Air Campaign 002 - Rabaul 1943–44. Reducing Japan's Great Island Fortress COMP.pdf

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A I R C A M PA I G N

RABAUL 1943–44

Reducing Japan’s great island fortress

MARK LARDAS |

I L LU S T R AT E D B Y M A R K P O S T L E T H WA I T E

Osprey Publishing

c/o Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK

c/o Bloomsbury Publishing Inc.

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OSPREY is a trademark of Osprey Publishing Ltd, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

This electronic edition published in 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain in 2018

the prior written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles

or reviews. Enquiries should be addressed to the Publisher.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN:

PB: 9781472822444

ePub: 9781472822451

ePDF: 9781472822437

XML 9781472822468

Index by Zoe Ross

Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro, Futura Std, Sabon and Akzidenz-Grotesk Condensed

3D diagrams by Adam Tooby

Cartography by bounford.com

3D BEVs by The Black Spot

Artist’s note

Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour plates in this book

were prepared are available for private sale. All reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained

by the Publishers. All enquiries should be addressed to:

mark@posart.com

The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon this matter.

Front Cover: Art

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Author’s Note

The following abbreviations indicate the sources of the illustrations used in this volume:

AC – Author’s Collection

LOC – Library of Congress, Washington, DC

USNHHC – United States Navy Heritage and History Command

Author’s Dedication

I would like to dedicate this book to my good friend, Jim Oberg, and to his uncle, Lieutenant

Albert Oberg, who gave his last full measure of devotion aboard the USS

Strong

in July 1943 in

the Solomon Islands during the run up to the events described in this book.

A I R

C A M P A I G N

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHRONOLOGY

ATTACKERS’ CAPABILITIES

DEFENDERS’ CAPABILITIES

CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

THE CAMPAIGN

AFTERMATH AND ANALYSIS

FURTHER READING

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Simpson Harbor gave

Rabaul one of the finest

anchorages in the Pacific.

Large, deep, and

sheltered, it could anchor

a fleet, and the largest

ship could anchor close to

shore. This picture shows

Simpson Harbor in early

1943. (USAAF)

Simpson Harbor has the finest anchorage in the Southwest Pacific. Set on the eastern end

of New Britain, it is a marvelous deep-water harbor, 2 miles wide by 4 miles long, with

water depths of 8 fathoms literally a stone’s throw from the shore. The depth through

much of the harbor exceeds 27 fathoms. Simpson Harbor is protected on three sides by

volcanic mountains, with the entrance to the harbor emptying into Blanche Bay. Blanche

Bay’s entrance to the ocean lies some 45 degrees from the main axis of Simpson Harbor.

This entrance feeds into a channel roughly perpendicular to Blanche Bay, formed by the

sheltering ridges of New Britain and New Ireland. The result is an anchorage deep enough

for the greatest draft ship ever built, and large enough to accommodate the world’s largest

fleet within a sheltered haven.

Since its creation by a violent volcanic explosion in the seventh century AD, Simpson

Harbor was largely overlooked by everyone except those native to New Britain or neighboring

islands, such as New Ireland. It came to the attention of the outside world in 1872 when

the frigate HMS

Blanche,

commanded by Captain Cortland Simpson, surveyed the waters

around New Britain. Simpson named the harbor for himself and the larger bay for his ship.

Twelve years later, in 1884, New Britain, New Ireland, the northern Solomon Islands, and

the northeastern quarter of New Guinea were annexed by Germany, becoming German

New Guinea. Taking advantage of the magnificent harbor, the Germans built the province’s

capital on the north end of Simpson Harbor, naming the town Rabaul.

German rule ended in 1914. After World War I started Australian troops captured Rabaul.

Following the war’s end the League of Nations mandated control of German New Guinea

to Australia. Australia renamed all of the islands, retaining only the German name for the

sea north of New Britain. It remained the Bismarck Sea.

Rabaul was still the capital of the Mandate territory, but experienced relatively little

growth. The town was in an active volcano zone and minor eruptions were frequent.

In 1937, Tavurvur and Vulcan, two volcanoes near Rabaul, exploded, killing over 500 and

flattening the town. The territorial capital was moved to Lae, on New Guinea. Volcanoes

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