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Operation Cartwheel

Operation Cartwheel (1943–1944) 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.[1]

Capturing (later Guadalcanal) and the Santa Cruz Islands (Operation Watchtower)

Tulagi

Capturing the northeastern coast of New Guinea and the central Solomons

[1]

Reducing Rabaul and related bases

[1]

Japanese forces had captured Rabaul, on New Britain, in the Territory of New Guinea, from Australian forces in February 1942 and turned it into their major forward base in the South Pacific, which became the main obstacle in the two Allied theatres. MacArthur formulated a strategic outline, the Elkton Plan, to capture Rabaul from bases in Australia and New Guinea. Admiral Ernest J. King, the Chief of Naval Operations, proposed a plan with similar elements but under Navy command. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, whose main goal was for the US to concentrate its efforts against Nazi Germany in Europe and not against the Japanese in the Pacific, proposed a compromise plan in which the task would be divided into three stages, the first under Navy command and the other two under MacArthur's direction and the control of the Army. This strategic plan, which was never formally adopted by the US Joint Chiefs of Staff but was ultimately implemented, called for the following:


The protracted battle for Guadalcanal, followed by the unopposed seizure of the Russell Islands (Operation Cleanslate) on 21 February 1943, resulted in Japanese attempts to reinforce the area by sea. MacArthur's air forces countered in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea from 2–5 March 1943. The disastrous losses suffered by the Japanese prompted Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to initiate Operation I-Go, a series of air attacks against Allied airfields and shipping at both Guadalcanal and New Guinea, which ultimately resulted in his death on 18 April 1943.

Operation Chronicle

Operation Toenails

(35th RCT, 25th Infantry Division US, 3rd Division New Zealand) – 15 August 1943

Vella Lavella

Operation Postern

Operation Goodtime

Operation Blissful

Operation Cherryblossom

Operation Dexterity

- 15 February 1944 (3rd Division New Zealand)

Green Islands

– 29 February 1944 (1st Cavalry Division US)

Admiralty Islands

– 20 March 1944 (4th Marine Regiment US)

Emirau Island

details on Japanese forces in bypassed islands

Structure of the Imperial Japanese forces in the South Seas Mandate

The History Channel, June 30 — 1943 Operation Cartwheel is launched (2005)

David Horner, "Strategy and Command in Australia’s New Guinea Campaigns" (2004)

Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine

An Animated History of Operation Cartwheel (2006)

. Retrieved 16 May 2006. Brief synopsis of Allied campaign to isolate Rabaul.

"Encyclopædia Britannica Article: The encirclement of Rabaul"

. Retrieved 16 May 2006. Brief account of Japanese occupation of Rabaul and subsequent war crimes trials of many of the Japanese troops who had been stationed there.

"Rabaul and World War II"

Mersky, Peter B. (1993). . Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, US Marine Corps. Retrieved 20 October 2006. Account of US Marine involvement in air war over Solomon Islands and Rabaul.

"Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942–1944"

. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2006. Information on "Pappy" Boyington

"World War II Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient Major Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington"

. Retrieved 30 May 2006.

"Title: THE ASSAULT ON RABAUL. Operations by the Royal New Zealand Air Force December 1943 — May 1944"