Observations on the Battle of the Bismarck Sea 2-4 March 1943.

On the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, Pacific War author Peter Ingman discusses this landmark battle during which Allied airpower scored a stunning victory over a Japanese convoy taking troops to mainland New Guinea. All eight merchant ships were sunk as well as four of the escorting destroyers, and around 3,000 Japanese troops were killed.

The battle had profound implications for the war in New Guinea, as well as from a propaganda perspective. It was also remarkably timed, just when Allied strength on the land and sea was all but exhausted and the New Guinea campaign seemed to promise nothing but a lengthy and bloody war of attrition.

Such decisive victories are rare in warfare, and the same Allied squadrons had struggled to stop Japanese convoys in preceding months. What factors then contributed to this…