On 29 February 1944 one thousand American soldiers landed on a small Japanese-held island in the Pacific. (Information on author appended to end of this file)
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