 A subsequent proposal to transfer the 66th Regiment from the Palaus, where it was being rebuilt after suffering heavy losses, to the Admiralties was also unsuccessful as IGHQ believed that the Eighteenth Army had greater need for this unit.The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) also rejected Imamura's suggestion that a special naval landing force unit be dispatched to the islands.IGHQ agreed to deploy the 66th Regiment to the Admiralties in January 1944 to bolster the region's defences following the Allied landings at Arawe and Saidor in mid-December and early January respectively, but this movement was cancelled after a ship carrying reinforcements for the regiment was sunk by with heavy loss of life on the 16th of the month.