Japan Sent 8 Ships To New Guinea. None Ever Arrived

Eight ships packed with thousands of soldiers. An armada of Allied bombers closing in. Ninety minutes of devastation. This is the story of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea—a convoy that never reached its destination. In early 1943, Japan desperately tried to reinforce its garrison at Lae, New Guinea, by sending the 51st Division across enemy-controlled waters. But American codebreakers knew they were coming, and General George Kenney’s airmen had a devastating new tactic waiting for them. From the failure of high-altitude bombing to Pappy Gunn’s radical B-25 modifications and the invention of skip-bombing, discover how Allied air power rewrote the rules of naval warfare and ensured Japan would never again dare move a division by sea through these waters. 0:00 The Strategic Problem: New Guinea, Early 1943 0:12 The Strategic Problem: New Guinea, Early 1943 2:34 Operation 81: The 51st Division Embarks at Rabaul 4:37 Why High-Altitude Bombing Had Failed Throughout 1942 6:32 Pappy Gunn's Strafers: Rebuilding the B-25 8:53 Skip-Bombing School: Rehearsals Against the Pruth 10:59 Kenney and Whitehead's Four-Layer Attack Plan 13:20 March 1-2: Reconnaissance and Weather 15:54 Morning of March 3: The Weather Clears 18:20 90 Minutes: The Destruction of the Transports 21:05 The Destroyer Escort: Four Lost, Four Survive 23:02 Aftermath at Sea: Rescue and the Attacks of March 4-5 25:19 The Cost: Casualties, Losses, and What Was Left 27:45 Never Again by Sea: The Collapse of Japanese Resupply If you enjoy deep dives into World War II history and military strategy, subscribe to the channel for more stories like this.