The 29th of February comes round only in leap years, and 1944 was one. On that day about a thousand men of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division landed on Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands, north-east of New Guinea. General Douglas MacArthur had sent them on a gamble: airmen reported the islands nearly empty, so a small force was to test the defenses and either stay or be taken off again. The Japanese garrison turned out to be several times larger than the landing force, but the cavalrymen held on. Within weeks the Admiralties were in American hands, and Rabaul, Japan's great base in the South Pacific, was cut off.
A gamble on empty islands
The Admiralty Islands lie about 200 miles north-east of New Guinea. Their airfields and the large anchorage of Seeadler Harbour made them a key step in the Allied plan to isolate Rabaul rather than storm it. In February 1944 Allied airmen reported no anti-aircraft fire and no sign of activity, and some concluded that the Japanese had left. According to the U.S. Army's official history, the Japanese commander, Colonel Yoshio Ezaki, had in fact ordered his men not to fire or move about in daylight to hide their positions.1
MacArthur decided to act at once. On 24 February he ordered an immediate reconnaissance in force: if the islands were empty they would be occupied, and if the enemy proved too strong the troops could be withdrawn. MacArthur's intelligence staff disagreed with the airmen and estimated about 4,000 Japanese in the islands. The landing force, about 1,000 men under Brigadier General William C. Chase built around the 2nd Squadron, 5th Cavalry, sailed in fast transports and destroyers. MacArthur and Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid went along aboard the cruiser Phoenix to decide on the spot.2
Into Hyane Harbour
Instead of the obvious target, Seeadler Harbour, the force headed for Hyane Harbour on the east coast of Los Negros, next to Momote airfield. Its entrance was so narrow that the Japanese did not expect a landing there, and most of their troops were placed to defend other beaches. The weather was overcast, which limited the planned air strikes.3
The first wave touched down at 08:17 without loss. Then Japanese machine guns on both sides of the harbor entrance opened up on the following boats, and destroyers had to silence them before the next waves could go in. Ashore, the cavalrymen soon overran Momote airfield. By the end of the day two of them had been killed and three wounded.4
MacArthur's decision
In the afternoon MacArthur and Kinkaid came ashore. MacArthur walked the lines and told Chase to hold the airstrip until reinforcements arrived. The official history adds that he decorated Lieutenant Marvin J. Henshaw, who had led his platoon across the beach in the first wave, with the Distinguished Service Cross. The cruisers and most of the destroyers left that evening, leaving the destroyers Bush and Stockton to support the troops ashore.5
Chase pulled his men back into a tight perimeter. For several nights the Japanese attacked it, and the largest assault, on the night of 3 to 4 March, cost the Americans 61 dead and 244 wounded, including Seabees of the 40th Naval Construction Battalion. The perimeter held. Reinforcements poured in, the rest of the 1st Cavalry Division arrived, and on 15 March the cavalry landed on Manus, the largest island of the group.6
The end of Rabaul's war
The campaign was officially over on 18 May 1944. According to the official history, the 1st Cavalry Division lost 326 killed, 1,189 wounded and 4 missing, and reported burying 3,280 Japanese and capturing 75. General Walter Krueger estimated that the Japanese had disposed of 1,100 more bodies.7
The Admiralties helped to isolate Rabaul. By the end of March 1944, the official history concludes, Rabaul had been reduced to impotence and some 100,000 Japanese in the region had been bypassed. Seeadler Harbour became one of the largest Allied naval bases in the Pacific and a starting point for the campaigns later in 1944. MacArthur's part in the campaign is covered in our portrait of Douglas MacArthur, and the wider war in our article on the commanders of the Pacific War.8
