Battle of the Bismarck Sea: the forgotten battle that saved the Pacific. Michael Veitch. 2021.

In the thick of the war in the Pacific, during the first week of March 1943, Japan made a final, desperate lunge for control of the South West Pacific. In the ensuing Battle of the Bismarck Sea, a force of land-based Australian and American planes attacked a massive convoy of Japanese warships. The odds were against them. But a devastating victory was won and Japan’s hopes of regaining the initiative in New Guinea were destroyed.

More importantly for Australians, the victory decisively removed any possibility that Australia might be invaded by Japanese forces.nit was, for us, one of the most significant times in our history - a week when our future hung in the balance.