_by Major Charles D. Melson, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)_
Operation Watchtower was the codename assigned by the Joint Chiefs of
Staff for the reduction of the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul, on the
easternmost tip of New Britain Island in the Bismarck Archipelago. The
plan called for the South Pacific Area forces of Vice Admiral Robert L.
Ghormley (relieved in November 1942 by Vice Admiral William F. Halsey)
to move up the chain of the Solomon Islands toward Rabaul, beginning
with the Guadalcanal landings on 7 August 1942. In December that year,
patrol flights taking off from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal and from
the decks of U.S. fleet carriers in the waters around the Solomon
Islands discovered the Japanese hard at work on a well-camouflaged
airfield at Munda on the northern end of New Georgia. This new
field posed a definite threat to the Allies still fighting to wrest
Guadalcanal from the enemy. It had to be taken, or at the very least,
neutralized. U.S. pilots also reported another field being completed on
Kolombangara across the Kula Gulf from New Georgia.
In response to these potential threats, Operation Toenails, landings
in the New Georgia Islands in the Central Solomons with the capture
of Munda as the primary objective, were planned, scheduled, and
mounted. The first step leading to the invasion of New Georgia was the
occupation of the Russell Islands, 65 miles northwest of Guadalcanal,
which would serve as a forward base on which airfields would be
constructed. Operation Cleanslate on 21 February 1943 saw the Marine
3d Raider Battalion (Lieutenant Colonel Harry B. Liversedge) land on
Pavuvu, and the 43d Infantry Division (less a regimental combat team)
invade Banika. Both landings were unopposed. The 11th Defense Battalion
landed on Banika the same day and had its guns in place by noon. By
15 April, Allied aircraft began operating from the first of two new
airstrips the Seabees constructed on Banika.
The primary objective of Operation Toenails was the capture of the
airfield on Munda in the New Georgia group. Preliminary landings to
support the main effort were to be made at Wickham Anchorage on Vangunu
Island, Viru Harbor, and the Bairoko Harbor areas of New Georgia.
Rendova Island and smaller islands nearby, across Blanche Channel to
the south of New Georgia, were to be occupied next and used as supply
bases and also as artillery positions for delivering supporting fire
for the main attack on Munda. The plan called for ground forces then
to drive the Japanese into the Munda Point area and once they were
there, Allied air, artillery, and tanks could support the main landing.
The enemy “would be annihilated or forced into a costly withdrawal,”
according to the Allied concept of the operation.
For Toenails, Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner, Amphibious Force
Commander, divided his assigned forces into two task groups: Western
Force, which he would personally command, was to seize Rendova,
Munda, and Bairoko. The Eastern Force, under Rear Admiral George H.
Fort, also an experienced amphibious force commander, was directed
to capture Wickham Anchorage, Segi Point, and Viru Harbor. Turner’s
ground commander was Army Major General John H. Hester, who headed
the New Georgia Occupation Force (43d Infantry Division; Marine 9th
Defense Battalion; the 136th Field Artillery Battalion from the 37th
Infantry Division; the 24th Naval Construction Battalion (Seabees);
Company O of the 4th Marine Raider Battalion; the 1st Commando, Fiji
Guerrillas; and assigned service troops). Fort’s Eastern Force included
Army Colonel Daniel H. Hundley’s Army 103d Regimental Combat Team
(RCT), less a battalion with Hester; Companies N, P, and Q of the 4th
Raider Battalion; elements of the 70th Coast Artillery (Antiaircraft)
Battalion; parts of the 20th Seabees; and service units. Colonel Harry
B. Liversedge’s 1st Marine Raider Regiment (less the 2d, 3d, and 4th
Battalions) was designated ready reserve for the operation, while the
Army’s 37th Infantry Division (less the 129th RCT and most of the 148th
RCT) was held in general reserve on Guadalcanal ready to move on five
days’ notice.
[Illustration: THE SOLOMON ISLANDS
1943]
Hester’s corps headquarters was formed by taking half of the 43d
Division staff, the rest remaining with the Assistant Division
Commander, Brigadier General Leonard F. Wing, USA. Over 30,000 men were
in the units assigned to the New Georgia Occupation Force, the majority
of which were Army troops, Marine and Seabee units, patrol-torpedo (PT)
boat squadrons, and naval base personnel. Marines from the 10th and
11th Defense battalions were in reserve as reinforcements.
[Illustration: _Col Harry B. Liversedge commanded the 1st Marine Raider
Regiment and the XIV Corps Northern Landing Group. His mixed Army
and Marine command was used as infantry rather than in the special
operations role for which the raiders had been trained and equipped.
Isolated from the main attack on Munda, he had to commit his forces to
supporting operations._
Marine Corps Historical Collection
]
Defending the New Georgia Island Group were the _Southeast Detachment_
of Major General Noboru Sasaki and the _8th Combined Special Naval
Landing Force_ under Rear Admiral Minoru Ota (later to die as commander
of Japanese naval forces at Okinawa); subordinate units included the
_13th Infantry Regiment_, _229th Infantry Regiment_, _Kure 6th Special
Naval Landing Force_, and the _Yokosuka 7th Special Naval Landing
Force_. New Georgia and Kolombangara, and enemy outposts on Rendova,
Santa Isabel, Choiseul, and Vella Lavella, were strongly defended. The
number of Japanese occupying the outlying islands was comparatively
small. The forces on Kolombangara were “estimated” at 10,000 troops
while those on New Georgia were figured to be between 4,000 and 5,000.
[Illustration: