Solomon Islands campaign

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Solomon Islands campaign
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
Map of the Solomon Islands showing the Allied advance during 1943 and key air and naval bases.
Date January, 1942 – August 21, 1945 Location Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Result Decisive Allied victory
Combatants
United States Australia New Zealand United Kingdom Fiji[1] Tonga Solomon Islands[2] Papua New Guinea[3]	Empire of Japan
Commanders
Chester Nimitz Douglas MacArthur William Sydney Marchant[4] Robert Ghormley William Halsey, Jr. Alexander Vandegrift Alexander Patch Frank Jack Fletcher Richmond K. Turner Eric Feldt[5] R. A. Row Roy Geiger Theodore S. Wilkinson Oscar Griswold Stanley Savige	Isoroku Yamamoto Shigeyoshi Inoue Nishizo Tsukahara Jinichi Kusaka Gunichi Mikawa Raizo Tanaka Hitoshi Imamura Harukichi Hyakutake Minoru Sasaki
Casualties
4,500 dead (ground), 5,500 dead (naval), 600 dead (aircrew), 40+ ships sunk, 800 aircraft destroyed[6]	71,000 dead (ground), 7,000 dead (naval), 2,000 dead (aircrew), 50+ ships sunk, 1,500 aircraft destroyed[7]

Solomon Islands campaign
1st Tulagi – Guadalcanal – Blackett Strait – Cartwheel – Death of Yamamoto – New Georgia – Kula Gulf – Kolombangara – Vella Gulf – Horaniu – Vella Lavella – Naval Vella Lavella – Treasury Is. – Choiseul – Bougainville – Rabaul carrier raid – Cape St. George – Green Is.

Pacific Ocean theater
Midway – Solomon Islands – Aleutian Islands – Gilberts & Marshall Islands – Marianas & Palau Islands – Volcano & Ryukyu Islands

The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the north, central, and southern islands of the Solomon Islands during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand.

The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, support their counteroffensive in New Guinea, and isolate the Japanese base at Rabaul, counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal and surrounding islands in August, 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal campaign and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons on and around New Georgia and Bougainville Islands. After the allies created a Cactus Air Force at Henderson Field establishing air superiority during the daylight hours, the Japanese resorted to nightly resupply missions called Rat Transportation down the Slot. The Allies called it the Tokyo Express and pitched battles were fought trying to stop it. So many ships were lost by both sides that the area became known as "Ironbottom Sound".

The Solomon Islands campaign prevented the Japanese from cutting off Australia and New Zealand from the U.S., isolated and neutralized Rabaul, destroyed much of Japan's sea and air power, and together with Allied successes on and around New Guinea opened the way for Allied forces to recapture the Philippines and cut off Japan from its crucial resource areas in the Netherlands East Indies.

Contents 1 See also 2 References 2.1 Books 2.2 Web 2.3 Notes

[edit] See also

• New Guinea campaign
• New Britain Campaign
• Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
• AirSols

[edit] References

[edit] Books

• Altobello, Brian (2000). Into the Shadows Furious. Presidio Press. ISBN 0-89141-717-6. 
• Bergerud, Eric M. (1997). Touched with Fire : The Land War in the South Pacific. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-024696-7. 
• Bergerud, Eric M. (2000). Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific. Boulder, CO, USA: Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3869-7. 
• Brown, David (1990). Warship Losses of World War Two. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-914-X. 
• D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X. 
• Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-097-1. 
• Frank, Richard (1990). Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-58875-4. 
• Gailey, Harry A. (1991). Bougainville, 1943-1945: The Forgotten Campaign. Lexington, Kentucky, USA: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0-8131-9047-9. - neutral review of this book here:[1]
• Griffith, Brig. Gen. Samuel B (USMC) (1974). "Part 96: Battle For the Solomons", History of the Second Wold War. Hicksville, NY, USA: BPC Publishing. 
• Hoyt, Edwin P. (1990 (Reissue)). Glory Of The Solomons. Jove. ISBN 0-515-10450-7. 
• Kilpatrick, C. W. (1987). Naval Night Battles of the Solomons. Exposition Press. ISBN 0-682-40333-4. 
• Lord, Walter (1977 (Reissue 2006)). Lonely Vigil; Coastwatchers of the Solomons. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-466-3. 
• McGee, William L. (2002). The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville--Pacific War Turning Point, Volume 2 (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII). BMC Publications. ISBN 0-9701678-7-3. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). The Struggle for Guadalcanal, August 1942 – February 1943, vol. 5 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-58305-7.  Online views of selections of the book:[2]
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1958). Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, vol. 6 of History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Castle Books. 0785813071. 
• Murray, Williamson; Allan R. Millett (2001). A War To Be Won : Fighting the Second World War. United States of America: Belknap Press. ISBN 0-674-00680-1. 

[edit] Web

• Browning, Robert M., Jr., (1999). The Coast Guard and the Pacific War. U. S. Coast Guard Photography. U.S. Coast Guard. Retrieved on 2006-12-07.
• Chapin, John C. (1997). TOP OF THE LADDER: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons (English). World War II Commemorative series 1. Marine Corps History and Museums Division. Retrieved on August 30, 2006. Also available at: [3]
• Craven, Wesley Frank; James Lea Cate. Vol. IV, The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942 to July 1944. The Army Air Forces in World War II. U.S. Office of Air Force History. Retrieved on Oct 20, 2006.
• Gillespie, Oliver A. (1952). The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War, 1939–1945; The Battle for the Solomons (Chapter 7). New Zealand Electronic Text Center. Retrieved on July 11, 2006.
• Hoffman, Jon T. (1995). FROM MAKIN TO BOUGAINVILLE: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War (brochure). WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES. Marine Corps Historical Center. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.
• Lofgren, Stephen J.. Northern Solomons (English). The U.S. Army Campaigns of World War II 36. Retrieved on October 18, 2006. Same publication also located at: [4]
• Long, Gavni (1963). Volume VII – The Final Campaigns. Official Histories – Second World War. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
• McCarthy, Dudley (1959). Volume V – South–West Pacific Area – First Year: Kokoda to Wau. Official Histories – Second World War. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
• Melson, Charles D. (1993). UP THE SLOT: Marines in the Central Solomons (English). WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES 36. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on Sept 26, 2006.
• Miller, John, Jr. (1959). CARTWHEEL: The Reduction of Rabaul (English). United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific 418. Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Department of the Army. Retrieved on Oct 20, 2006.
• Mersky, Peter B. (1993). Time of the Aces: Marine Pilots in the Solomons, 1942-1944 (English). Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on October 20, 2006.
• Odgers, George (1968). Volume II – Air War Against Japan, 1943–1945. Official Histories – Second World War. Australian War Memorial. Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
• Rentz, John (1952). Marines in the Central Solomons (English). Historical Branch, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. Retrieved on May 30, 2006.
• Shaw, Henry I.; Douglas T. Kane (1963). Volume II: Isolation of Rabaul. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.
• WW2DB: Solomons Campaign
• U.S. Army Center of Military History. Japanese Operations in the Southwest Pacific Area, Volume II - Part I. Reports of General MacArthur. Retrieved on 2006-12-08.- Translation of the official record by the Japanese Demobilization Bureaux detailing the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy's participation in the Southwest Pacific area of the Pacific War.

[edit] Notes