1943.03.04 “Quite a Haul” by Paul R Carmack

1943.03.04 “Quite a Haul”
by Paul R Carmack (1895-1977)
11.2 x 15 in., crayon and ink on board
Coppola Collection

Paul Carmack was a staff cartoonist for the Christian Science Monitor.

The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (March 2–4, 1943). A Japanese convoy attempting to reinforce Lae, New Guinea is attacked relentlessly by Allied air power. The Result: virtually the entire convoy is destroyed with ~3,000 Japanese troops lost and minimal Allied losses.

This was the first unambiguous, overwhelming Allied tactical victory in the Pacific air–sea war, and it was immediately recognized as such.

This victory mattered. In March 1943, Japanese naval power still felt formidable, and allied advances in the Pacific were grinding and costly. 

The Bismarck Sea battle demonstrated something new and decisive, that air power alone could annihilate a naval task force in open water.