United States Military Aviation - General & Miscellaneous, Aerial Operations - World War II, New Guinea (Island) - History, Pacific Theater - World War II - Japan, Japanese History - World War II & Aftermath, 20th Century American History - World War II,

The Siege of Rabaul

Name: The Siege of Rabaul
Author: Henry Sakaida
ISBN: 9781883809096

by Henry Sakaida

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Overview

Rabaul, on New Britain Island, was the cornerstone of Japanese power in the Southwest Pacific island campaign. It was eventually reduced by Allied airpower and then isolated and left to wither. Matching Japanese diaries and interviews with similar material from the Allies, Sakaida records the final epic air battles of early 1944, which broke the back of Rabaul's aerial might.

Sakaida also details the ordeal of the abandoned Japanese units and their ingenious efforts to keep a guerrilla air force operating until the end of the war in 1945. Many rare photos from Japanese and American sources vividly depict battle conditions, detail encounters with Allied adversaries, and provide perspectives from both sides.

Synopsis

The Japanese bastion of Rabaul was their Gibraltar of the Southwest Pacific in WWII. But by 1944 Allied forces had won the battle for the Solomons and Rabaul was encircled and besieged. It was bypassed and never invaded. This is the incredible story of its siege and the activities of its surviving guerrilla air force.