Victory at Sea Episode 7 Part 1

[bixntram]

Great Japanese footage! I've never seen this before. Loved the fleeting view of the Japanese soldiers playing baseball!

[ddd1953]

Rabaul became a training run for green American pilots to train on dive bombing tactics.

It became a hell for the Japanese. Cut off from supplies, they had to grow their own food to survive.

The greatest fort in the east became a mere backwater, a target run for the training of pilots that would go on to destroying the Japanese empire.

[luridplanet]

I read that the invasion of Rabaul was to be called off at the last minute, but it was impossible at that point, since the invasion had already begun. They wanted to call it off because with the recent naval victories north of Rabaul, the brass realized that they could choke-off the supplies coming in and starve them out.

[GSMSfromFV]

Actually, there was no invasion of Rabaul itself. Once the ring was established, the Allies (U.S.) bombed the Japanese to such a point that Rabaul ceased to be a threat. The 60 - 100,000 Japanese troops were bypassed and left to wither on the vine, thus saving countless American lives.