Geography | |
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Location | Oceania (Melanesia) |
Coordinates | 5°30′S 141°00′E / 5.500°S 141.000°E |
US Naval Base New Guinea was number of United States Navy bases on the island of New Guinea (then divided into Dutch New Guinea, the Territory of New Guinea and the Territory of Papua) during World War II. Australia entered World War II on 3 September 1939, being a self-governing nation within the British Empire. The United States formally entered the war on 7 December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Empire of Japan. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan quickly took over much of the South Pacific Ocean. The United States lost key naval bases in the South Pacific, including Naval Base Manila and Naval Base Subic Bay, both lost in the 1941–42 invasion of the Philippines. Also lost were Naval Base Guam and Wake Atoll. As such, the United States Armed Forces needed new bases in the South West Pacific for staging attacks on Japan's southern empire. The United States built bases first in Australia, then in New Guinea.[1][2][3]
See also: New Guinea campaign and South West Pacific theatre of World War II |
With the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDACOM) the Allies tried to limit the advance of Japan. ABDACOM did not have enough troops or supplies to carry out the mission. The northern parts of New Guinea was captured by Japan.[4] [5] The US Naval built bases for troops, ships, submarines, PT boats, seaplanes, supply depots, training camps, fleet recreation facilities, and ship repair depots. To keep supplies following the bases were supplied by the vast II United States Merchant Navy. Some of the bases were shared with the Royal Australian Navy and Royal Australian Air Force. By spring 1943, the build up of the US Navy to support the Pacific War had caused overcrowding at the ports on the east coast of Australia. To help the US Navy Seabees departed Naval Base Brisbane on 19 June 1943 to set up a new base in Milne Bay. The Naval Base Milne Bay was a new major United States Navy sea and airbase base built on Milne Bay in Milne Bay Province in south-eastern Papua New Guinea. New Guinea is a tropical rainforest island near the equator. Troops had to battle heavy rains and tropical diseases. After the war in 1945, the New Guinea bases closed.[6][7]
Japan built a large base at Rabaul on the island of New Britain with 110,000 Japanese troops. Rabaul was invasion bypassed in the island hoping Pacific war efforts. Rabaul was attacked by air and had its supply lines cut off by sea, called Operation Cartwheel, making the neutralisation of Rabaul.[8][9][10]
Further information: Japanese war crimes |
As in other theaters of war Japan's treatment of POWs and civilians was very poor. Many were exhausted from hunger and disease. Many deaths were caused by the diversion of food, such as rice, to Japanese troops from the New Guinea population. Some were turned into Japan's forced labourers, called romusha. [11][12]International Red Cross packages were not distributed to POWs.[13][14] In the New Guinea there were both massacres and executions of POWs:[15][16]