page_title: New Guinea campaign
section_title: Allied strategy toward Rabaul
hierarchical_section_title: New Guinea campaign / 1943 / Allied strategy toward Rabaul
caption_attribution_description: Australian soldiers resting in the Finisterre Ranges of New Guinea while en-route to the front line. AWM photo 016722
context_page_description: The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua and overran western New Guinea, which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian and US forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Mandate and finally from the Dutch colony.
  The campaign resulted in a crushing defeat and heavy losses for the Empire of Japan. As in most Pacific War campaigns, disease and starvation claimed more Japanese lives than enemy action. Most Japanese troops never even came into contact with Allied forces, and were instead simply cut off and subjected to an effective blockade by the US Navy. Garrisons were effectively besieged and denied shipments of food and medical supplies, and as a result, some claim that 97% of Japanese deaths in this campaign were from non-combat causes.
context_section_description: The umbrella term for the series of strategic actions taken by the Allies to reduce and capture the vast Japanese naval and air facilities at Rabaul was Operation Cartwheel. Two major moves were planned for the end of June:
  Turner's III 'Phib undertook Operation Toenails, the invasion of the New Georgia Islands halfway up the Solomons chain (30 June – 7 October 1943).
  Barbey's VII 'Phib carried out two almost simultaneous undertakings. Operation Chronicle, the capture of the Trobriand Islands between Papua and the Solomons (22 – 30 June 1943), and the landing of a combined American/Australian force at Nassau Bay on the Papuan coast just south of Huon Gulf (30 June – 6 July 1943).
  Eventually, the Joint Chiefs of Staff realized that a landing and siege of "Fortress Rabaul" would be far too costly, and that the Allies' ultimate strategic purposes could be achieved by simply neutralizing and bypassing it. At the Quebec Conference in August 1943, the leaders of the Allied nations agreed to this change in strategy focusing on neutralizing Rabaul rather than capturing it.
  Salamaua-Lae campaign (22 April – 16 Sep 1943)
  Landing at Nassau Bay
  First Battle of Mubo
  First Battle of Bobdubi
  Battle of Lababia Ridge
  Second Battle of Bobdubi
  Second Battle of Mubo
  Battle of Roosevelt Ridge
  Battle of Mount Tambu
  Operation Postern
  Landing at Lae
  Landing at Nadzab
  Bombing of Wewak (17–21 August 1943)
  Finisterre Range campaign (1943–1944)
  Battle of Kaiapit
  Battle of Dumpu
  Battle of John's Knoll–Trevor's Ridge
  Battle of The Pimple
  Battle of Shaggy Ridge
  Battle of Madang
  Huon Peninsula campaign (22 September 1943 – 1 March 1944)
  Battle of Scarlet Beach
  Battle of Finschhafen
  Battle of Sattelberg
  Battle of Jivevaneng
  Battle of Wareo
  Battle of Sio
  Landing at Saidor
  Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943)
  New Britain campaign (15 December 1943 – 21 August 1945)
caption: Australian soldiers resting in the Finisterre Ranges of New Guinea while en route to the front line
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