Pacification of Rabaul

Rabaul is a town located in Eastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Japanese forces landed on Rabaul on 23 February 1942, capturing it in February of that year. The former Australian territory was transformed into a major Japanese naval and air installation. It was heavily relied on by the Japanese, and was used as a launching point for Japanese reinforcements to Guadalcanal. Throughout the Solomons Campaign, neutralizing Rabaul became the primary objective of the Allied effort in the Solomons.

Background
During the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Japanese Navy used Rabaul as a staging area for Japanese troops and supplies that were to be ferried down to Guadalcanal. After the Japanese lost their hold on the island in early 1943, Allied forces began the push up to Rabaul. Marine Raiders and US Army troops landed on the Russell Islands shortly after, and an airbase was established there. US forces then pushed the Japanese out of the New Georgia island group in August 1943. Here, the Japanese command had invested men and supplies into building an airfield at Munda, all of which proved to be a waste. Fifth Air Force aircraft made small attacks in October, and a major Allied raid on Rabaul took place in November. This raid destroyed 52 Japanese aircraft and five warships (most of Japan's naval warships would be withdrawn on 6 November). Then in November, US Marines landed on Bougainville, and its airfield was soon put to use by Allied forces. With the major Japanese possessions around Rabaul captured, Allied air forces could begin to neutralize Rabaul permanently. US Army troops landed on Arawe, which is located on Western New Britain, on 15 December 1943, and the 1st Marine Division landed at Cape Gloucester on 26 December. Both landings were part of the attempted isolation of the Rabaul base.

Air attacks
The first air attack on Rabaul was planned for 17 December 1943. It would be based out of the Torokina airfield on Bougainville, and consisted of thirty one Marine F4U Corsairs, twenty three RNZAF P-40 fighters, twenty two US Navy F6F Hellcats, and a slightly smaller number of Army Air Force B-24 bombers. The attack did not receive a large response from the Japanese, so only seven Japanese fighters were lost. Three New Zealand P-40's were lost, two with their pilots. A similar attack took place on 19 December, which cost the Japanese four aircraft, two credited to Marine fighters.

The first "large scale" strike took place on 23 December. Different from previous strikes, the Army Air Force bombers went in first, and the fighters followed afterwards. Forty Japanese fighters responded this time, and thirty were claimed to be destroyed by Allied fighters. Japanese records do not match the Allied claim, but the real casualties are probably somewhere in between both estimates. Following another raid on Christmas Eve, US Navy carriers attacked the Japanese force at Kavieng, New Ireland in unison with an air raid on Rabaul. The Navy carriers would return to Kavieng on 1 January 1944.

January became a busy month for Allied aircraft. Throughout the month, the Japanese command devoted valuable carrier aircraft and carrier pilots into the defense of Rabaul. The seemingly hopeless situation in which the Japanese pilots were being fed into was nicknamed "the sinkhole in the Bismarcks". January proved costly for the Japanese; 266 fighters were credited to Marine fighters and bomber gunners alone, not including the physical damage done to Rabaul's land defenses. In February, the Japanese command decided to pull all remaining Japanese airmen and their crews from Rabaul. Between 70 and 120 Japanese aircraft flew from Rabaul to Truk (which had recently been raided by US Navy carrier aircraft) on the morning of 19 February. Their valuable mechanics attempted to leave Rabaul by ship on 21 February, but their ship was sunk by Allied bombers. This marked the end of Japanese air resistance to Allied planes over Rabaul.

Pacification
Allied fighters and bombers continued to attack Rabaul through 1944 and 1945. The regular attacks became known as "milk runs" among the allied air crews. The only opposition over Rabaul was AA fire, so attacking became a normalcy for Allied airmen and their maintenance crews. The neutralization of Rabaul was ultimately a disaster for the Japanese. Most of their experienced carrier pilots were lost over Rabaul, and the Japanese no longer had a base from which they could threaten the Allied presence in the Solomons. The last Allied airstrike on Rabaul took place on 8 August 1945, only weeks before the Japanese surrender.