Invasion Beach "Blue Beach"

The First Marine Division (reinforced) landed at Cape Gloucester, New Britain, on December 26, 1943, and the campaign to seize the airfield there lasted until April 1944, although most of the heavy fighting on the western side of the long island was over in January.

The First Marine Division reserve, Combat Team A (Colonel John T. Selden's reinforced 5th Marines) landed at Blue Beach.

New Britain Campaign
On New Britain, the Marines had to contend with relentless rain and jungle conditions, as they pushed the Japanese back toward Rabaul, on the eastern extreme of New Britain.

Military historians have long believed that the campaign on New Britain was one of the most efficient in the Pacific War, in that the Marines achieved all their objectives and suffered relatively few casualties in their operations.

For background reading on the campaign, here is an extract from Lt. Colonel Frank Hough’s USMC monograph on the battle. Richard Wheeler’s A Special Valor: The U.S. Marines and the Pacific War has an excellent chapter on Cape Gloucester and the campaign on New Britain.

Practical information to reach Cape Gloucester can be found here

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Source

• Text: Matthew Stevenson + Kaj Metz
• Photos: National Park Service (National Archives, Defense Dept., USMC 69,022)