WWII Battle For New Guinea

[Mulboyne]

[floatl][/floatl]TBO: Mountain Boys Rise Up To Defeat Japanese
Sometimes you see it said in a fiction review that the geographical setting is as much of a character in the novel as, well, the characters. It seems this observation can be extended to nonfiction as well, for in James Campbell's superb "The Ghost Mountain Boys," the island of New Guinea is one of the most fearsome characters you will ever want to come across, in fiction or real life. The Ghost Mountain Boys were the men of the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Infantry Division, who made an appallingly grueling trek in late 1942 from near Port Moresby on the south coast of New Guinea, across the Owen Stanley Mountains, to do battle with the Japanese solidly entrenched at Buna on the north coast...The 32nd was a National Guard division made up largely of men from Michigan and Wisconsin. Not only were they not ready for jungle fighting, but they also had not yet been adequately trained for any kind of combat...Maj. Gen. Forrest Harding, the 32nd's commander, warned MacArthur that the division was not ready for New Guinea. But MacArthur did not want to hear that...The campaign to drive the Japanese out of Buna officially ended Jan. 22, 1943. Coming 2 1/2 weeks before fighting ended on Guadalcanal, it was the first Allied defeat of the Japanese in a land operation. By that point, the Ghost Mountain Battalion was down to 126 enlisted men and six officers, out of an original 900...more...

[GuyJean]

.. Coming 2 1/2 weeks before fighting ended on Guadalcanal..

Great 'theater' movie; Thin Red Line..

GJ

[Charles]

I looked for more info on this battle and found a slightly longer version of that story by the same author.

[Greji]

I looked for more info on this battle and found a slightly longer version of that story by the same author.

Didn't the Aussies bail us out on that campaign?

[Gilligan]

Great 'theater' movie]Thin Red Line[/URL]..

GJ

And an even better book.

[kurohinge1]

TBO: Mountain Boys Rise Up To Defeat Japanese . . .

Wikipedia has a good summary of the battle here

It sounds like the 32nd performed better after a re-shuffle -

By November 29, the Supreme Allied Commander in the South West Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur, had become frustrated at what he saw as poor performance by the 32nd Division, especially its commissioned officers. He told the US I Corps commander, Major General Robert L. Eichelberger:

[INDENT]Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders]

And then there was this . . .

The Japanese forces had been cut off from resupply during the second week of January, and their food had run out. The severity of their plight was such that Allied troops found evidence of cannibalism in captured Japanese positions.

[Charles]

Didn't the Aussies bail us out on that campaign?

It seems like they bailed out on us.

[kurohinge1]

It seems like they bailed out on us.

Even Charles knows that's untrue.

[quote]On December 6, following savage close-quarter fighting, the Australians captured Gona village. That same day, Eichelberger organized a new attack on Buna Village and the 32nd Division captured the position on December 14. The Japanese landed 1,300 reinforcements, but by December 18 the Allies were reinforced by the 7th Division's 18th Brigade, as well as the 2/6th Armoured Regiment —]

Charles' flippant lies do great disservice to countless brave souls who fought for the very freedom he now flaunts.

[Charles]

Charles' flippant lies do great disservice to countless brave souls who fought for the very freedom he now flaunts.

The ozzies always fight and die valiantly. They just don't seem to be able to win valiantly. I guess somebody has to be cannon fodder.

So let us raise a toast to the valiant dead, the heroes of their native land, the role models for future oz soldiers, those men who never returned from Galipoli, Rabaul, Singapore, etc. Their deeds will forever be celebrated throughout their homeland, for failures are closer to the hearts of ozzies than any victory ever could be.

[kurohinge1]

. . . those men who never returned from Galipoli, Rabaul, Singapore, etc. . .

If you know nothing of Australian military successes, then you are even more ignorant than anyone could possibly have imagined you to be.

Charles wa shinanakya naoranai

[Greji]

If you know nothing of Australian military successes, then you are even more ignorant than anyone could possibly have imagined you to be.

Charles wa shinanakya naoranai

Kuro. Charles is simply pointing out that Douglas MacArthur and the US Army won the war all by their self with no help from the US Navy, Marine Corps, or certainly, not any other nation.

They teach that in Iowa you know! MacArthur was born in Arkansas, which is close enough to Iowa to give a nice homey ring and believability to it.

[blackcat]

"The ozzies always fight and die valiantly. They just don't seem to be able to win valiantly. I guess somebody has to be cannon fodder.

So let us raise a toast to the valiant dead, the heroes of their native land, the role models for future oz soldiers, those men who never returned from Galipoli, Rabaul, Singapore, etc. Their deeds will forever be celebrated throughout their homeland, for failures are closer to the hearts of ozzies than any victory ever could be."

WOW you are a bigger cocksucker than even I thought you were. No respect for PEOPLE regardless where they are from, or how they suffered, what a cunt.

You may well be canon fodder yourself one day!!

[Charles]

WOW you are a bigger cocksucker than even I thought you were. No respect for PEOPLE regardless where they are from, or how they suffered, what a cunt.

You may well be canon fodder yourself one day!!

WWII was the greatest tragedy in modern times, there were no winners, only those who lost less. Making those war dead into heroes only increases the chance of future wars. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.

[kurohinge1]

WWII was the . . .

Wow - what's the latin phrase for "cowardly change the topic"?

"terga dare"?

[ColinizeR]

Im sure a cursory investigation by those uneducated in the subject...i.e. Googling 'The Kokoda Track' will reveal the bravery and tenacity of the Aussies involved in PNG....My great uncle Ernie (no bullshit) was killed fighting the Japanese in Bounganville somewhere..now I am married to one
He'd probably be turning in his unmarked grave....

[Charles]

My great uncle Ernie (no bullshit) was killed fighting the Japanese in Bounganville somewhere..now I am married to one
He'd probably be turning in his unmarked grave....

Nah, if he was around, he probably trade another insult, slap me on the back, challenge me to arm wrestling, loser buys the beer, and none for those humorless onlookers either.

[blackcat]

"WWII was the greatest tragedy in modern times, there were no winners, only those who lost less. Making those war dead into heroes only increases the chance of future wars."

I Agree 100%, well said. I never suggested to make the Aussies into heros, just at your disrespectful rant based on nationality.

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Jungle surrenders Japanese remains[/SIZE]

THEY were laid in their graves with reverence in a jungle glade far from their homeland, with their arms crossed on their chests and belongings placed close by.

The four Japanese soldiers have lain next to a crystal-clear stream near the Kokoda Trail for nearly 65 years. They are likely to have died in one of countless ambushes carried out by outnumbered Australian soldiers during their fighting retreat down the trail in 1942.

The first grave was found recently by Papuans travelling through the area. They pointed it out to Wayne Wetherall, from the trekking company Kokoda Spirit, who took a team there and found three more graves.

. . . Mr Wetherall said the Japanese soldiers were found near Mount Bellamy, the highest point on the trail, where the Australians made a stand early in the campaign, their patrols constantly turning on the advancing Japanese army in sudden ambushes that wore the enemy down.

Repeatedly the Australians fell back to prepared defences as the Japanese supply lines were hopelessly extended and the soldiers became sick, hungry, exhausted and diseased.

. . . Author Peter FitzSimons said the discovery of the bodies would mean much to surviving family members in Japan.

In his book, Kokoda, he tells the story of a Japanese unit involved in the battle for Brigade Hill, much further down the trail, and how the soldiers made a pact that whoever survived would ensure that the remains of those who died were brought home.

Kohkichi Nishimura survived and ran a business in Japan until 1979 when he sold up, left his family and returned to PNG to keep his promise. Over the next 15 years he painstakingly recovered the remains of his comrades and sent them home.

Mr Wetherall said the latest remains found showed the four Japanese were all big men, all were over 180 centimetres tall. Two wore insignia that seemed to indicate they were officers.

. . . Historian Karl James from the Australian War Memorial said the Japanese lost 127,600 men in and around what is now PNG . . . more

:shroom::shroom::shroom::shroom::shroom: . . . :shroom::shroom::shroom::shroom: . . . :shroom::shroom::shroom::shroom:

[ttjereth]

Author Peter FitzSimons said the discovery of the bodies would mean much to surviving family members in Japan.

Yeah, it means spending a heap of money on a grave here in Japan...

[Behan]

Just stating the obvious, but I guess the fight there would have meant a lot to the Australians as it is pretty close to the north coast of Australia.