BATTLE OF NEW GEORGIA

The 'Battle of New Georgia' was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. It was part of Operation Cartwheel, the Allied grand strategy in the South Pacific. The battle took place in the New Georgia group of islands, in the central Solomon Islands from June 20, 1943, to August 25 1943, between Allied forces and the Empire of Japan.

Contents

Background

Landings

Notes

References

External links

Background

The Japanese had captured New Georgia in 1942 and built an airbase at Munda Point which began operations in December 1942 to support the Guadalcanal offensives. As it became clear at the end of 1942 that they could not hold Guadalcanal the Japanese commanders guessed that the Allies would move towards the Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and that the central Solomon Islands were logical steps on the way.
The Imperial Japanese Army believed that holding the Solomon Islands would be ultimately unsuccessful and that it would be better to wait for an Allied attack on Bougainville which would be much less costly to supply and reinforce. The Imperial Japanese Navy preferred to delay the Allied advance for as long as possible by maintaining a distant line of defence. With no effective central command, the two services implemented their own plans: the navy assumed responsibility for the defence of the central Solomons and the army for the northern Solomons.
By early 1943, some Allied leaders, notably the supreme commander in the neighboring South West Pacific Area command, General Douglas MacArthur, had wanted to focus on capturing Rabaul, but Japanese strength there and lack of landing craft meant that such an operation was not practical in 1943. Instead, on the initiative of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, a plan known as Operation Cartwheel was developed, which proposed to envelop and cut off Rabaul without capturing it, by simultaneous offensives in the Territory of New Guinea and northwards through the Solomon Islands.
In early 1943, Japanese defenses were prepared against possible Allied landings on New Georgia, Kolombangara and Santa Isabel. By June 1943 there were 10,500 troops on New Georgia and 9,000 on Kolombangara well dug in and waiting for an Allied attack.

Landings

The first Allied landings were on 20 June 1943 by the United States 4th Marine Raider Battalion at Segi Point on New Georgia. There was no resistance, and airfield construction began there on 30 June. From 12 July planes from Segi Point provided close air support for the battle.
On 30 June, the 4th Raiders captured Viru Harbor, but bad weather caused chaos at the simultaneous landings at Wickham Anchorage and Rendova Island.
By the end of the fighting on New Georgia, the 37th Infantry Division had pushed the remaining Japanese defenders out of the jungle.

Notes

1. Altobello, ''Into the Shadows'', p. 354.
2. Altobello, ''Into the Shadows'', p. 354.

References

★ Into the Shadows Furious, , Brian, Altobello, Presidio Press, 2000, ISBN 0-89141-717-6

★ Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific, , Eric M., Bergerud, Penguin, 1997, ISBN 0-14-024696-7

★ Munda Trail: The New Georgia Campaign, June-August 1943, , Eric M., Hammel, Pacifica Press, 1999, ISBN 0-935553-38-X

★ Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War, , Saburo, Hayashi, Marine Corps. Association, 1959, ASIN B000ID3YRK

★ The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII), , William L., McGee, BMC Publications, 2002, ISBN 0-9701678-7-3

★ Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier'', vol. 6 of ''History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, , Samuel Eliot, Morison, Castle Books, 1958, 0785813071

★ Japanese Army in World War II: The South Pacific and New Guinea, 1942-43, , Gordon L., Rottman, Osprey, 2005, ISBN 1-84176-870-7

External links

★ Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944

★ New Georgia

★ Northern Solomons Same publication also located at: [1]

★ UP THE SLOT: Marines in the Central Solomons

★ Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944

★ CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul

★ Marines in the Central Solomons

★ Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul

★ Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I - Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War.