_LtGen Haruyoshi Hyakutake, commanded the Japanese forces on
Bougainville._]
This kind of strong enemy reaction, in the air and at sea, had been
expected by American staff officers who had put in long weeks planning
the Bougainville operation. Looking at a map of the Solomon Islands
chain, it was obvious that this largest island (130 by 30 miles) on
the northwest end was a prime objective to cap the long and painful
progress northward from the springboard of Guadalcanal at the south
end. As Guadalcanal had been the beginning of the island chain, so
now Bougainville would mark the top of the ladder in the Northern
Solomons. From Bougainville airfields, American planes could neutralize
the crucial Japanese base of Rabaul less than 250 miles away on
New Britain. From Bougainville, the enemy could defend his massive
air-naval complex at Rabaul. “Viewed from either camp, the island was a
priority possession.”
There were the usual sequences of high level planning conferences, but,
on 1 October 1943, Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander, South Pacific
Area, notified General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander,
Southwest Pacific Area, that the beaches on Empress Augusta Bay in the
middle of Bougainville’s west coast would be the main objective. This
location was selected as the point to strike because with the main
Japanese forces 25 miles away at the opposite north and south ends of
the island, it would be the point of least opposition. In addition,
it provided a natural defensive region once the Marines had landed
and their airfields had been gouged out of the swamp and jungle.
Finally, the target area would provide a site for a long-range radar
installation and an advanced naval base for PT (patrol torpedo) boats.
It promised to be a campaign in a miserable location. And it was.
There were centipedes three fingers wide, butterflies as big as little
birds, thick and nearly impenetrable jungles, bottomless mangrove
swamps, crocodile infested rivers, millions of insects, and heavy daily
torrents of rain with enervating humidity.
Major General Allen H. Turnage, the 3d Marine Division commander,
summarized these horrors. “Never had men in the Marine Corps had to
fight and maintain themselves over such difficult terrain as was
encountered on Bougainville.”
To carry out this operation, Lieutenant General Alexander A.
Vandegrift, Commanding General, I Marine Amphibious Corps (IMAC),[A]
had in his command for the operation: