Description
Book SynopsisA compelling account of the failure of Imperial Japan''s Operation Ro-Go, intended to take the offensive in the Solomons theater of the Pacific War, but which became Japan''s first line of defense against the Allies'' Rabaul raids and Bougainville landings.By the midpoint of World War II in the Pacific, Japan was on the defensive. At the end of 1943, after a year of tumultuous air combat around Rabaul and the Solomons, 173 Japanese aircraft were sent to Rabaul. The plan was for them to participate in Ro-Go Sakusen (known as Operation
Ro,
Ro-Go, or B) to strike Allied air power and shipping in the Solomons and to slow the American advance by severing Allied supply chains. However, instead of challenging Allied air and sea power on their own terms, the operation became unexpectedly embroiled in defensive combat and counterattacks, first to defend Rabaul from Allied air raids, and then to challenge the Allied landings at Bougainville. In one fell swoop, Operati
Table of Contents(subject to confirmation) INTRODUCTION CHRONOLOGY ATTACKER'S CAPABILITIES - Airfields - Radar - Torpedoes - Floatplanes - Zero-Sen - Judy - Val DEFENDER'S CAPABILITIES - Logistics and materiel - Strategy - Radar - Airpower CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES THE CAMPAIGN - Defending Torokina - The carrier forces strike – 2 November - The Fifth Air Force strikes – 2 November - First Rabaul attack - 5 November - Japanese resistance - RAAF night attack – 5 November - Notomi lost – 8 November - The Beaufort Push – 8–9 November - The 11 November Rabaul strike - Target Rabaul – again - The Bettys’ attack AFTERMATH BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
