Battle of Arawe

Battle of Arawe
Part of World War II's Pacific War
Black and white photo of a group of men wearing military uniform disembarking from boats and walking towards palm trees
U.S. Army soldiers land at Arawe
Date15 December 1943 – 24 February 1944
Location
Arawe, New Britain, Territory of New Guinea
6°9′16″S 149°2′13″E / 6.15444°S 149.03694°E / -6.15444; 149.03694
Result Allied victory
Belligerents
 United States
 Australia		  Japan
Commanders and leaders
United States Julian W. Cunningham Empire of Japan Masamitsu Komori
Strength
4,750[1] 1,000[2]
Casualties and losses
118 killed
352 wounded
4 missing		 304 killed
3 captured

The Battle of Arawe (also known as Operation Director[3][4]) was fought between Allied and Japanese forces during the New Britain campaign of World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied Operation Cartwheel and had the objective of serving as a diversion before a larger landing at Cape Gloucester in late December 1943. The Japanese military was expecting an Allied offensive in western New Britain and was reinforcing the region at the time of the Allied landing in the Arawe area on 15 December 1943. The Allies secured Arawe after about a month of intermittent fighting with the outnumbered Japanese force.

Initial Allied goals for the landing at Arawe included securing a base for American PT boats and diverting Japanese forces away from Cape Gloucester. The PT boat base was subsequently deemed unnecessary and was not built. Only a small Japanese force was stationed at Arawe at the time, although reinforcements were en route. The main Allied landing on 15 December was successful despite a failed subsidiary landing and problems coordinating the landing craft. American forces quickly secured a beachhead and dug in. Japanese air units made large-scale raids against the Arawe area in the days after the landing, and in late December Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) troops unsuccessfully counterattacked the American force. In mid-January 1944 the American force, reinforced with additional infantry and tanks, launched a brief offensive that pushed the Japanese back. The Japanese units at Arawe withdrew from the area towards the end of February as part of a general retreat from western New Britain.

There is no consensus among historians on whether the Allied offensive at Arawe was necessary. While some have argued that the landing served as a useful diversion ahead of the Cape Gloucester operation, others believe that the entire campaign in western New Britain was unnecessary and that the force employed at Arawe could have been better used elsewhere.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Powell_83 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shaw_Kane_343 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Brown (2011), p. 50
  4. ^ Murfett (2009), p. 316