Word: rabaul
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...immediate objective: to clear the enemy from the hinterland of Finschhaven, the port captured almost two months ago by a bold amphibious stroke (TIME, Oct. 4). From Finschhaven some 70 miles of blue water lead to Jap-held New Britain: across that island's curving 300 miles lies Rabaul...
force's chief, ordered a chase, pressed boldly to a point 90 miles below the big Jap base at Rabaul. Later he described the action : "With all the speed we had [we] finally closed the range to 8,000 yd." The Japs, apparently thinking the entire U.S. Fleet was attacking, scattered. Captain Burke ordered a concentration on one damaged ship."Our boys were firing so fast that many collapsed from gas fumes in their turrets and from sheer exhaustion. Finally we got close enough so I knew the shells from three ships were hitting him. He was burning...
...came at a time when the Jap was digging in everywhere, the Allies cautiously moving forward. U.S. warships, ignoring the threat from Jap-held Rabaul, less than 200 miles distant, steamed boldly off the northern tip of Bougainville, and for 45 minutes poured shells into Jap air bases on Buka Island. Reinforced U.S. troops fought grimly in the jungles of Bougainville, wrenching advances of several hundred yards in the Empress Augusta Bay area while engineers rushed construction of airstrips. Australian troops, using Matilda tanks smuggled in secretly at night, increased pressure against the Japanese in the Finschhaven sector...
Pacific. Protagonists of naval aviation hailed a milestone in the South Pacific. Substantial U.S. carrier forces had twice attacked Rabaul in support of land operations on Bougainville, twice shielded the carriers from land-based Japanese aviation. If carriers could safely count on such self-protection-a possibility yet to be proved-the mobility and effectiveness of the naval air arm would be enormously increased, and the way to Tokyo might be drastically shortened...
Strong carrier forces gave the big Jap base at Rabaul its second bombing: Army bombers also plastered a 10,000-ton warship and other vessels there (see cut). Said a Marine officer on Bougainville: "We owe a lot to the Air Force and Navy surface forces. We'd have been under the gun if they hadn't knocked out the Japanese air power in this area and prevented enemy surface forces from reaching...