Once the Marines realized what Matsuda had in mind, cutting the line of
retreat assumed the highest priority, as demonstrated by the withdrawal
of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, from the Puller patrol on the very
eve of the march toward Gilnit. As early as 3 February, Rupertus
concluded that the Japanese could no longer mount a counterattack on the
airfields and began devoting all his energy and resources to destroying
the retreating Japanese. The division commander chose Selden's 5th
Marines, now restored to three-battalion strength, to conduct the
pursuit. While Petras and his light aircraft scouted the coastal track,
landing craft stood ready to embark elements of the regiment and
position them to cut off and destroy the _Matsuda Force_. Bad weather
hampered Selden's Marines; clouds concealed the enemy from aerial
observation, and a boiling surf ruled out landings over certain beaches.
With about 5,000 Marines, and some Army dog handlers and their animals,
the colonel rotated his battalions, sending out fresh troops each day
and using 10 LCMs in attempts to leapfrog the retreating Japanese. "With
few exceptions, men were not called upon to make marches on two
successive days," Selden recalled. "After a one-day hike, they either
remained at that camp for three or four days or made the next jump by
LCMs." At any point along the coastal track, the enemy might have
concealed himself in the dense jungle and sprung a deadly ambush, but he
did not. Selden, for instance, expected a battle for the Japanese supply
point at Iboki Point, but the enemy faded away. Instead of encountering
resistance by a determined and skillful rear guard, the 5th Marines
found only stragglers, some of them sick or wounded. Nevertheless, the
regimental commander could take pride in maintaining unremitting
pressure on the retreating enemy "without loss or even having a man
wounded" and occupying Iboki Point on 24 February.
Meanwhile, American amphibious forces had seized Kwajalein and Eniwetok
Atolls in the Marshall Islands, as the Central Pacific offensive
gathered momentum. Further to complicate Japanese strategy, carrier
strikes proved that Truk had become too vulnerable to continue serving
as a major naval base. The enemy, conscious of the threat to his inner
perimeter that was developing to the north, decided to pull back his
fleet units from Truk and his aircraft from Rabaul. On 19 February--just
two days after the Americans invaded Eniwetok--Japanese fighters at
Rabaul took off for the last time to challenge an American air raid.
When the bombers returned on the following day, not a single operational
Japanese fighter remained at the airfields there.
The defense of Rabaul now depended exclusively on ground forces.
Lieutenant General Yusashi Sakai, in command of the _17th Division_,
received orders to scrap his plan to dig in near Cape Hoskins and
instead proceed to Rabaul. The general believed that supplies enough had
been positioned along the trail net to enable at least the most vigorous
of Matsuda's troops to stay ahead of the Marines and reach the fortress.
The remaining self-propelled barges could carry heavy equipment and
those troops most needed to defend Rabaul, as well as the sick and
wounded. The retreat, however, promised to be an ordeal for the
Japanese. Selden had already demonstrated how swiftly the Marines could
move, taking advantage of American control of the skies and the coastal
waters, and a two-week march separated the nearest of Matsuda's soldiers
from their destination. Attrition would be heavy, but those who could
contribute the least to the defense of Rabaul seemed the likeliest to
fall by the wayside.
The Japanese forces retreating to Rabaul included the defenders of Cape
Merkus, where a stalemate had prevailed after the limited American
attack on 16 January had sent Komori's troops reeling back beyond the
airstrip. At Augitni, a village east of the Aria River southwest of
Iboki Point, Komori reported to Colonel Sato of the _51st Reconnaissance
Regiment_, which had concluded the rear-guard action that enabled the
Matsuda Force to cross the stream and take the trail through Augitni to
Linga Linga and eastward along the coast. When the two commands met,
Sato broke out a supply of sake he had been carrying, and the officers
exchanged toasts well into the night.
Meanwhile, Captain Kiyomatsu Terunuma organized a task force built
around the _1st Battalion, 54th Infantry_, and prepared to defend the
Talasea area near the base of the Willaumez Peninsula against a possible
landing by the pursuing Marines. The _Terunuma Force_ had the mission of
holding out long enough for _Matsuda Force_ to slip past on the way to
Rabaul. On 6 March, the leading elements of Matsuda's column reached the
base of the Willaumez Peninsula, and Komori, leading the way for Sato's
rear guard, started from Augitni toward Linga Linga.
[Sidenote:
[Illustration: Department of Defense (USMC) photo 86249
_A Piper Cub of the 1st Marine Division's improvised air force snags a
message from a patrol on New Britain's north coast._]