Yet allied operations in new guinea were essential to the u. Nevertheless, the new guinea campaign began in summer. Jungle fighters hardcover a firsthand account of the forgotten new guinea campaign jules archer history for young readers by jules archer, alex kershaw foreword by. Wwii veteran recalls new guinea fighting local herald.
It glossed over significant developments in the new guinea campaign, which was a lot more complicated that this history presents, and was a cruel environment for us and australian soldiers to have to fight in. Jul, 2017 in this flick through i take a look at the first campaign book for the world war 2 miniatures game, bolt action. The author begins with the taking of rabaul on new britain by the japanese, creating an outpost for japanese air, ground and naval forces. Map of the schouten islands depicting some of the key place names on biak, from the approach to the philippines. Besides giving new perspectives on the kokoda campaign, the book covers the. In 1942, japanese forces invaded the island of new guinea and started a bitter, threeyear campaign against allied australian and american forces. Collecting the uncollected ww11 kokoda track, fuzzy wuzzy angels and the war in new guinea.
Sep 30, 2007 in the ghost mountain boys james campbell tells the story of the 32nd divisions campaign in new guinea, their trek across the owen stanley range and the eerie ghost mountain, and their struggle to overrun the japanese at buna. The human aviary a pictorial discovery of new guinea a scribner portfolio in natural history by holton, george and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Free shipping due to covid19, orders may be delayed. Douglas macarthur and the forgotten fight for new guinea, ably redresses this. The campaign on new guinea is all but forgotten except by those who. Searching for the past in the world war ii wrecks of papua new. The written history began when european navigators first sighted new guinea in the early part of the 17th century.
Papua new guineas magnificent and varied scenery reflects a generally recent geologic history in which movements of the earth s crust resulted in the collision of the northwardmoving australian plate with the westwardmoving pacific plate. Today this contribution has been largely overshadowed, like most other aspects of australian history, by the dominance of gallipoli and kokoda. The new guinea campaign has gone down in history as one of macarthurs shining successes. Battles with names like tarawa, saipan, and iwo jima overshadow it. Papua 23 july 194223 january 1943 on 7 december 1941, japan turned its war on the asian mainland eastward into the pacific. Malay and possibly chinese traders took spoils and some slaves from western new guinea for hundreds of years. The allied jungle campaign in world war ii stackpole military photo series. In the division history book, it says that i killed them, but i didnt. Port moresby had an elected city council from 1971 to 1980, when the national cabinet suspended it for financial mismanagement. Remembering the war in new guinea australian war memorial.
First was the successful japanese landings along the north coast, which gave them a series of bases spread out from the western tip all the way to lae and salamaua in northeastern new guinea. By successfully leapfrogging japanese forces on that island, he placed his armies in a position to fulfill his personal promise to liberate the philippines. Army center of military history brochure new guinea. Campbells account is excellent on a number of levels. The second world war ended 73 years ago, but history can feel very much alive in. During the initial phase in early 1942, the empire of japan invaded the australianadministered mandated territory of new guinea 23 january and the australian territory of papua 21 july and overran western new guinea beginning 2930 march, which was a part of the netherlands east. A firsthand account of the forgotten new guinea campaign jules archer history for young readers by jules archer, alex kershaw foreword by sky pony, 9781634501750, 224pp. A new perspective through the use of oral histories kelli brockschmidt mcnair scholar james smither, ph. This book describes the 9th australian divisions role in the allied counteroffensive against japan in northern new guinea in 194344.
March 1944august 1944 history of united states naval operations in world war ii, volume 8 by samuel eliot morison book sales hardcover 435 pages. The campaign on new guinea is all but forgotten except by those who served there. Learn about the history of papua new guinea, including our ancestry, colonial settlers, wwii and our political history since independence in 1975. The prehistory of papua new guinea can be traced to about 60,000 years ago, when people first migrated towards the australian continent.
The main operations reckless, which aimed for the conquest of hollandia and nearby airfields, and persecution, which focused on the landing strips near aitapesucceeded in securing northern new guinea and allied progress toward the philippines and the japanese home. Hells battlefield is the first book that tells the whole story of the australians against the japanese in new guinea during world war ii, from invasion in 1942 to the brutal end game in 1945. Campaigns history military general history military world war. During the initial phase in early 1942, the empire of japan invaded the australian administered mandated territory of new guinea 23 january and the australian territory of papua 21 july and overran western new guinea beginning 29. Despite the japanese defeat at buna and the heavy losses in the continuing struggle for guadalcanal, in january 1943 japan still held the preponderant air, naval, and ground strength in the southwest pacific and retained the strategic initiative in new guinea.
Tmp need book recommendations on new guinea campaign topic. Taaffe 1998, hardcover at the best online prices at ebay. As its subtitle proclaims, macarthurs victory covers the campaign in new guinea from the capture of buna in january 1943. Compared to the european theater, with charismatic generals like eisenhower and patton against the nazi war machine, or the naval actions in the pacific with the dramatic clash of carriers before usmc amphibious assaults, the southwest pacific theater has receded from view. Although allies these two armies were very different in outlook, training and attitude. War at the end of the world recounts the battle for new. Historian james duffys new book, war at the end of the world.
The australian and american campaign for new guinea in world war ii. This book really starts putting the new guinea campaign on an equal footing with the other south pacific and southwest pacific battles. The new guinea campaign can be divided into five phases. Dday new guinea, extraordinary story of the battle for lae and the. Visual history of the allied battles for new guinea during 194244. Earlier historians have relied heavily on official documents. Probably few of the 685,407 americans sent to the southwest pacific area swpa through 1944 knew much about new guinea prior to japans attack on pearl harborinitiating the american entrance into world war ii.
Hundreds of photos of this important pacific theater campaign showing soldiers, vehicles, weapons and equipment, terrain, living conditions, medical care, prisoners, and much more captions expertly describe photos and narrate the major events of the campaign perfect complement to the narrative accounts in the. Remembering the war in new guinea the australian war. Armys liberation of the philippine islands from japanese occupation. Dday new guinea phillip bradley 9781760632588 allen. The book is interesting in that it covers the war from the perspectives of both the americans and the australians. Many critical battles have not been presented as scenarios in this book, merely due to. Im looking for a good book or three to give me an overview of the wwii campaign for new guinea. The new guinea campaign of the pacific war lasted from january 1942 until the end of the war in august 1945. In the ghost mountain boys james campbell tells the story of the 32nd divisions campaign in new guinea, their trek across the owen stanley range and the eerie ghost mountain, and their struggle to overrun the japanese at buna. The two territories were combined into the territory of papua and new guinea after world war ii. Douglas macarthur and the forgotten fight for new guinea, ably redresses this imbalance with a meaty, engrossing narrative history of. New guinea campaign simple english wikipedia, the free. Campaigns history military general history military world war ii new guinea new guinea world war ii world war, 19391945. This book offers the most detailed account of the new guinea campaign that i have found.
The promoters of our country the marketing and research division is charged with the main mandate of tourism promotion authority, which is to promote papua new guineas many attractions to the rest of the world. The japanese finally ran out of steam during the papuan campaign, and were unable to capture port moresby on the south coast of papua new guinea. In many ways it was also a rehearsal for the dday invasion of france with an amphibious landing combined with the first successful large scale allied airborne operation of the war. Theres a world of new ideas in every books newsletter. In this flick through i take a look at the first campaign book for the world war 2 miniatures game, bolt action. The lowlying plains of southern new guinea are geologically part of the australian plate. Papua new guineas early history our ancient inhabitants are believed to have arrived in papua new guinea about 5060,000 years ago from southeast asia during an ice age period when the sea was lower and distances between islands was shorter. When general douglas macarthur led allied troops into the jungles of new guinea in world war ii, he was already looking ahead. Jan 01, 1998 the new guinea campaign is almost forgotten.
Dday new guinea, extraordinary story of the battle for. Recovering all history for ww2 during new guinean campaign. Stephen r taaffe when general douglas macarthur led allied troops into the jungles of new guinea in world war ii, he placed his armies in a position to fulfill his personal promise to liberate the philippines. Filled with new rules, scenarios, and unit types, this. The text provides an adequate description of the various assaults along the kakoda trail and the amphibious landings along on the north coast. Im about halfway through war at the end of the world. A map showing the new guinea campaign during wwii hangs on solidays wall. The japanese effort at the start of world war two was focused on conquest. The new guinea campaign of the pacific war lasted from january 1942 until the end of the war. The new guinea campaign spanned several years and thousands of miles. Map depicting the location of biak in relation to new guinea, from u. Working closely with the other divisions, marketing and research conducts strategic promotional activities to ensure papua new guinea is seen as a desirable tourist destination. War at the end of the world recounts the battle for new guinea a. Beyond the scale of operations, however, the new guinea offensive is also significant as it produced the wars closest and most successful cooperation between australian diggers and american gis.
A wellwritten history of the allied struggle to defeat the japanese in new guinea during world war 2. Jan 07, 2016 historian james duffys new book, war at the end of the world. It is a nice overview, but the maps are an unhelpful mess. Dday new guinea, extraordinary story of the battle for lae. Historian duffy lincolns admiral recovers from the annals of nearly lost history the decisive wwii campaign to secure new guinea from japanese forces. Festering swamp and sodden jungle, snakes, crocodiles, myriads of scorpions, centipedes, ants, leeches. Macarthurs jungle war offers historians a more analytical treatment of the new guinea campaign than is found in previous works, and is written with a dramatic flair that will appeal to military buffs. It began with the easy japanese conquest of most of the north coast of the massive island. Rabaul, on new britain island, was the cornerstone of japanese power in the southwest pacific island campaign. Matching japanese diaries and interviews with similar material from the.
When the japanese invaded new guinea in early 1942, they began a struggle for control of the island which would last until the end of the second world war. The new guinea campaign 19421945 was one of the major military campaigns of world war ii. They ordered macarthur to establish air bases on woodlark and kiriwina islands. Development of the new national government office centre at waigani began in the 1970s. Nov 08, 2019 im looking for a good book or three to give me an overview of the wwii campaign for new guinea. Papua new guinea papua new guinea the colonial period.
It was eventually reduced by allied airpower and then isolated and left to wither. By revealing the interaction among american military planning, interservice politics, macarthurs generalship, and the american way of war. Author james duffy gives the reader an excellent history, well told, encompassing the ground, air and naval war in 19421943. Lieutenantgeneral john coates, a former chief of the general staff, australian army, has interviewed veterans and studied australian, american, and japanese. Australians at battle of wau new guinea campaign series no 6. Approximately 216,000 japanese, australian and american soldiers, sailors and airmen died during the new guinea campaign. From there, they could attack the new guinea mainland. Tmp need book recommendations on new guinea campaign.
New guinea and the marianas, march 1944august 1944 by samuel eliot morison. But this is not just a book about a successful military campaign that changed the course of the war in new guinea. Nov 10, 2014 wwii veteran recalls new guinea fighting. Central bureau used the captured code books to solve the japanese. The first european attempt at colonization was made in 1793 by lieut. This book focuses on the main campaigns of the australian and japanese in the. Expanding across the pacific and the east asian mainland, forces sought to conquer.
Simultaneous attacks on pearl harbor, the philippines, the malayan peninsula, and other places surprised allied governments and exposed serious. Dday new guinea brings together the extraordinary stories of the australian, american. The first single volume history to cover all the battles fought by the australians against the japanese in papua new guinea. Fought in dense jungles and across rugged mountaintops, the grueling fight pushed men to their very limits and forced commanders to adopt new strategies and tactics for the harsh island terrain.
The western new guinea campaign was a series of actions in the new guinea campaign of world war ii. The navy played a crucial role in operations to take japanese airfields near the north coast of new guinea in april 1944. The allied jungle campaign in world war ii stackpole military photo series diamond, jon dr. Faculty mentor abstract over the past two decades, historians have begun using oral histories to reinterpret the history of world war ii. Douglas macarthur and the forgotten fight for new guinea, 19421945 by james duffy. The promoters of our country the marketing and research division is charged with the main mandate of tourism promotion authority, which is to promote papua new guinea s many attractions to the rest of the world. The extraordinary story of the battle for lae and the greatest combined airborne and amphibious operation of the pacific war. A wellwritten history of the allied struggle to defeat the japanese in new. Navys drive across the central pacific and to the u. This australian army book wau 19421943 is a history of the new guinea battles wau salamaua. Dutch east indies knil, united states and australian forces assaulted japanese bases and positions in the northwest coastal areas of netherlands new guinea and.
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