The bloody fight for Guadalcanal, where the string of Japanese conquests in the Pacific had finally run its course, was a turning point of World War II. Still, the long island road to Tokyo Bay would require fighting a tenacious foe across desolate islands, through jungles, and over vast stretches of ocean for more than three more years.
The beginning of the American offensive in the Solomon Islands heralded a grand, new strategy that would accomplish three goals. First, seizing Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and the Santa Cruz Islands would provide a springboard for further operations up the Solomons chain. Second, capturing the northeastern coast of New Guinea and the Central Solomons would provide bases and logistical support for the most ambitious and significant of the three objectives. The neutralization of the Japanese supply base at Rabaul on the eastern coast of the island of New Britain in the Bismarcks was necessary for the success of future Allied operations.
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