U.S. Army. Via Wikipedia Commons
|
U.S. Army. Via Wikipedia Commons |
In 1941, Wewak (143.645E 3.573S) was a good but almost completely undeveloped harbor on the north coast of New Guinea. Japanese forces landed here on 1 January 1943 and built up a sizeable air base complex.
During the week of 16-23 August 1943, the American 5 Air Force pounded Wewak into uselessness after a clever deception operation drew Japanese attention away from a new fighter strip at Tsili Tsili. Kenney had ordered a large dummy strip constructed at Bena Bena, a few miles from Tsili Tsili, and the Japanese did not discover the deception until 14 August. By then the Americans had assembled a large fighter force at Tsili Tsili.
On 10 August the Japanese had massed over 250
aircraft at Wewak
for an air counteroffensive. These began raiding Tsili Tsili almost as
soon as
it was discovered. However, on 17 August, as the Japanese were
preparing to launch a massive strike against the new Allied airfield,
some 48 heavy bombers, 31 B-25 strafers, and 85 P-38 Lightning fighters
from Tsili Tsili surprised the
Japanese and destroyed 70 aircraft on
the ground. A
second strike the next day destroyed many more Japanese aircraft. These
operations broke the back of Japanese air power in central New Guinea.
Reference
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2008, 2010 by Kent G. Budge. Index
