 On 6 August 1943, the Joint Chiefs of Staff adopted a plan that called for the neutralisation rather than the capture of Rabaul, and scheduled the invasion of the Admiralty Islands for 1 June 1944.Throughout January 1944, AirSols aircraft based in the Solomon Islands and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) aircraft based on Kiriwina kept up a sustained air offensive against Rabaul.Under steady and relentless pressure, the Japanese air defence began to weaken, allowing a landing to be made on 15 February by New Zealand troops on the Green Islands, which lie little more than from Rabaul.