Target: Rabaul: The Allied Siege of Japan's Most Infamous Stronghold, March 1943 - August 1945

by Bruce Gamble

  Sources

  A vast amount of research and reference material was gathered for this project over a span of some fifteen years. However, as Sir Max Hastings points out, a comprehensive bibliography is “merely an author’s peacock display” in a work of popular nonfiction. Thus, only the sources of direct quotes are cited here, along with occasional specific details not commonly available in the public domain. Citations of published sources and self-published memoirs are self-explanatory. Documents obtained from brick-and-mortar repositories and the worldwide web are listed with abbreviations, as follows:

  Air Force Historical Research Agency (Montgomery, AL): AFHRA

  Australian War Memorial (Canberra, ACT): AWM

  Emil Buehler Naval Aviation Library (Pensacola, FL): EBNAL

  Imperial Japanese Navy Page (www.combinedfleet.com): CF

  MacArthur Memorial (Norfolk, VA): MM

  National Archives and Records Administration (College Park, MD): NARA

  Nimitz Library, United States Naval Academy (Annapolis, MD): USNA

  Pacific Wrecks (www.pacificwrecks.com): PW

  In addition to obtaining a large collection of books, articles, and documents, I had the privilege of interviewing dozens of veterans who served in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. Their names are included in the Acknowledgments section.

  Prologue

  “bars and belles”: James McMurria, Trial and Triumph, self-published, 1991, p. 7; “There was no town”: ibid., p. 8; weather conditions, aborted takeoff: ibid., pp. 16–17; “visions of Sydney”: ibid.; “Let’s go”: Robert Martindale, The 13th Mission, Eakin Press 1998, p. 17; IJN units at Wewak: Richard Dunn, Wewak, The Early Days narrative essay, circa 2005; “We were alone”: McMurria, op. cit., p. 18; “let’s get the hell out of here!”: ibid.; “they were coming at us”: ibid., p. 19; “the ship was getting harder to fly”: ibid., p. 20; “was frozen to his .50 caliber”: Missing Air Crew Report (hereafter, MACR) #6384.

  Chapter 1: A Pirate Goes to Washington

  “I think we are going to get along”: Kenney diary and papers, MM, July 29, 1942; “Let’s go in the next room”: ibid., Aug. 4, 1942; “The problem with you”: George Kenny, General Kenney Reports, Air Force History and Museums Program, 1997, p. 152; “Nice work, Buccaneer”: William Manchester, American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880–1964, Little, Brown, 1978, p. 329; “It cannot fail”: Kenney Reports, p. 206; reliance on “operations reports”: ibid., p. 210; “I’m a big shot:” Kenney diary, March 10, 1943; “Judge [Robert P.] Patterson”: ibid., March 12, 1943. Meeting in Gen Arnold’s office: ibid., March 15, 1943; “no soap”: ibid., March 17, 1943; “surprisingly familiar with the geography”: ibid.; “The Roosevelt charm is no myth”: ibid.; “one of the great aerial tacticians”: Life, March 22, 1943; “SOPAC will have to get some aircraft”: Kenney diary, March 22, 1943; “FDR really did a swell job”: ibid., March 25, 1943. “I’ll be watching”: ibid.; “Ramey’s loss a bad one”: ibid.

  Chapter 2: Stepping Stones

  “The smoke of battle”: quoted by Louis Morton, Strategy and Command: The First Two Years, Dept. of the Army, 1962, pp. 294–295; details of Joint Directive: ibid., pp. 390–391; “a less ambitious program”: ibid., p. 392; “would be able to advance”: John Miller, Cartwheel: The Reduction of Rabaul, Dept. of the Army, 1968, pp. 14–15; “I’m glad it’s over”: Kenney diary, March 28, 1943.

  Chapter 3: New Guinea Graveyard

  “There is a cook for me”: Kenney diary, March 8, 1943; “I told him”: Kenney diary, April 6, 1943; MacArthur’s health and appearance: ibid.; “Major Hustad experimented”: 63rd BS war diary, AFHRA, March 22, 1943; “We landed okay”: ibid., November 24, 1942; “accomplish any task”: ibid., April 12, 1943; “Ken McCullar is a hard-hitting lad”: Kenney diary, April 10, 1943; “you can’t try a person twice”: ibid.; “lay off colonels”: ibid.; “a superior and impregnable strategic position”: quoted by Morton, Strategy and Command, p. 172; “Over the airfield at Port Moresby”: Mainichi Daily News, April 13, 1943. “Please convey my satisfaction”: quoted by Donald Davis, Lightning Strike, St. Martin’s, 2005, p. 234; “a damn fool thing to do”: Hiroyuki Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, Kodansha International, 1979, p. 139.

  Chapter 4: The Heart of Darkness

  Chronology of McMurria crew’s stay on Wokeo Island and eventual capture: from McMurria, Trial and Triumph and Martindale, 13th Mission; details of civilian massacres aboard Akikaze: Yuki Tanaka, Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II, Westview, 1998; “to dispose of all neutral civilians”: quoted by Tanaka, p. 54; details of 6th Field Kempeitai formation, including “a poor excuse for a ship”: Saiji Matsuda, Koyo No Me (Eye of the Lone Falcon): An Essay—Odd Notes from the Battlefield, unpublished narrative, via Henry Sakaida, circa 1985; “What was all that Bushido shit?”: quoted by McMurria, Trial and Triumph, p. 73; “Nothing short of a full course meal”: ibid., p. 76.

  Chapter 5: Lethal Moonlight

  “enemy transportation and the threat of hostile planes” and “harassment by enemy planes”: Japanese Monograph 122: Outline of Southeast Area Naval Air Operations, Part III, Nov ’42–Jun ’43, USNA, p. 52; “many a stray bomb”: McMurria, Trial and Triumph, pp. 127–129; “The older personnel”: Whitehead, correspondence to Kenney, MM, May 12, 1943; “indoctrination and training”: 63rd Bomb Squadron war diary, May 11, 1943; “psychological effects”: Ikuhiko Hata and Yasuho Izawa, Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in World War II, Naval Institute Press, 1989, p. 38; “fired on some of the ships”: 90th Bomb Group narrative history, p. 65, AFHRA; “heard something that sounded like gravel”: Griffin summary, in 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, AFHRA; details of bailout: Jose Holguin, Prisoner of War, Rabaul, New Britain, unpublished manuscript, circa 1987, via Henry Sakaida; “Lt. MacEachran was believed shot down”: 43rd Bomb Group casualty report, AFHRA.

  Chapter 6: Zeamer and Sarnoski

  “self-advertising son of a bitch”: quoted by E. B. Potter, Bull Halsey, Naval Institute Press, 1985, pp. 154–155; “Saw General MacArthur”: Kenney diary, April 28, 1943; “The general scheme of maneuver”: quoted by Miller, Cartwheel, pp. 52–57; “nary a spit of land”: anonymous, The Diary of the 8th Photo Squadron, self-published, June 6, 1943; “We don’t mind flying for the cause”: ibid., June 15, 1943; “shit-brindle”: Zeamer, correspondence with Dave Armstrong, November 24, 1998; “I’m going up there to do mapping”: Medal of Honor videotaped oral history, YouTube upload, September 27, 2011; “a string of 15 or 20 fighters”: Air Information Bulletin (AIB) #19, Extract from Final Mission Report of June 16, 1943, via Rick Dunn; “One whipped by my side window”: MOH oral history; “A single-seat fighter”: AIB extract; “have evolved into a yarn”: Jack Fellows, correspondence with author, January 21, 2013; “A half a minute [after the first pass]”: AIB extract; “One shell exploded behind my seat”: MOH oral history; “Though mortally wounded”: AIB extract; “I figured if we got hit”: MOH oral history; details of Air Group 251 participants and statistics: group combat log, via Osamu Tagaya; “I don’t move”: MOH oral history; “I just greased it in”: quoted in 43rd Bomb Group newsletter, July, 2011; “Get the pilot last”: MOH oral history.

  Chapter 7: The Big Feud

  “There was a layer of middle cloud”: Whitehead, correspondence to Kenney, May 7, 1943; “a badly-scared lot”: ibid.; “The crash at Bena Bena”: ibid.; “looked good, meant business” and “tiring fast”: Kenney Reports, p. 246; “seen nothing, heard nothing”: ibid., p. 92; “Bill Benn says”: Kenney diary, November 13, 1942; “Buy a Jolly Pop”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, AFHRA, p. 135; “[S]illy little things”: Kenney Reports, p. 258.

  Chapter 8: Wewak

  “We knew that the enemy was constructing a big air base”: Japanese Monograph 32: Southeast Area Air Operations Record, Nov. 1942–Apr.1944, p. 171; “to really liquidate the place”: ibid., p. 271; “Hardships became the byword”: 40th Squadron narrative history, p. 147, AFHRA; “specialists in daring
low-level work”: ibid., p. 21; “destroy the enemy air force”: Mono 32, pp. 8–9, AFHRA; “one by one the Ki-48s were shot down”: Hiroshi Ichimura, Ki-43 “Oscar” Aces of World War 2, Osprey, 2009, p. 419; “flying straight as an arrow” and “where duty ended”: ibid., p. 44–46; “a typical Texan”: 90th Bomb Squadron history, undated clipping, AFHRA; “God, it was unbelievable”: Middlebrook, p. 430; “was nearly dancing with delight” and “It was a cinch”: Alan Dawes in the Sydney Telegraph, August 18, 1943; “delighted with the success of the mission”: ibid.; “Although no accurate estimate . . . can be assessed”: 8th Photo Squadron diary, August 17, 1943; “Photographs reveal the total destruction”: quoted in undated clipping, 43rd Bomb Group history, AFHRA; “the scale and suddenness . . . of the raid”: Interrogation of Col. Kazuo Tanikawa, 8th Area Army, NARA; also Japanese Monograph 32, p. 45.

  Chapter 9: The Hornet’s Nest

  “Neither Boram nor Wewak”: Sydney Telegraph, August 18, 1943; “Piss . . .”: Middlebrook, p. 471; “Thirty Dinahs or Helens”: 38th Bomb Group narrative history, AFHRA, pp. 278–279; “plunged into the sea”: Middlebrook, p. 22–23; “about half what the Allies initially claimed”: Miller, p. 199; “About August 1943”: Yoshihara Kane, Southern Cross: Memories of the War in Eastern New Guinea (translated by Doris Heath), unpublished, 1955, AWM; “a fatal blow to the air force”: ibid.

  Chapter 10: Primary Colors

  “didn’t have enough strength”: Kenney Reports, p. 207; “The needed supply is stymied”: Kusaka diary, July 20, 1943, AWM; “brief nap, calisthenics”: ibid.; health statistics, Rabaul garrison: The United States Strategic Bombing Survey (USSBS): The Allied Campaign Against Rabaul, Naval Analysis Division, 1946, NARA, p. 259: “The barracks were made of panels”: ibid., p. 263; “Men in the paymaster section”: ibid., p. 191; “The baths were wonderful”: ibid., p. 13; “We answered emphatically”: ibid., pp. 17–18; “This was a slightly more enjoyable project”: ibid., p. 157; “Lt. McMurria and I”: Holguin manuscript, p. 20.

  Chapter 11: The Buccaneers Attack

  “to disturb the sleep and nerves of the enemy”: George Odgers, Air War Against Japan, 1943–45 (Australia in the War of 1939–1945, Series 3, Vol. II), AWM, 1957, p. 293; “In 1943, at any one time”: interrogation of Capt. Takahashi Miyazaki, USSBS, NARA; “a considerable economy of force” and “small promise of reasonable success”: Miller, p. 225; “objective of neutralizing Japanese air forces”: ibid.; “If ever a series of offensives”: ibid., “a record unequalled”: Kenney Reports, p. 193; “a dozen Japs standing on the porch of a house”: 90th Bomb Squadron narrative history, October 12, 1943; “standing around planes”: ibid.; “We struck in split formations”: reprinted by John p. 113; “Some of the six enemy medium bombers”: ibid.; “Burgess and Helbert”: 90th Bomb Squadron combat log, October 12, 1943; observations of Dr. Tetsuo Aso: Lex McAulay, Into the Dragon’s Jaws: The Fifth Air Force Over Rabaul, Champlin, 1986, pp. 144–145; “spirits were extremely high”: Robert Cromie, Chicago Tribune, October 12, 1943; “Don’t bomb the Geisha houses”: ibid.; “a terrific flak barrage”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, October 12, 1943; “I was amazed and flabbergasted”: quoted by Steve Birdsall, Flying Buccaneers: The Illustrated Story of Kenney’s Fifth Air Force, Doubleday, 1977, p. 33, AFHRA; “the other flight commanders”: Birdsall, p. 83; “A few miles ahead”: Cromie, October 12, 1943; “between six and a dozen” and “only two Nip fighter planes”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, pp. 21–22; “rolled the dice”: Kenney diary, October 12, 1943; “Could not get all the dope”: ibid.; “When all the pictures were developed”: 8th Photo Squadron diary, October 12, 1943; “[O]ur heavy bombers”: quoted by McAulay, Dragon’s Jaws, p. 20; “the town area is a target”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, p. 25.

  Chapter 12: Stormy Weather

  “were seemingly all over the sky”: 43rd Bomb Group history, pp. 81–82; “When the intelligence officer”: interview with author, November 19, 2011; “Rabaul was well-defended”: Mahaffey, author interview, April 11, 2011; “on the damnable combination”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, p. 316.

  Chapter 13: Bloody Tuesday

  “Several Jap planes came over”: Kenneth Gasteb, World War II Memoirs, unpublished, undated, p. 18; “a beautiful little town”: Joseph Solomon, 345th Bomb Group newsletter article, Furlough, December 2012, pp. 7–8; “one hell of a dogfight”: quoted by McAulay, Dragon’s Jaws, p. 34; loss of WO Ishi-i: Hata and Izawa, p. 115; “Harry Bullis was poised”: quoted by McAulay, p. 201; “We gave Lakunai drome”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, pp. 117–118; “1 transport, 2 cruisers”: Japanese Monograph 140; “The Nips big Vunakanau drome was our target”: 43rd Bomb Group narrative history, p. 44; “The air raids against Rabaul”: Holguin manuscript, p. 215; “This followed the familiar had done practically nothing Yamamoto pattern”: ibid., p. 221; “The Japanese were now using”: Henebry, p. 34;” The first wave of B-25s approached”: Holguin manuscript, p. 227; “All my crews worked feverishly”: ibid.; “I remember seeing three destroyers”: Kirby, author interview, May 30, 2010; “Two 1000-pound demolition bombs”: 71st Bomb Squadron combat report, November 2, 1943; “a final effort”: ibid.; “During this time”: ibid.; “I had bellied up to the target”: Henebry, p. 12; “About half way across the harbor”: Webster, correspondence with Hickey; “With complete disregard for his own safety”: Woody Keyes, observer comment, Missing Air Crew Report No. 1458; “skittered like water bugs”: Webster, correspondence with Hickey; “I was so stiff”: ibid.

  Chapter 14: Redemption for the Pond Lily

  “Supporting Bougainville landing”: Kenney diary, November 2, 1943; “toughest, hardest fought engagement”: Kenney Reports, pp. 77–78; “In the space of twelve minutes”: Fifth Air Force, Rabaul: November 2, 1943, Melvin Best collection, p. 194; “Considering the size of his effort”: Hara, p. 26; details of Kurita cruiser force, including “a suitable fleet train”: Morison, p. 179; “He couldn’t sit still”: Marvin Harper, interview with author, October 2, 2006; “He’d get a gallon of ice cream”: John Gavin, interview with author, October 2, 2006; “He was truly charismatic”: Harper, author interview; “a feverish period of familiarization”: Barrett Tillman, Hellcat: The F6F in World War Two, Naval Institute Press, 1979, pp. 180–181; “energetic, sleepless”: Morison, p. 324; verbal exchanges between Halsey and staff: quoted in Halsey, pp. 18–19; “We saw many enemy seaplanes”: quoted by Hara, p. 231; “We looked up with utter astonishment”: Harper, author interview, January 22, 2007; “The antiaircraft fire”: VF-12 combat report, November 5, 1943, EBNAL; “They are hitting on our left”: quoted by Burns, p. 323; damage to Mogami: ibid., p. 73; “Tony demonstrated superb maneuverability”: VF-23 combat report, November 5, 1943, EBNAL; “The sky became filled with Jap planes”: VF-12 combat report; “I suddenly saw Zeros”: quoted by Burns, p. 74; “I was stunned”: Hara, p. 1; “I was skeptical of these claims”: quoted by Hara, p. 232; “The futility of our losses”: ibid.

  Chapter 15: Carrier Raid Redux

  “I took a deep breath”: Halsey, p. 183; “If Halsey goes in”: correspondence, Kenney to Whitehead, November 9, 1943; “a damn good airplane”: quoted by Tillman, Helldiver Units of World War 2, Osprey, 1997, p. 124; “Bagdanovich radioed, ‘Attack, attack, attack!’”: Krantz, author interview; “a tremendous explosion”: Bagdanovich, VT-17 combat report, November 11, 1943; “I just picked out a heavy cruiser”: Krantz, author interview; “The scene was like something out of the movies”: Hamilton McWhorter III, The First Hellcat Ace, Pacifica Press, 2000, p. 1; “Man your guns”: quoted by Jon Guttman, “Free-for-All Over Rabaul,” World War II, November 1999, pp. 177–178; “The Imperial Navy air arm”: Mainichi Daily News, November 13, 1943, p. 1.

  Chapter 16: Ferdinand the Bull

  “I had one thing in mind”: Krantz, author interview; “Whether we all three prayed out loud”: ibid.; “We were like animals”: ibid.; “by ship, motor boat, canoe”: Eric Feldt, The Coastwatchers, Bantam edi
tion, 1979, p. 2; “I had no unit to rejoin”: Figgis, author interview, August 9, 2001; “a tall, hawk-faced man”: Malcolm Wright, If I Die: Coastwatching and Guerilla Warfare Behind Enemy Lines, Landsdowne Press, 1965, p. 69; “The Japs had become suspicious”: Figgis, correspondence with author; “as dead as a gravestone”: Fred Hargesheimer, The School That Fell from the Sky, Bookstand, 2002, p. 127; “full up to the gunnels”: Krantz, author interview; “with great relish”: AIB Evasion and Escape Report No. 42, p. 12; “He took care of our cuts and sores”: Krantz, author interview; “a real whiner”: ibid.; “I was aware of some friction”: Figgis, correspondence with author; “Our supplies came tumbling down”: ibid.; “in a far worse state”: quoted by Wright, p. 154; “I did not have a close call”: Figgis, author interview.

  Chapter 17: The Twisted Code

  “simply out-faced the Emperor’s little men”: quoted by Peter Stone, Hostages to Freedom: The Fall of Rabaul, Australian Print Group, 1995, pp. 202–203; “Japanese military forces”: ibid.; “Americans were damned bastards”: quoted by Haruko Cook and Theodore Cook, Japan at War: An Oral History, The New Press, 1992, p. 155; “Most officers did this” and “It might sound extreme”: quoted by Cook, pp. 294–295.

  Chapter 18: Transition

  “About this time the Torokina field”: Kenney Reports, p. 77; Eleventh Air Fleet readiness statistics: Rick Dunn, Rabaul Round Two, unpublished research manuscript, p. 7; “As planned in advance”: Matsuda narrative; “I reconfirmed the necessity”: ibid.; “Of late the number of men”: Gordon Thomas, Rabaul 1942–1945, unpublished manuscript (microfilm), Australian National University; “a quagmire”: Olander, interview with author, May 15, 1993; “the best interests of the service” and “Boyington not be reappointed”: quoted by author, Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, Presidio Press, 2000, pp. 117, 124.

  Chapter 19: The Ace Race

  “You must be crazy”: quoted by Olander, author interview; “I simply adored the man”: Gregory Boyington, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, Putnam, 1958, p. 87; “Far too many fighter planes”: Walton, VMF-214 war diary, December 17, 1943; “the poor bastard”: quoted by John Foster, Hell in the Heavens, Ace Books edition, 1961, p. 47; “The records were . . . inflated”: Frank Walton, author interview, May 15, 1993; “Frank would tend to sort this out”: Bruce Matheson, author interview, May 15, 1993; “I’m working with the best”: quoted by Baily, January 11, 1944; “It’s sure lonesome”: quoted by Walton, p. 295; “I repeated the dunking”: tape-recorded public address, San Francisco, October 25, 1958. “Take it easy”: VMF-214 war diary, December 27, 1943; “It shouldn’t have been anything”: Matheson, author interview; “He flew us right up into the sun”: Edwin Olander, author interview, May 15, 1993; “From a distance”: Robert Foote, individual combat report, December 28, 1943; “a terrific rate of climb”: Boyington, VMF-214 war diary, December 28, 1943; “Zero fighters left a trail of smoke”: Richard Dunn, Exploding Fuel Tanks, self-published, 2011, p. 125; “I came to realize”: Boyington, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep, p. 196; “You can only dodge” and subsequent exchange between Marion Unruh and Donald MacAllister: ibid.; “Goddamn it”: quoted by author in Black Sheep One, p. 398; “a little tough luck”: quoted by author, p. 303; “I ended up in the water”: Boyington, correspondence to Henry Sakaida, August 25, 1983; “about six feet tall”: John Arburckle deposition, September 26, 1946.