Operation I-Go

Operation I-Go
Part of the Pacific Theater of World War II
Isoroku Yamamoto (far left) and Jinichi Kusaka (center left) supervise air operations from Rabaul during Operation I-Go in April 1943
Date 1–19 April 1943 Location New Britain, Solomon Islands, and New Guinea Result Inconclusive
Belligerents
Allied forces including:  United States  Australia  New Zealand	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
William Halsey, Jr Douglas MacArthur	Isoroku Yamamoto Jinichi Kusaka
Strength
	350 aircraft
Casualties and losses
1 destroyer, 1 tanker, 2 transports, 1 corvette sunk, 25 aircraft destroyed	55 aircraft destroyed

Operation I-Go (い号作戦, I-Go sakusen^?) was an aerial counter-offensive launched by Imperial Japanese forces against Allied forces during the Solomon Islands and New Guinea Campaigns in the Pacific Theater of World War II from 1–16 April 1943. In the operation, Japanese aircraft—primarily from Imperial Japanese Navy units under the command of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka—attacked Allied ships, aircraft, and land installations in the southeast Solomon Islands and New Guinea. The goal of the operation was to halt the Allied offensives in New Guinea and the Solomons and to give Japan time to prepare a new set of defenses in response to recent defeats to the Allies in the Battle of Guadalcanal and in New Guinea at Buna-Gona, Wau, and the Bismarck Sea.

The operation consisted of several massed aerial attacks by Japanese bomber and fighter aircraft—based at Rabaul, Bougainville, and the Shortland Islands—against Allied targets on and around Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands in the Solomons and Port Moresby, Oro Bay, and Milne Bay in New Guinea. Although the Japanese sank several Allied transports and warships, the attack failed to inflict serious damage on Allied forces. Based on inaccurate and unintentionally exaggerated reports from the involved aircrews, Yamamoto halted the attacks on 16 April, believing the operation to be a success. The operation, however, did not significantly delay Allied preparations for further offensives in the South Pacific area. Yamamoto was killed shortly thereafter while traveling to congratulate units which had participated in the operation.

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