Operation Ke

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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. Date January 14 – February 7, 1943 Location Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands Result Japanese successfully complete the operation Belligerents Allied forces including:  United States  Australia  New Zealand  Empire of Japan Commanders William Halsey, Jr Isoroku Yamamoto Shintaro Hashimoto

v • d • e Guadalcanal Campaign Tulagi – Savo I. – Tenaru – Eastern Solomons – Edson's Ridge – Matanikau Actions – Cape Esperance – Henderson Field – Santa Cruz Is. – Matanikau Offensive – Koli Point – Carlson's patrol – Naval Guadalcanal – Tassafaronga – Mt. Austen – Rennell I. – Ke

v • d • e Solomon Islands campaign 1st Tulagi – Guadalcanal – Blackett Strait – Cartwheel – Operation Vengeance – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Bougainville – Rabaul air raids – Cape St. George – Green Is.

Operation Ke (Japanese: ケ号作戦) was the successful three-phase withdrawal of all Japanese forces from the Guadalcanal campaign 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 Imperial Japanese General Headquarters and completed by February 7, 1943, marking the end of Japanese attempts to recapture Guadalcanal.

Contents 1 Background 2 Operation 3 Aftermath 4 Notes 5 References 6 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 to 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 Imperial Army forces on Guadalcanal. Because of 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. So many Japanese troops were lost trying to re-take the island they they'd begun to refer to it as the Island of Death.^[3] On December 12, the Japanese Navy proposed that Guadalcanal be abandoned. Despite 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 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]

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Aftermath

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• 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 2006-05-16.
• Parshall, Jon; Bob Hackett, Sander Kingsepp, & Allyn Nevitt. Imperial Japanese Navy Page (Combinedfleet.com). Retrieved on 2006-06-14.