BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO (The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II)

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO (The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II)

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North-East New Guinea, had given them a base beyond the other side of the straits and thus secured unhampered access to the Bismarck Sea. Yet western New Britain’s utility as a forward operating and support base proved less critical to the Allied campaign than originally anticipated. The commander of the American PT boat squadron in the area declined to establish a base at Arawe, and Allied pilots preferred to use the airfields at Cape Gloucester. On 24 April the 40th Infantry

Division, a National Guard unit with soldiers from California, Utah, and Nevada, relieved the marines and 112th Cavalry. For the remainder of the campaign, the 40th Division would conduct patrols to keep the Japanese away from the western end of New Britain while the main Allied offensives continued elsewhere.

As the Allies advanced in the Central Pacific and Nimitz pressed his carrier attacks on Truk in the Carolines in mid-February 1944, the Japanese began to reposition their air forces. The enemy aircraft remaining on New Guinea harassed the Americans but were too few to have much impact on Allied operations. The battles for Arawe and Cape Gloucester marked the last time that Japanese air power played a significant role in the Bismarck campaign.