History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944-August 1944

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University of Illinois Press, 2001 - History - 488 pages
This installment of Samuel Eliot Morison's insider history of the U.S. Navy covers five of the most eventful months of the Pacific war, March through July 1944. Awash with spectacular rescues of downed airmen, bold beach landings, and brilliant though risky strategic gambles, this volume carries Morison's coverage of the war in the Pacific through the Allies' securing of Dutch New Guinea and the Marianas.
The three assaults that comprised Operation "Forager"--in which Morison participated--add up to one of the most important amphibious operations in history: protracted, bitterly contested, requiring great flexibility as well as fortitude. The development of powerful new weapons and sophisticated new tactics, together with the greatly extended distance of active operations from continental bases, rendered naval operations more vast and more complicated than ever before in history.
After nearly two years of bitter and almost continuous fighting, the Allies have broken the Bismarcks Barrier, conquered key Japanese positions in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, and cleared the way for an advance along the New Guinea-Mindanao axis. General MacArthur is intent on his one road to Tokyo, but Combined Chiefs of Staff decide to send Admiral Nimitz and the Pacific Fleet on a second, northern route, parallel to MacArthur's. Morison follows MacArthur's Southwest Pacific Forces in a series of bold leaps to Holandiak, Wakde, Biak, and the Vogelkop, also covering Pacific Fleet operations from the end of the Marshall Islands campaign to the recovery of Guam.
 

Selected pages

Contents

The Pacific Strategy for 1944
3
2 Japanese Counterstrategy
10
Submarine Patrols December 1943July 1944
15
Fast Carrier Strikes on Palau Hollandia and Truk 22 March30 April 1944
27
2 Strikes on Hollandia WakdeSarmi and Truk 30 March30 April
34
The Southwest Pacif1c Organization
45
2 Southwest Pacific Specialties
49
Dutch New Guinea and the Reckless Plan
59
4 PHELPSS Adventures 1621 June
210
Battle of the Philippine Sea Preliminaries 3 May18 June 1944
213
2 The Japanese Submarine Offensive 14 May4 July
222
3 Forward to Decisive Victory 1215 June
231
4 Strikes on Iwo and Chichi Jima 1511 June
237
5 Feeling Each Other Out 1518 June
240
Battle of the Philippine Sea the Action 1920 June
257
2 The Submarines Contribution 19 June
278

2 The Enemys Situation
65
The Hollandia Operation 21 April6 June 1944
68
2 Battle of the Driniumor River 1 June10 August
71
3 Tanahmerah Bay 22 April6 June
74
4 Humboldt Bay 22 April6 June
79
5 Japanese Reaction and Retreat 22 April17 May
88
WakdeSarmi May 1944
91
Biak 27 May1 June 1944
103
2 Zday at Bosnik 27 May
108
3 The Drive for the Airfields
114
The Japanese Reaction to Biak Operation KON 27 May13 June 1944
117
2 First Reinforcement Attempt 31 May4 June
119
3 Battle off Biak 89 June
125
4 AGo Cancels KON Biak Secured 1022 June
131
Noemfoor and Sansapor 2 July3 September 1944
134
2 Sausapor 30 July31 August
140
3 New Guinea Epilogue
144
Preliminary Poundings and Final Plans FebruaryApril 1944
149
2 First Call 23 February
154
3 Plans Problems and Procedures
157
4 Japanese Preparations to Defend Saipan
167
Approach and Bombardment 10 May14 June 1944
170
2 Fast Carrier Air Strikes 1113 June
174
3 Prelanding Bombardments 1315 June
179
4 The Underwater Demolition Teams20
183
Saipan 1521 June 1944
186
2 Beachhead Secured 1511 June
199
3 Shore Advances and Counterattacks 1121 June
206
3 Moving Westward 2000 June 190500 June 20
282
4 The Air Battle of 20 June
288
Battle of the Philippine Sea Conclusion 2024 June
305
2 Operation Jocko 24 June
311
3 Victory
313
4 Plane Losses
319
Saipan Secured 21 June9 July 1944
322
2 The Struggle for Mount Tapotchau 2126 June
330
3 The North End Cleared 27 June9 July
334
4 Conclusion
337
Logistics for the Marianas
341
2 Food and Fuel
343
3 Ammunition
346
4 Shipping and Stretchers
347
The Fight for Tinian 24 July1 August 1944
351
2 Jday 24 July
360
3 Tinian Taken 25 July2 August
364
Guam Recovered JuneAugust 1944
371
2 First Phase of the Assault 2128 July
382
3 Island Secured 29 July10 August
398
Hollandia Task Organization
403
Naval Forces Engaged in the Capture of Saipan and Tinian
407
Forces Engaged in the Battle of the Philippine Sea
412
2 Japanese Forces in Operation AGo 120 June
416
Naval Forces Engaged in the Capture of Guam 21 July10 August 1944
418
Index
421
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About the author (2001)

Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976) was the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University and the author or editor of more than fifty books, including Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus, The European Discovery of America, and the multivolume Oxford History of the American People. He retired from the navy with the rank of rear admiral.

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