The Rock
Map of Manus
Manus, Admiralty Islands
This map was produced using http://pubweb.parc.xerox.com/map.
Manus is at 2.08S 146.96E
Manus was the first big 'leapfrog' landing in the Pacific war. The original target for the Manus landing was to have been Rabaul in New Britain. Rabaul was the major Japanese base in the area and was the staging ground for their Solomon Islands invasions. It was from Rabaul that the Japanese sortied to Guadalcanal and the Coral Sea. The Manus substitution cut the Philippine resupply line for the 10,000 man Japanese garrison at Rabaul.

Seeadler Harbor proved to be a better staging site for the fight to follow than Rabaul would have made. It was closer to Japan and the Philippines. Liberators stationed there provided a 1,100 mile search radius into the surrounding ocean.

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