Battle of the Bismarck Sea

In the beginning of 1943 the Imperial Japanese Army was at its most powerful and most ambitious. Having taken the Philippines and Rabaul with highly advanced weaponry and a fierce dedication to the Great Asian War, the Japanese launched a full-scale campaign to conquer Australia, beginning with the immediate suppression of New Guinea.In the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Lex McAulay provides the first complete account of the destruction of the crucial Japanese reinforcement convoy to Lae, New Guinea, on 2-4 March 1943, a pivotal battle in the South West Pacific that has been neglected by historians for decades. Unable to depend on ground or surface-naval forces, which had been wiped out by previous Japanese attacks, the Royal Australian Air Force and the United States 5th Air Force banded together to overcome incredible odds. Under the guidance of General George C. Kenney, the commander of the U.S. air units in Australia, the RAAF was rocked out of its peacetime oriented organization and prepared to meet the enemy with determination and valor. Through innovation and much tenacity, General Kenney gathered together the aircraft and makeshift armaments he needed to stop the Japanese, solved the manpower shortage by throwing Americans and Australians in the same planes, trained his flyers unceasingly, and adopted an expertly planned strategy. The results are astounding—a victory that changed the direction of the war in the region, preventing what could have been a series of bloody battles of attrition in New Guinea. Described alternately through the viewpoints of the Japanese on the ships and the attacking flight crews, the narrative poignantly captures both sides of the battle with an immediacy that is dramatic and exhilarating. Moreover, it records with detail and accuracy one of World War II’s great historical moments—a land battle fought at sea and won from the air.