Operation Cartwheel Limited

Deciding which battle in the Pacific War is the bloodiest all depends on what numbers are being counted. Convincing arguments can be made for Tarawa, Iwo, Okinawa, and Peleliu, and possibly others.

One island’s name, Rabaul, is not on the list. But it could have been.

The Japanese “fortress” of Rabaul had 60,000 soldiers, over 350 miles of tunnels, many airfields, and heavy defenses of all kinds. It was the largest case of the “bypass and let them wither on the vine” strategy the Allies pursued in the Pacific. And in fact, MacArthur considered it too large to bypass...too important to leave behind. He was overruled.

Paul Rohrbaugh's game on the 1943 Solomons battles, Operation Cartwheel, explores this vast conflict. A game with integrated land, sea and air operations was very new at the time...but it worked.