Introduction to Offensive Against Japan - 1943-1944
Plans. At the Casablanca Conference in January, 1943, it was decided that further Japanese expansion must be prevented. This meant that despite requirements in Europe, sufficient forces would be provided for a continuing offensive in the Pacific. MacArthur's immediate problem was to seize the northern coast of New Guinea, ending the threat to Australia. After his forces accomplished this, they would be within striking distance of the Philippines.
In the central Pacific the problem faced by Admiral Nimitz was more complicated. There was no intention of retaking conquered territory, island by island. The objective was to seize a succession of naval and air bases, drawing ever closer to the Philippines and Japan. Wherever possible, direct attacks on strong bases were to be avoided. These bases were to be cut off and neutralized by gaining control of their supply routes. This strategy was called "island hopping."
American troops defeated the Japanese at Attu Island, off Alaska, in 1943.By the middle of 1943 MacArthur had four American and six Australian divisions under his control, while nine Army and Marine divisions were in the central Pacific. At the end of the war the United States had 21 Army and 6 Marine divisions in the Pacific (compared with 69 divisions in Europe). Naval strength was also growing rapidly during 1943.
Battle of the Bismarck Sea
On March 1, 1943, a Japanese convoy of eight troop transports escorted by eight warships was sighted north of New Ireland moving towards Lae. During the next three days it was attacked by Allied bombers based on Papua. All of the troop transports and four of the warships were sunk, and at least 3,500 Japanese troops were killed.
Advance In the Solomons
From Guadalcanal Admiral William F. Halsey saw that his immediate problem was to neutralize the strong Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain. The first step was the occupation of the Russell Islands on February 21, 1943. On June 22 and 23 Woodlark and Kiriwina, off the New Guinea coast, were seized. Munda, on New Georgia in the Solomons, was the immediate objective. American landings on the island itself, and on nearby Rendova Island on June 30, resulted in the capture of Munda by August 5. Kolombangara Island, strongly held by the Japanese, was bypassed, and Vella Lavella was taken on October 9.
The large island of Bougainville, closest to Rabaul, was the last major objective in the Solomons campaign. Landings on the Treasury Islands on October 27 and a diversionary attack on Choiseul the next day set the stage for a major American attack on Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, on November 1. A Japanese naval force was driven off the following night and a base was established, but no attempt was made to complete the conquest of the island.
New Guinea, 1943-44
To assist an Australian division advancing overland against Salamaua, an American force was landed at Nassau Bay on June 30, 1943. Before the Japanese abandoned Salamaua on September 11, an Australian landing was made east of Lae on September 4. The next day American paratroopers seized the nearby Nadzab airfield, and an Australian division was moved there by air. Lae fell on September 16. Finschhafen was seized on October 2.
Amphibious landings were made on New Britain Island at Arawe on December 15 and at Cape Gloucester on December 26. On January 2, 1944, United States troops landed at Saidor on the northern coast of New Guinea. On February 15 American and New Zealand forces seized the Green-Islands in the northern Solomons and on February 29 a landing was made at Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands. Marines occupied Emirau, in the Bismarck Archipelago, on March 20.
These landings completed the encirclement of the Japanese base at Rabaul. The maneuver had begun with the invasion of Guadalcanal 18 months before. There was no need to attack the base directly because the 100,000 Japanese troops defending it were now completely sealed off.
An important step toward the Philippines was made in April when Hollandia and Aitape were occupied. Capture of airfields there was completed by April 30 and Lieutenant General Walter Krueger established Sixth Army headquarters at Hollandia in July. This advancea jump of 400 miles (640 km)cut off 50,000 Japanese troops to the east. In May another jump was made to Wakde, and on May 27 Biak Island was seized as an air base. Noemfoor was taken July 2. A landing was made on the Vogelkop Peninsula of New Guinea on July 30, and Sansapor was taken on July 31.
TarawaAnother line of advance, in the Central Pacific, pointed more directly toward Japan. The first objective was the Gilbert Islands (now Kiribati). Landings were made at Tarawa and Makin on November 20, 1943, and at Abemama on the following day. On Tarawa the Second Marine Division ran into some of the hardest fighting of the war. Heavy bombing and naval bombardment had failed to knock out the Japanese defenses. The island was taken in eight days, but one-fifth of the invading Marines were killed or wounded.
KwajaleinThe next objective was the Marshall group. Landings were made on Kwajalein and its neighboring islands of Namur and Roi on January 31, 1944. Fighting continued until February 7. At the same time Majuro Island was seized. Eniwetok was attacked on February 17 and its capture completed on February 22. These seizures in the Marshalls brought Truk, one of the strongest Japanese bases in the Pacific, within easy bombing range. It was also under attack from the Admiralty Islands.
Within a year, to the middle of 1944, an advance of 1,300 miles (2,100 km) had been made in the Pacific, cutting off more than 150,000 Japanese troops.
China and BurmaThroughout the war, fighting in China had little effect on the general situation. Much of the fighting was minor. Occasional Japanese offensives, which became known as rice raids, were designed either to gather food for the Japanese or to deprive the Chinese of it, or both. The Allies believed that it was important to keep China in the war because that nation was keeping large numbers of Japanese troops out of active fighting. With the Japanese conquest of Burma, and consequent closing of the Burma Road, an air line of supply was opened over "the Hump"the Himalayan Mountains.
General Stilwell wanted to extend the Ledo Road to link up with the Burma Road. Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was given command of Southeast Asia in August, 1943, initially opposed the effort because it seemed a hopeless task. However, he relented and later that year Stilwell set thousands of engineers and Chinese laborers to work on the road, which, when finished, extended 480 miles (770 km), much of it through the high mountains and dense jungles of Burma and China. It was completed in early 1945, and played a valuable role bringing supplies to the Chinese.
Major General Orde C. Wingate of the British army led airborne commandos on raids in Burma beginning in 1943. His commandos, later called Chindits, engaged troops and sabotaged installations behind Japanese lines. Although they had some successes, the Chindits took appalling casualties, more often from the rigors of the jungle than from the Japanese. An American combat team, led by Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill and known as Merrill's Marauders, used similar tactics against the Japanese after Wingate was killed in an air crash in 1944.
British forces attempted to seize Akyab in 1943 but were driven off. A renewal of the drive in 1944 was interrupted by a Japanese drive that surrounded Imphal and Kohima in India. Airborne forces relieved Kohima on April 24, but it was not until August 14 that the Japanese were driven from India.
Merrill's forces made a 20-day jungle march to seize the airfield at Myitkyina on May 17, 1944, and after a long siege, Myitkyina fell on August 3. Lieutenant General Daniel I. Sultan captured Schwegu in November and cleared a supply route to Bhamo. Troops led by British General William J. Slim used guerrilla tactics to drive the Japanese across Burma; by 1945 the Japanese were in full retreat. Mandalay was taken on March 21 and Rangoon on May 3. The Japanese that were left in Burma were isolated and could be dealt with at leisure.
In China the Japanese made a successful drive toward Kweilin in May, 1944, and captured seven bases used by Chennault's 14th Air Force. This hampered Chennault's aid to operations in the Pacific, and also his direct attacks on Japan. In April, 1945, another Japanese drive threatened the air base at Chihkiang, but this attack was halted by Chinese troops aided by the 14th Air Force.