![]() ![]() Operations Reckless and Persecution would also allow the Allies to bypass and isolate Japanese forces at Wewak. And so, early in 1944, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area, and Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., the Navy’s commander for the South Pacific, worked out plans for what would become Operations Reckless and Persecution, the conquest of northern New Guinea and its valuable airfields. Nimitz’s progress toward the Marianas and Palau. In these airfields, the Allies would finally get the heavy-bomber bases necessary for MacArthur’s push to the Philippines and Admiral Chester W. ![]() Navy’s perspective, taking Hollandia and Aitape was crucial to isolating Japanese forces in Wewak, also on the north coast of New Guinea, and Rabaul to controlling the 600-mile line stretching from Truk to Guam and to launching further offensives to the north and west. This push would be part of a wider effort to weaken the Japanese in three ways: first, to divert their attention to the Southwest Pacific in time for the Allies to strike in the north second, to eliminate the Japanese southwest-Pacific–area headquarters at Rabaul and third, to reconquer the Philippines, under Japanese occupation since 1942.įrom the U.S. ![]() At the conference, Roosevelt and Churchill resolved to work together to attack Japan on multiple fronts in the Pacific and to take Japanese bases in New Guinea. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and members of the French government-in-exile. The spring 1944 fight for northern New Guinea’s airfields was in part a product of the Casablanca Conference, the January 1943 meeting of U.S. The main operations - Reckless, which aimed for the conquest of Hollandia and nearby airfields, and Persecution, which focused on the landing strips near Aitape-succeeded in securing northern New Guinea and Allied progress toward the Philippines and the Japanese home islands. The Navy played a crucial role in operations to take Japanese airfields near the north coast of New Guinea in April 1944. ![]()
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