Operation I.

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Operation I.
date 7. bis 15. April 1943
place Solomon Islands , New Guinea
output Japanese failure
Parties to the conflict

United States 48United States United States Australia New Zealand Netherlands
AustraliaAustralia 
New ZealandNew Zealand 
NetherlandsNetherlands 

JapanJapan (naval war flag) Japan

Commander

United States 48United States William F. Halsey George Kenney
United States 48United States

JapanJapan (naval war flag) Yamamoto Isoroku

Troop strength
approx. 300 land-based aircraft 11th Air Fleet: 196 aircraft
3rd Fleet: 184 carrier aircraft
losses

1 destroyer, 1 corvette, 1 tanker, 2 freighters sunk,
approx. 25 aircraft

18 fighters,
16 dive bombers,
9 horizontal bombers

Battle of New Guinea (1942–1945)

The operation I ( Jap.イ号作戦, Igo sakusen ) was a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War during World War II . It lasted from April 7 to April 15, 1943 and was carried out by the 11th Air Fleet and 3rd Fleet carrier aircraft that launched attacks against the island of Guadalcanal and against Port Moresby , Oro Bay and Milne Bay in southeast New Guinea .

prehistory

In New Guinea the Japanese had lost their landing heads to the Allies in the Battle of Buna-Gona on January 2, 1943 in Buna and on January 22 in Sanananda. In Operation KE from February 1 to 7, 1943, they evacuated their troops from Guadalcanal. Furthermore, the operation begun on February 28, 1943 to reinforce the Japanese army on Lae ended in failure ( Battle of the Bismarck Sea ). On the night of March 5th to March 6th, two Japanese destroyers that had brought supplies to the garrison on the island of Kolombangara were sunk by an American combat group ( Battle of Blackett Strait ), which then took Kolombangara under artillery fire. In view of these numerous Allied successes, the Japanese leadership intended to turn the situation around through concentrated air strikes in the Solomon Islands and eastern New Guinea. The commander-in-chief of the United Fleet , Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, personally took over the management of the operation and moved his headquarters from Truk base closer to the front in Rabaul .

course

Aichi D3A2 dive bomber

On April 7, attacked the base Buin on Bougainville from 66 dive bombers type Aichi D3A , supported by 157 hunters of the type Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen Guadalcanal in the largest air assault since the attack on Pearl Harbor on. 76 Allied fighters from Henderson Airfield fended off this attack, shooting down 12 Japanese fighters and 9 bombers, losing 7 of their own aircraft. An Allied destroyer, corvette and tanker were sunk, and another tanker was damaged.

Then the Japanese turned against New Guinea. The starting point was Rabaul.

The next attack took place on April 11th by 71 fighters and 21 dive bombers on Oro Bay with the loss of 2 fighters and 4 bombers. An allied freighter was sunk, another freighter and a deminer was damaged.

On April 12, Port Moresby was the target of 131 sen zero and 44 horizontal bombers of the type Mitsubishi G4M . 2 fighters and 6 bombers were shot down. There was only minor damage on the Allied side.

Milne Bay was the last to be attacked on April 14, with 52 fighters and 37 horizontal bombers attacking the airfield near the village of Rabi and 75 fighters and 23 dive bombers attacking ships in Milne Bay. The Japanese lost 2 fighters and 3 horizontal and dive bombers each. An Allied transport sank and 2 other ships were damaged.

output

Admiral Yamamoto saluting aircraft crews (the last picture of him before his death)

On April 16, the Japanese ended the operation because they judged enough successes had been achieved. However, this assessment was based on exaggerated reports of success from the pilots. In reality, the Allies had not suffered any significant losses. The Japanese, on the other hand, lost a large number of aircraft that were difficult to replace, making the operation a de facto failure.

Admiral Yamamoto, who wanted to thank the forces deployed for the supposedly successful operation, died on April 18 on the way to a visit to the front when his plane was shot down by American fighter pilots over Bougainville ( Operation Vengeance ).

The death of Admiral Yamamoto, the planner of the attack on Pearl Harbor and one of the most capable minds in the Japanese Navy, was a grave loss for the Japanese, which was followed by further setbacks such as the Allied landings on New Georgia and Rendova in June and the naval battles in Kula Golf and Kolombangara in July.

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