Operation Ke

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Operation Ke
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
The crew of U.S. PT boat PT 65 inspects the wreckage of the Japanese submarine I-1, sunk on January 29, 1943 during the Ke operation, at Kamimbo on Guadalcanal, February, 1943.
Date January 14 – February 7, 1943 Location Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Result Japanese successfully complete the operation
Combatants
Allied forces including: United States, Australia, New Zealand	Empire of Japan
Commanders
William Halsey, Jr	Isoroku Yamamoto Shintaro Hashimoto

Guadalcanal campaign
Tulagi – Savo I. – Tenaru – Eastern Solomons – Edson's Ridge – Matanikau – Cape Esperance – Henderson Field – Santa Cruz Is. – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Ke – Rennell I.

Solomon Islands campaign
1st Tulagi – Guadalcanal – Blackett Strait – Cartwheel – Death of Yamamoto – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Bougainville – Rabaul carrier raid – Cape St. George – Green Is.

Operation Ke (Japanese: ケ号作戦) was the three-phase withdrawal of all Japanese forces from the Battle of Guadalcanal following the defeat of the Imperial Army in ground combat centered at Henderson Field and the near destruction of Japanese naval forces in the area. The operation was agreed on and initiated on January 14, 1943 by the Japanese Imperial Guard Headquarters and completed by February 7, 1943, marking the end of Japanese attempts to recapture Guadalcanal.

Contents 1 Background 2 Operation 3 Aftermath 4 References 4.1 Notes 4.2 Books 4.3 External links

[edit] Background

On August 7, 1942, Allied forces (primarily U.S.) landed on Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida Islands in the Solomon Islands. The landings on the islands were meant to deny their use by the Japanese as bases for threatening the supply routes between the U.S. and Australia, and secure the islands as starting points for a campaign with the eventual goal of isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul while also supporting the Allied New Guinea campaign. The landings initiated the six-month-long Guadalcanal campaign.^[1]

The last major attempt by the Japanese to drive Allied forces from Guadalcanal and Tulagi was defeated during the decisive Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in early November, 1942. Thereafter, the Japanese Navy was only able to deliver subsistence supplies and a few replacement troops to Japanese Army forces on Guadalcanal. Due to the threat from Allied aircraft based at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, plus nearby U.S. aircraft carriers, the Japanese delivered these supplies at night, usually by destroyer or submarine,^[2] in operations the Allies called the "Tokyo Express." However, these supplies and replacements weren't enough to sustain Japanese troops on the island, who, by December 7, 1942, were losing about 50 men each day from malnutrition, disease, and Allied ground or air attacks.^[3] On December 12, the Japanese Navy proposed that Guadalcanal be abandoned. In spite of opposition from Japanese Army leaders, who still hoped that Guadalcanal could eventually be retaken from the Allies, Japan's Imperial General Headquarters, with approval from the Japanese Emperor, on December 31, 1942, agreed to the evacuation of all Japanese forces from the island and establishment of a new line of defense for the Solomons on New Georgia.^[4]

[edit] Operation

The Japanese titled the evacuation effort of their forces from Guadalcanal Operation Ke (ケ号作戦) and planned to execute the operation beginning January 14, 1943.^[5] An important element in the operation's plan was an air superiority campaign set to begin on January 28, with the objective of inhibiting Allied aircraft or warships from disrupting the final stage of the Ke operation, which was the actual evacuation of all Japanese troops from Guadalcanal.^[6]

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

[edit] Books

• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X. 
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Frank, Richard B. (1990). Guadalcanal : The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Penguin Group. ISBN 0-14-016561-4. 
• Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1. 
• Kilpatrick, C. W. (1987). Naval Night Battles of the Solomons. Exposition Press. ISBN 0-682-40333-4. 
• McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). "Chapter 13", The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943, vol. 5 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-58305-7. 

[edit] External links

• Hough, Frank O.; Ludwig, Verle E., and Shaw, Henry I., Jr.. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Retrieved on May 16, 2006.
• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp, & Allyn Nevitt. Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com). Retrieved on June 14, 2006.