Battle of Cape Gloucester 1943
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 26 December 1943 – 22 April 1944 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1943 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War II era (1939–1945) | derived from year |
| Location | Papua New Guinea | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Oceania | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | World War II | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | United States | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | -5.4500, 148.4167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Cape Gloucester was fought in the Pacific theater of World War II between Japanese and Allied forces on the island of New Britain, Territory of New Guinea, between 26 December 1943 and 16 January 1944. Codenamed Operation Backhander, the US landing formed part of the wider Operation Cartwheel, the main Allied strategy in the South West Pacific Area and Pacific Ocean Areas during 1943–1944. It was the second landing the US 1st Marine Division had conducted during the war thus far, after Guadalcanal. The objective of the operation was to capture the two Japanese airfields near Cape Gloucester that were defended by elements of the Japanese 17th Division.
The main landing came on 26 December 1943, when US Marines landed on either side of the peninsula. The western landing force acted as a diversion and cut the coastal road near Tauali to restrict Japanese freedom of movement, while the main force—landing on the eastern side—advanced north towards the airfields. The advance met light resistance at first but was slowed by the swampy terrain which channeled the US troops onto a narrow coastal trail. A Japanese counterattack briefly slowed the advance, but by the end of December the airfields had been captured and consolidated by the marines.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Cape Gloucester (revision 1378075464), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Arawe 1943 · 104 km
- Battle of Sio 1943 · 129 km
- Landing at Scarlet Beach 1943 · 131 km
- Battle of Wareo 1943 · 131 km
- Battle of Sattelberg 1943 · 136 km
- Battle of John's Knoll–Trevor's Ridge 1943 · 168 km
Other battles of the World War II
- Battle of Tjiater Pass 1942
- Battle of Tulagi and Gavutu–Tanambogo 1942
- Battle of the Barents Sea 1942
- Battle of the Eastern Solomons 1942
- Fall of Singapore 1942
- Action of 13 November 1943 1943
- Allied invasion of Italy 1943
- Battle of Attu 1943
- Battle of Bobdubi 1943
- Battle of Centuripe 1943
All 178 battles of the World War II →
Browse more: battles in Papua New Guinea · Oceania · World War II era battles