In 1942, the massive Japanese naval base and airfield at Rabaul was a fortress standing in the Allies' path to Tokyo.
It was impossible to seize Rabaul, or starve the 100, 000-strong garrison out.
Instead the US began an innovative, hard-fought two-year air campaign to draw its teeth, and allow them to bypass the island completely.
The struggle decided more than the fate of Rabaul.
If successful, the Allies would demonstrate a new form of warfare, where air power, with a judicious use of naval and land forces, would eliminate the need to occupy a ground objective in order to control it.
As it turned out, the Siege of Rabaul proved to be more just than a successful demonstration of air power--it provided the roadmap for the rest of World War II in the Pacific.
Osprey Publishing Rabaul 1943-44: reducing japan's great island fortress, paperback/mark lardas
