Rabaul 1943-44: Reducing Japan's Great Island Fortress

by Mark Lardas

In 1942, the massive Japanese naval base and airfield at Rabaul was a fortress standing in the Allies' path to Tokyo. It was impossible to seize Rabaul, or starve the 100,000-strong garrison out. Instead the US began an innovative, hard-fought two-year air campaign to draw its teeth, and allow them to bypass the island completely. The struggle decided more than the fate of Rabaul. If successful, the Allies would demonstrate a new form of warfare, where air power, with a judicious use of naval and land forces, would eliminate the need to occupy a ground objective in order to control it. As it turned out, the Siege of Rabaul proved to be more just than a successful demonstration of air power - it provided the roadmap for the rest of World War II in the Pacific.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1472822447
• ISBN13: 9781472822444
• Release Date: January 2018
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK)
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.3" x 9.4"