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Article: Bismarck Sea, Battle of
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
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BISMARCK SEA, BATTLE OF
BISMARCK SEA, BATTLE OF
(2
–
4 March 1943). To reinforce the Japanese garrison at Lae, New Guinea, eight Japanese transports carrying seven thousand troops, escorted by eight destroyers, left Rabaul, New Britain, about midnight on 28 February 1943. Hidden initially by bad weather, the convoy was spotted in the Bismarck Sea by Allied patrol planes on 1 March. Heavy bombers struck the ships on 2 March, but the biggest attack came the following day as the convoy entered Huon Gulf. Brushing aside feeble Japanese air cover, at about 10 a.m. more than three hundred American and Australian bombers and fighters unleashed a devastating attack. Some of the medium ...