February 19, 1943, U.S. Navy Cryptanalysts Supports General MacArthur!

In January 1943 Eighth Area Army ordered reinforcements to Lae, New Guinea.
Forewarned of the impending convoy by decrypted Japanese naval messages, MacArthur’s air chief, Lt. Gen. George C. Kenney, commander of Allied Air Forces and U.S. Fifth Air Force, sent repeated air attacks against the enemy ships. Allied pilots sank two troop transports, damaged another, and killed 600 Japanese soldiers. Only one-third of the intended Japanese reinforcements reached Lae, and these survivors salvaged only half of their equipment. Without reinforcements, the desperate attack on Wau failed. The defeated Japanese remnants fell back into the jungle, slowly giving ground toward Lae.