Japan's Biggest Pacific Air Base Was Never Invaded. So Why Did It Die?

Rabaul, the Japanese air base people call the largest in the Pacific, was never taken by an Allied army. On 5 November 1943, ninety-seven aircraft from two American carriers crippled four heavy cruisers in Simpson Harbour in twenty-four minutes. No Allied army would ever land at Rabaul to take the base. This documentary follows the Rabaul air campaign from the Japanese capture on 23 January 1942 to the surrender aboard HMS Glory on 6 September 1945. It covers the airfields at Lakunai, Vunakanau, Rapopo and Tobera, the A6M Zero and the G4M Betty, Task Force 38 with USS Saratoga and USS Princeton, the F6F-3 Hellcat, the Fifth Air Force raid of 2 November 1943, Operation Ro, the Cape Torokina landing, AirSols, the Truk raid and the Japanese air withdrawal of 20 February 1944. Every figure comes from the official Marine Corps and Army histories, naval and air force records, and loss tables. Where sources disagree, the video says so. It also tests two famous claims: that Rabaul was the largest air base in the Pacific, and that it was never invaded. Subscribe for the definitive history of the United States in the Second World War — new documentaries every few days. #WW2 #WorldWarII #PacificWar #USNavy #WWIIHistory #Rabaul #Hellcat #TaskForce38 #MilitaryHistory #USAInWW2