page_title: Japanese occupation of Nauru
section_title: Military works
hierarchical_section_title: Japanese occupation of Nauru / Occupation / 1942: Beginning of the occupation / Military works
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Nauru Airport.
context_page_description: The Japanese occupation of Nauru was the period of three years during which Nauru, a Pacific island under Australian administration, was occupied by the Japanese military as part of its operations in the Pacific War during World War II. With the onset of the war, the islands that flanked Japan's South Seas possessions became of vital concern to Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and in particular to the Imperial Navy, which was tasked with protecting Japan's outlying Pacific territories.
  The Japanese hoped to exploit the island's phosphate resources, and to build up their military defences in the area. They were unable to relaunch phosphate mining operations, but succeeded in transforming Nauru into a powerful stronghold, which United States forces chose to bypass during their reconquest of the Pacific. The most important infrastructure built by the Japanese was an airfield, which was the target of repeated Allied air strikes.
  The war deeply affected the local population. The Japanese enforced a harsh regime, particularly on Chinese labourers who they saw as being at the bottom of the racial hierarchy; forced labour and brutal treatment were commonplace.
context_section_description: The organization of the island's defences was the first task of the occupiers. They sited 152 mm artillery pieces around the coast and placed 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns on Command Ridge. They built pillboxes on the beach, bunkers further inland, and an underground hospital. Their main work was the construction of an airstrip (which, after the war, formed the basis of Nauru International Airport). To build it, they brought in 1,500 Japanese and Korean workers, as well as using Nauruans, Gilbertese, and Chinese as forced labour. The creation of the airstrip on the narrow coastal belt led to the expulsion of many natives from the districts of Boe and Yaren, where the best lands of the island were located. The airfield became operational in January 1943. Work on airstrips in Meneng and Anabar was begun but never completed.
  One of the goals of the Japanese in invading Nauru had been the takeover of the island's strategic phosphate industry. A few days after their landing on 29 August 1942, the occupiers brought in 72 employees of the Nanyo Kohatsu Kabushiki Kaisha (South Sea Development Company) to assess the condition of the mining facilities sabotaged by the Australians before their departure. They recovered some machinery parts and ordered some Chinese to start collecting phosphate; however, in June 1943 the employees left, after some friction with the military. No shipments of phosphate appear to have been loaded during the Japanese occupation.
  Because of the distance between Kwajalein and Nauru (more than 600 nm), on 15 February 1943, the Gilbert Islands, Ocean Island and Nauru were removed from the 6th Base Force in Kwajalein and replaced under a new 3rd Special Base Force with headquarters in Betio, with Admiral Saichirō Tomonari (友成佐市郎) replacing Keisuke Matsuo. Because of the loss of his command, Matsuo made seppuku on 2 May 1943. Nauru was therefore used only as a link in the chain of Japanese defences in the Central Pacific Ocean.
caption: Nauru International Airport, a legacy of the Japanese occupation
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