Chapter 4.4, Problem 45E

The Battle of Rabaul-Lae²⁵ In the Second World War, during the struggle for New Guinea, intelligence reports revealed that the Japanese were planning to move a troop and supply convoy from the port of Rabaul at the eastern tip of New Britain to Lae, which lies just west of New Britain on New Guinea. The convoy could travel either via a northern route, which was plagued by poor visibility, or by a southern route, where the visibility was clear. General Kenney, who was the commander of the Allied Air Forces in the area, had the choice of concentrating reconnaissance aircraft on one route or the other and bombing the Japanese convoy once it was sighted. Kenney’s staff drafted the following outcomes for his choices, where the payoffs are estimated days of bombing time:

Japanese

Commander’s Strategies

		Northern Route	Southern Route
Kenney’s	Northern Route	2	2
Strategies	Southern Route	1	3

What would you have recommended to General Kenney? What would you have recommended to the Japanese commander?²⁶ How much bombing time results if these recommendations are followed?