Under the Southern Cross – The South Pacific Air Campaign against Rabaul, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Under the Southern Cross – The South Pacific Air Campaign against Rabaul, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Although it was only captured by the Japanese early in 1942 Rabaul soon became a major Japanese military base, with a fleet anchorage, several airfields and a large garrison. The original Allied plan had been to capture Rabaul after an extensive series of preparations (Operation Cartwheel), but in August 1943 the decision was made to bypass the heavily defended base and instead create a series of bases that would surround Rabaul and allow Allied naval and air power to isolate the base and neutralise it. This eventually saw Allied bases created on Bougainville and the Green Islands to the east, the Admiralty Islands to the west and even at the other end of New Britain from Rabaul!

We start with a look at the American invasion of Guadalcanal and the naval battles around the island, and the debates over how to deal with the Japanese base at Rabaul. Once the scene is set the focus moves onto the air war. We start with the exploits of the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal, which started with the US Marines operating an out-numbered and often poorly supplied force from Henderson Field and saw the balance slowly change until the Allied aircraft on Guadalcanal were able to play a major role in the advance further into the Solomons chain.

The focus of the book then largely switches to the offensive part of the air campaign, looking at how the various air forces involved built up their strength, modified their aircraft to make them more effective and took the battle to the Japanese at Rabaul, and how the Japanese responded. Indeed it was part of the Japanese response that would have the longest term impact on their ability to resist the American advance. In an attempt to defeat the Allied air attacks the Japanese reinforced Rabaul with their naval aviators from the carriers at Truk. Many of the remaining pre-war elite naval aviators were thus lost in the failed attempt to defend Rabaul, reducing the effectiveness of the Japanese carriers when they next appeared, at the battle of the Philippine Sea. On the Allied side it becomes clear that this was by no means just an ‘air’ campaign - without the brutal fighting carried out by the Marines and US Army on a series of Pacific Islands there would have been no air bases in range of Rabaul and without the US Navy those invasions wouldn’t have been possible.

A key feature of the book is the focus on individuals and individual units. This includes Paul ‘Pappy’ Gunn, who helped turn the A-20 and B-25 into effective ground attack aircraft by giving them ever more forward firing guns and Gregory ‘Pappy’ Boyington, famous for equalling Eddie Rickenbacker’s record of victories in the First World War and as commander of VMK-214 ‘The Black Sheep Squadron’, as well as many less familiar figures. We thus get a view of the battle from the top and from right in the thick of it.

This is a useful account of the air campaign against Rabaul, bringing together the efforts of the US Marines, USAAF and the US Navy’s carrier aircraft, all of which played a part in the campaign, and which are often seen in isolation.

Chapters
1 – Operation Watchtower
2 – Battle of the Eastern Solomons
3 – The Cactus Air Force
4 – Green Hell
5 – Marine Aviation’s Finest Hour
6 – All In
7 – The End of the Beginning
8 – Whistling Death
9 – Pappy Gunn and the Sunsetters
10 – Pearl Harbor Avenged
11 – Jay Zeamer’s Eager Beavers
12 – Reinforcement
13 – The Surprise was Absolute
14 – Bloody Tuesday
15 – The Jolly Rogers
16 – Sixty-One Days
17 – Finale in the South Pacific

Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 352
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2021


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