Operation Cartwheel
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Operation Cartwheel (1943 – 1944) was a twin-axis of advance operation by the Allies in the Pacific theater of World War II aimed at militarily neutralizing 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 advanced along the northeast coast of New Guinea. Allied forces from the Pacific Ocean Areas command, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, advanced through the Solomon Islands towards Bougainville. The Allied forces involved were from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and various Pacific Islands.
Background to Operation Cartwheel
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, and the main obstacle in the two Allied theaters. 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 a main effort in Europe and not the Pacific, proposed a compromise plan in which the task would be divided into three stages, the first under Navy command and the second two under MacArthur's direction. This strategic plan, which was never formally adopted by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff but which was ultimately implemented, called for:- Capture of Tulagi (later Guadalcanal) and the Santa Cruz Islands (Operation Watchtower)
- Capture of the northeast coast of New Guinea and the central Solomons
- Reduction of Rabaul and related bases
Implementation of Cartwheel
MacArthur had presented Elkton III, his revised plan for taking Rabaul before 1944, on February 12, 1943. It called for an attack by MacArthur against northeast New Guinea and western New Britain, and by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey (then in command of the South Pacific Area) against the central Solomons. This plan required seven more divisions than were already in the theater, raising objections from the British. The Joint Chiefs responded with a directive that approved the plan using forces already in the theater or en route to it, and delaying its implementation by sixty days. Elkton III then became Operation Cartwheel.
The Cartwheel plan identified thirteen proposed subordinate operations and set a timetable for their launching. Of the thirteen, Rabaul, Kavieng, and Kolombangara were eventually eliminated as too costly and unnecessary, and ten were actually undertaken. These ten operations, with their dates of landing and invasion units, were:
- Operation Chronicle: Woodlark Island (U.S. 112th Cavalry Rgt.) and Kiriwina (Trobriand Islands) (U.S. 158th RCT); June 30, 1943
- Operation Toenails: New Georgia; June 30, 1943; U.S. 43rd Infantry Division
- :Segi Point, New Georgia; June 21, 1943; 4th Marine Raider Battalion
- :Rendova; June 30, 1943; U.S. 169th and 172nd RCT (43rd Infantry Division)
- :Zanana, New Georgia; July 5, 1943; 169th and 172nd RCT
- :Bairoko, New Georgia; July 5, 1943; 4th Marine Raider Battalion
- :Arundel Island; August 27, 1943; 172nd RCT; 43rd Infantry Division
In the midst of Operation Cartwheel the Joint Chiefs met with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Quadrant Conference in Quebec in August 1943. There the decision was made to bypass and isolate Rabaul rather than attempting to capture the base and attack Kavieng instead. Soon after the decision was made to bypass Kavieng as well. Although initially objected to by MacArthur, the by-passing of Rabaul in favor of its neutralization meant that his Elkton plan had been achieved, and after invading Saidor, MacArthur then moved into his Reno Plan, an advance across the north coast of New Guinea to Mindanao.
The campaign, which stretched into 1944, showed the effectiveness of a strategy which avoided major concentrations of enemy forces and instead aimed at cutting the Japanese lines of communication.
| New Guinea campaign |
|---|
| 1st Rabaul – Coral Sea – Kokoda Track – Milne Bay – Buna-Gona – Bismarck Sea – Cartwheel – Lae – 2nd Rabaul – Cape Gloucester |
Sources
Publications
External links
- Brief synopsis of Allied campaign to isolate Rabaul.
- Brief account of Japanese occupation of Rabaul and subsequent war crimes trials of many of the Japanese troops who had been stationed there.
- Account of U.S. Marine involvement in air war over Solomon Islands and Rabaul.
- Information on "Pappy" Boyington
Official histories
Australia
- [The New Guinea Offensives (Army)]
- [Royal Australian Navy, 1942–1945]
- [Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945 (RAAF)]
- [CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul (United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific)]
- [Isolation of Rabaul (History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II)]
- [The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan August 1942 to July 1944 (Army Air Forces in World War II)]
Audio/visual media
- — TV series featuring U.S. Marine Fighting Squadron 214, based on "Pappy" Boyington's memoirs. Many veterans reportedly complain that this series isn't very realistic,medalofhonor.com, "Pappy Boyington" but shows F4U Corsairs in action.
Notes
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