Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- List of maps
- List of Charts
- Acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Abbreviations
- Codenames
- Chronology
- Military symbols on maps
- Military History and 1943: A Perspective 70 Years on
- Part 1 Strategy in 1943
- Part 2 US Operations
- 4 On the Offensive
- Part 3 From Sea and Sky: the RAN and the RAAF
- Part 4 The Australian Role in Cartwheel
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
4 - On the Offensive
US Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area and South Pacific Area in 1943
from Part 2 - US Operations
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 December 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Foreword
- Contents
- List of Photographs
- List of maps
- List of Charts
- Acknowledgements
- List of contributors
- Abbreviations
- Codenames
- Chronology
- Military symbols on maps
- Military History and 1943: A Perspective 70 Years on
- Part 1 Strategy in 1943
- Part 2 US Operations
- 4 On the Offensive
- Part 3 From Sea and Sky: the RAN and the RAAF
- Part 4 The Australian Role in Cartwheel
- Conclusion
- Index
- References
Summary
The year 1943 was a transitional one for the Americans fighting in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) and South Pacific Area (SOPAC). In the former, SWPA forces – led by General Douglas MacArthur – had secured Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, by gaining control of Buna and Sanananda, thus preventing any further Japanese attempts to gain control of Port Moresby via the Kokoda Trail. In SOPAC, forces under the command of Admiral William F. Halsey took a bit longer to secure the largest island in the Solomon Islands, Guadalcanal. By February 1943, collectively the two commands – which included significant Australian effort – had turned back the Japanese attempt to sever the lines of communication between Australia and the United States.
In addition to achieving this strategic objective, the campaigns had served two other purposes. First, these two victories represented a psychological victory over the heretofore seemingly unstoppable Japanese forces. US soldiers in SWPA had finally prevailed against an adversary who, almost a year previously, forced a humiliated General Douglas MacArthur to flee the Philippines in defeat. Although this was no showcase for American combat effectiveness, it provided certain necessary intangible benefits. While admitting ‘that our job is still before us, with many of its difficulties’, I US Corps commander Robert L. Eichelberger nevertheless admitted to his wife that he was frustrated for not getting the attention he believed he had earned: ‘One must be satisfied in a large degree in the knowledge of duty well performed. One would have a hard time convincing the many who were here, including my staff and numerous newspaper men, that I failed in any way’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Australia 1943The Liberation of New Guinea, pp. 93 - 116Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013
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