Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943)

Air attacks on Rabaul
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II

Japanese cruiser Chikuma under attack on 5 November 1943.
Date 2–11 November 1943
Location Rabaul on New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago
Result Allied victory, prevented Japanese naval forces from threatening invasion of Bougainville
Belligerents
 United States
 Australia
 New Zealand		  Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
George Kenney (land air forces),
William Halsey, Jr.,
Frederick Sherman (naval forces)		 Mineichi Koga,
Jinichi Kusaka
Strength
3 fleet carriers,
2 light carriers,
2 light cruisers,
9 destroyers,
282 carrier aircraft,
349 land-based aircraft[1]		 10 cruisers,
11 destroyers,
200 aircraft[1]
Casualties and losses
10 carrier aircraft,
17 land-based aircraft destroyed[2]		 5 cruisers heavily damaged,
52 aircraft destroyed[3]

The Allies of World War II conducted a bombing of Rabaul in November 1943 at the major Japanese base. Allied carrier and land-based planes attacked Japanese airfields, ships and port facilities, on the island of New Britain, to protect the Allied amphibious invasion of Bougainville. As a result of the Rabaul raids, several Japanese heavy cruisers and numerous smaller warships and transports were damaged, effectively ending the Japanese naval threat to the initial landings on Bougainville.

Contents

Background

In early 1943, Rabaul had been distant from the fighting. However, the Allied grand strategy in the South West Pacific Area—Operation Cartwheel—aimed to isolate Rabaul and reduce it by air raids. Japanese ground forces were already retreating in New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands, abandoning Guadalcanal, Kolombangara, New Georgia and Vella Lavella.

Rabaul—on the island of New Britain—was one of two major ports in the Australian Territory of New Guinea. It was the main Japanese naval base for the Solomon Islands campaign and New Guinea campaign. Simpson Harbor—captured from Australian forces in February 1942—was known as "the Pearl Harbor of the South Pacific" and was well defended by 367 anti-aircraft guns and five airfields.

Lakunai and Vunakanau airfields were prewar Australian strips. Lakunai had an all-weather runway of sand and volcanic ash, and Vunakanau was surfaced with concrete. Rapopo—14 mi (12 nmi; 23 km) to the southeast—became operational in December 1942 with concrete runways and extensive support and maintenance facilities. Tobera—completed in August 1943 halfway between Vunakanau and Rapopo—also had concrete strips. The four dromes had 166 protected revetments for bombers and 265 for fighters, with additional unprotected dispersal parking areas. The fifth airfield protecting Rabaul was Borpop airfield, completed in December 1942 across the St. Georges Channel on New Ireland.[4]

The anti-aircraft defenses were well coordinated by army and naval units. The army operated 192 of the 367 antiaircraft guns and the navy 175. The naval guns guarded Simpson Harbor and its shipping and the three airfields of Tobera, Lakunai, and Vunakanau. The army units defended Rapopo airfield, supply dumps and army installations; and assisted the navy in defending Simpson Harbor. An effective early warning radar system provided 90 mi (78 nmi; 140 km) coverage from Rabaul, and extended coverage with additional radars on New Britain, New Ireland, and at Buka. These sets provided from 30–60 minutes early warning of an attack.[4]

Land-based air attacks

From 12 October 1943, as part of Operation Cartwheel, the U.S. Fifth Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal New Zealand Air Force—directed by the Allied air commander in the South West Pacific Area, General George Kenney—launched a sustained campaign of bombing against the airfields and port of Rabaul. After the first raid of 349 aircraft, bad weather blunted the effect of bombing, which saw only a single raid by 50 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers on 18 October. However sustained attacks resumed on 23 October and continued for six days, before culminating in the large raid of 2 November.[4]

Nine squadrons of B-25s—totalling 72 bombers—and six squadrons of P-38 Lightning escorts attacked the anti-aircraft defenses and Simpson Harbor with minimum altitude strafing and bombing attacks. Eight B-25s were shot down by AAA or Japanese naval fighters, or crashed attempting to return to base. Among them was that of Major Raymond H. Wilkins of the 3rd Attack Group, posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his leadership. Nine of the 80 P-38s were also lost.[4]

Carrier attacks

With the invasion of Bougainville on 1 November, Rabaul came under threat from another direction. A hasty attempt to drive Allied forces off Bougainville had been defeated in the Battle of Empress Augusta Bay. Now Koga planned to reinforce Rabaul and overwhelm the limited Allied forces around Bougainville while most of the U.S. Navy was involved in preparations for the invasion of Tarawa.

Rear-Admiral Frederick Sherman planned to pre-empt this threat by a carrier raid from Task Force 38 (TF 38). The aircraft carriers Saratoga and Princeton headed for New Britain under cover of a weather front and launched 97 aircraft against Rabaul on 5 November.

While no ships were sunk in the raid, six cruisers were damaged, four heavily. Atago was near-missed by three 500 lb (230 kg) bombs that caused severe damage and killed 22 crewmen, including her captain.[5] Maya was hit by one bomb above one of her engine rooms, causing heavy damage and killing 70 crewmen.[6] Mogami was hit by one 500 lb bomb and set afire, causing heavy damage and killing 19 crewmen.[7] Takao was hit by two 500 lb bombs, causing heavy damage and killing 23 crewmen.[8] Chikuma, was slightly damaged by several near-misses.[9] Agano was near-missed by one bomb which damaged one anti-aircraft gun and killed one crewman.[10] Three destroyers were also lightly damaged.[11] Most of the Japanese warships returned to Truk the next day for repairs and to escape further Allied airstrikes.

Fifth Air Force followed up the carrier strikes an hour after they ended with a raid by 27 B-24 Liberator heavy bombers escorted by 58 P-38s.[4]

An additional carrier unit—Task Group 50.3 (TG 50.3) of the U.S. 5th Fleet—reached Halsey on 7 November. Commanded by Rear Adm. Alfred L. Montgomery, it consisted of the carriers Bunker Hill, Essex and Independence. Halsey used Montgomery's ships as well as TF 38 in a double carrier strike against Rabaul on 11 November. Sherman launched a strike from near Green Island, northwest of Bougainville, which attacked in bad weather at about 08:30. After its return, TF 38 retired to the south without being detected. Montgomery launched from the Solomon Sea 160 mi (140 nmi; 260 km) southeast of Rabaul.

Agano—which had remained at Rabaul after the 5 November strike—was torpedoed in these attacks and was heavily damaged.[12] The Japanese launched a series of counterattacks involving 120 aircraft against the U.S. carriers, but the force was intercepted and lost 35 planes without inflicting damage on Montgomery's ships.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Gailey, Bougainville, p. 86-92.
  2. ^ Gailey, Bougainville, p. 88-89.
  3. ^ Gailey, Bougainville, p. 88-91 and Parshall & Hackett, Combinedfleet.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e Mortensen, Bernhardt L. (1953). "Chapter 10: Rabaul and Cape Gloucester". Hyper-War Foundation. http://www.ibiblio.net/hyperwar/AAF/IV/AAF-IV-10.html. Retrieved 19 Feb 2010.  The Army Air Forces in World War II: Vol. IV The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan August 1942 to July 1944, p. 333.
  5. ^ Hackett, HIJMS ATAGO: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com. Atago went to Yokosuka, Japan, for further repairs which were completed on 30 December 1943.
  6. ^ Hackett, HIJMS MAYA: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com. Maya went to Yokosuka for further repairs which, along with the addition of additional anti-aircraft guns, were completed on 9 April 1944.
  7. ^ Hackett, HIJMS MOGAMI: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com. Mogami went to Kure, Japan for further repairs which were completed on 17 February 1944.
  8. ^ Hackett, HIJMS CHIKUMA: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com. Takao went to Yokosuka for further repairs which were completed on January 18, 1944.
  9. ^ Hackett, HIJMS CHIKUMA: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com.
  10. ^ Hackett, HIJMS AGANO: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com.
  11. ^ Hackett, HIJMS FUJINAMI: Tabular Record of Movement, HIJMS AMAGIRI: Tabular Record of Movement, HIJMS WAKATSUKI: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com., Fujinami suffered minor damage with one crewman killed. Amagiri and Wakatsuki suffered minor damage and no casualties.
  12. ^ Hackett, HIJMS AGANO: Tabular Record of Movement, Combinedfleet.com. On 16 February 1944, as Agano traveled from Truk to Japan for further repairs, she was hit by two torpedoes from the American submarine Skate and sunk. Her 523 survivors were picked up the destroyer Oite and returned to Truk. In Operation Hailstone, Oite was sunk by U.S. carrier aircraft, killing all of Agano's survivors.

References

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  • Fry, John (2000). USS Saratoga (CV-3): An Illustrated History of the Legendary Aircraft Carrier 1927-1946. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-0089-X. 
  • Gailey, Harry A. (1991). Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign. Lexington, Kentucky, USA: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9047-9. - neutral review of this book here:[1]
  • Hara, Tameichi (1961). Japanese Destroyer Captain. New York & Toronto: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-27894-1. 
  • Lacroix, Eric; Linton Wells (1997). Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-311-3. 
  • McGee, William L. (2002). "Bougainville Campaign". 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). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. ISBN 0785813071. 
  • Sakaida, Henry (1996). The Siege of Rabaul. St. Paul, MN, USA: Phalanx. ISBN 1-883809-09-6. 
  • Sherrod, Robert (1952). History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II. Washington, D.C.: Combat Forces Press. 

External links