New Britain Campaign
New Britain Campaign: December 1943-August 1945
In the quest to have Japanese military operations to cease at Rabaul, New Britain, the Allied forces decided to invade on the western part of the island. On December 15, 1943, Task Force 76, commanded by Rear Admiral Daniel E. Barbery, USN, landed U.S. Army troops, the 112th Cavalry Regiment, on Arawe Peninsula. The landing was followed by landings at Gape Gloucester on December 26 and Talasea in March 1944. The islands close to Rabaul were also invaded by landing forces led by Rear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson, USN, such as the Green Islands in February 1944 and Emirau Islands that March. Note unlike the Bougainville Campaign, the Australians took control of the operations that October when the U.S. Army 40th Infantry Division departed to fight for the Philippine Invasion. The Australian operations against the Japanese lasted until the end of the war in August 1945.
Image: 80-G-57464: Cape Gloucester, New Britain. USS LST-18 and USS LST-463 standing by. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
