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John Hamilton/Navy Art Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command
During Task Force 58's massive February 1944 raid on Truk, U.S. carrier aircraft hammer Japanese warships and shipping in the atoll's lagoon. The effects of the strike against Japan's "Gibraltar of the Pacific" were far-reaching.
John Hamilton/Navy Art Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command

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Two Birds with One Hailstone

Two mighty bases—Truk and Rabaul—protected Japan’s Pacific empire. Seventy years ago, a devastating carrier raid, Operation Hailstone, brought both of them down.
By Alan P. Rems
January 2014
Naval History Magazine
Article
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In the autumn of 1943, following spectacular victories earlier in the war, Japan was on the defensive. It had suffered heavy aircraft and ship losses in the South Pacific, where the Allies were advancing up the Solomon Islands chain and along the coast of New Guinea. And now another Allied offensive was brewing in the Central Pacific. What the Japanese needed was time to rebuild their forces and prepare a comeback.

Recognizing that it could not defend everywhere, Japan established a National Defense Zone. Territories within that area, considered essential and to be held at all costs, included the Combined Fleet base at Truk Atoll, known as the “Gibraltar of the Pacific.” Outside the zone were eastern New Guinea, the northern Solomons, and the Bismarck Archipelago, including the Japanese bastion of Rabaul. The Japanese might relinquish these areas, but only after prolonged resistance to buy time. Rebuilding their forces and defenses was to be completed by the spring of 1944, followed by renewal of the offensive during the summer.

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