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Chapter One ASCENDING THE LADDER OF THE SOLOMAN ISLANDS

T heir defeats of 1942 and early 1943 in Papua and Guadalcanal worried the Japanese high command severely, for in this area now lay the greatest danger of an Allied breakthrough into the Southern Resources Area so vital for Japan’s continued ability to wage the war and prosper economically once it was over. The decision was therefore taken to reinforce the area strongly. The key to the region’s defenses was Rabaul, on New Britain, and it was to this that men and matériel were sent to replace those lost in the Papua and Guadalcanal battles. From Rabaul these additional resources were to be allocated as the local commanders saw fit, mostly to the garrisons in the Huon Gulf in north- eastern New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands chain as far to the south-east as New Georgia Island. The Japanese had

Words to Understand Battalion: A large group of troops organized together. Huon Gulf: An inlet located in the Solomon Sea south of the Huon Peninsula. Pacific Ocean: An ocean of 69,375,000 square miles (180,375,00 square km).

Area Army of Lieutenant-General Hitoshi Imamura. The 8th Area Army controlled two formations, Lieutenant- General Hotaze Adachi’s 18th Army in New Guinea, and Lieutenant-General Iwao Matsuda’s 17th Army in the Solomon Islands. Given that this threatened area was the key to the naval- controlled defense perimeter on which Japan’s fate hung, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, kept a watchful eye on the situation from his headquarters in Truk, far to the north in the Caroline Islands. The general Allied strategy for the area had been fixed in July 1942, and following the defeat of the Japanese attempts on Port Moresby and Guadalcanal, the forces of General Douglas MacArthur’s South-West Pacific Area were ready to begin the drive on Rabaul. The South Pacific Area was dissolved, Vice-Admiral William F. Halsey’s naval forces in the area becoming the 3rd Fleet, which was allocated to MacArthur’s overall command. The drive on Rabaul was to have two axes. Supported by the aircraft of Lieutenant-General George Kenney’s U.S. 5th Army Air Force, Lieutenant- General Walter Krueger’s U.S. 6th Army was to advance up the coast of New Guinea and then invade the western end

no joint command structure, and it thus depended on the good sense of commanders whether or not the army and navy acted in cooperation. In this area, however, it was good: overall com- mand was exercised by Vice-Admiral Jinichi Kosaka, commanding the 8th

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