Operation Dexterity

U.S. Marines in the jungle at Cape Gloucester

Date	December 15, 1943 – April 22, 1944
Location	Arawe and Cape Gloucester, New Britain, and Saidor, Territory of New Guinea
Result	Allied victory

Belligerents

United States

Australia

Japan

Commanders and leaders

Douglas MacArthur
Walter Krueger

Yasushi Sakai
Iwao Matsuda

Strength

~19,000

~10,500

Casualties and losses

~1,253 killed

~4,500 killed

Operation Dexterity was a military operation, part of Operation Cartwheel in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) for the Allies in the Pacific theater of World War II. The operation was directed by the Supreme Allied Commander in the SWPA, General Douglas MacArthur. Dexterity included amphibious landings at Arawe on 15 December 1943, and Cape Gloucester on 26 December 1943 in the northwest of New Britain, the capture of the Imperial Japanese held Tuluvu aerodrome on the 30 December 1943 and the amphibious landing at Saidor on 2 January 1944. The operation ended on 10 February 1944.

The Empire of Japan had largely achieved its objectives in the Pacific region in the spring of 1942, with almost the entire area between Burma and the Bismarck Archipelago under Japanese control. Further Japanese offensives against the Allied lines were planned to force them into a single decisive battle and then request negotiations for their surrender. The initial Japanese offensive failed during the Battle of Midway in June 1942 and subsequently the Japanese attempt to also capture Port Moresby in New Guinea collapsed, ending the Japanese offensive run in the Pacific theater of operations for the rest of the war. The allies in the South Pacific began their first counter-offensive against the Japanese-held island Guadalcanal in August 1942 and the Japanese forces were forced onto the defensive.

To keep the Japanese cowed and begin the Allied advance towards the Japanese home islands, the Allied military leadership envisaged an advance through the Pacific over two main lines of attack. Admiral Chester W. Nimitz would lead Allied forces in the Pacific and General Douglas MacArthur would advance Allied operations against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific. Landings along the coast of New Guinea were planned which constituted the first step towards a return to the Philippines and the conquest of the Gilbert Islands. The operation in New Guinea was known as Operation Cartwheel which began on 30 June 1943 with the objective to conquer New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and Rabaul. Until mid-September 1943, the fighting focused on the eastern part of New Guinea, while a decision was made on 22 September 1943 to land in West New Britain.

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