On 24 January 1942, the Japanese overwhelmed the Australian
garrison of 1,500 men at Rabaul and soon began construction of a
large naval support facility, protected by five airstrips and
two air armies with more than 600 aircraft. Rabaul became the
base of the Eighth Fleet, and from the port, the Japanese could
defend the approaches to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and
strengthen the southern flank of the region covered by their
Central Pacific base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. General
Douglas MacArthur, Allied supreme commander in the Southwest
Pacific Area, made the reduction of Rabaul a major objective.
However, the position's strength persuaded Allied leaders at the
August 1943 Quadrant Conference in Quebec to cancel MacArthur's
plans for a direct assault in favor of a strategy of
circumvention. "Island-hopping" was replaced by "leapfrogging."
Preparations began on 12 October 1943 with massive air attacks
by the U.S. Fifth Army Air Force operating from New Guinea,
followed on 5 November by carrie