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· South Pacific Cauldron (Unabridged)
note bk review wwii magazine
Author: Alan Rems
Date:
18-AUG-2014
Narrator:
Michael Prichard
Provider:
Tantor Audio
Running Time:
10 h 47 min
Format 4
South Pacific Cauldron is the first complete history embracing all land, sea, and air operations in the Pacific War. Unlike most other World War II accounts, this work covers the South Pacific operations in detail. The audiobook includes many now-forgotten operations that deserve to be well remembered. Significantly, the official Australian history of World War II correctly observed that Australia's part in the Pacific war is barely mentioned in American histories. This volume finally brings the major Australian contribution to the fore. The dramatis personae could hardly be improved upon, including brilliant and imperious General Douglas MacArthur, audacious and profane Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, and bibulous and indelicate Australian General Thomas Blamey. As for the fighting men, many of their stories are captured in accounts of the actions for which they were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Victoria Cross, and other decorations for valor.
note bk review wwii magazineAuthor: Alan Rems
Date:
18-AUG-2014
Narrator:
Michael Prichard
Provider:
Tantor Audio
Running Time:
10 h 47 min
Format 4
South Pacific Cauldron is the first complete history embracing all land, sea, and air operations in the Pacific War. Unlike most other World War II accounts, this work covers the South Pacific operations in detail. The audiobook includes many now-forgotten operations that deserve to be well remembered. Significantly, the official Australian history of World War II correctly observed that Australia's part in the Pacific war is barely mentioned in American histories. This volume finally brings the major Australian contribution to the fore. The dramatis personae could hardly be improved upon, including brilliant and imperious General Douglas MacArthur, audacious and profane Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, and bibulous and indelicate Australian General Thomas Blamey. As for the fighting men, many of their stories are captured in accounts of the actions for which they were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, Victoria Cross, and other decorations for valor.
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2014 by Alan Rems
All rights reserved. No part of this
book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rems, Alan, author.
South Pacific
cauldron : World War II’s great forgotten battlegrounds / Alan Rems.
1
online resource.
Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Description based on
print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.
ISBN
978-1-61251-470-3 (epub) 1. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Pacific Area. I.
Title.
D767
940.54’26—dc23
2013048656
Print editions
meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
To Those Who Were There
Tech 4 Sergeants Glenn Moore and John
Denlinger, A Company, 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment, 3rd Engineer
Special Brigade (Cape Gloucester and Finschhafen); Major Francis E. Kavanaugh,
Executive Officer, 517th Field Artillery Battalion (Bougainville); First
Lieutenant Mayo S. Stuntz, Alamo Scouts (New Guinea); Colonel Marion Unruh, CO
5th Bomber Group, 13th Air Force (shot down over Rabaul and then a prisoner of
war in Japan); Lieutenant John T. Pigott, destroyer USSLansdowne DD486
(Solomon Islands); Lieutenant Colonel Francis Dougherty, Division G4, 1st
Cavalry Division (Admiralty Islands); Corporal Charles S. Murch, 182nd Infantry
Regiment, Americal Division (Guadalcanal and Bougainville); and Staff Sergeant
Samuel Milner, Army Air Forces (Australia and Papua), author of Victory
in Papua.
and to
Herman Gitelson, my father-in-law,
engineering sergeant with the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion, wounded in
Lorraine, France.
Private First Class Harold E. “Snuff”
Kurvers, medic with the 194th Tank Battalion, survivor of the Bataan death
march, imprisonment at Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan, “Hell Ship” voyage to
Japan, and heavy labor at Fukuoka #17 POW camp.
Private First Class Robert Don
Wendroff, medic with the 194th Tank Battalion, survivor of the Bataan death
march and imprisonment at Camp O’Donnell; died in Cabanatuan.
CONTENTS
3. “There Was
Indeed Only One Yamamoto”
CAPTURING AND KILLING YAMAMOTO LUCK OF INTERCEPTING HIS ITINERARY ACCIDENTAL OR PROVIDENTIAL -WE HAD SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE?
CAPTURING AND KILLING YAMAMOTO LUCK OF INTERCEPTING HIS ITINERARY ACCIDENTAL OR PROVIDENTIAL -WE HAD SUPERIOR INTELLIGENCE?
References[edit]
- Davis, Burke (1969). Get Yamamoto. New York: Random House. ASIN B0006BZ2OC.
- Davis, Donald A. (2005). Lightning Strike: The Secret Mission to Kill Admiral Yamamoto and Avenge Pearl Harbor. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-30906-6.
- Glines, Carroll V. (1990). Attack on Yamamoto. New York: Crown (1st edition). ISBN 0-517-57728-3.
- Hall, R. Cargill (1991). Lightning Over Bougainville. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 1-56098-012-5.
- Hammel, Eric (1992). Aces Against Japan: The American Aces Speak. Pacifica Press. ISBN 0-935553-43-6.- Contains interview with Besby Frank Holmes.
- Hammel, Eric (1996). Aces Against Japan II: The American Aces Speak. Pacifica Press. ISBN 0-935553-14-2.- Contains another interview with Besby Frank Holmes.
- Kyodo News (September 29, 2008). "Use of outdated code led to ambush that killed Yamamoto, U.S. files show"(Newspaper article). Japan Times. Retrieved September 29, 2008.
Bibliography[edit]
- Canning, Douglas S. (2006). "Who Shot Down Yamamoto?, letter,". Air Force Magazine 89 (5). Arlington, VA, USA: Air Force Association. pp. 7–8.
- Holley, Joe (July 27, 2006). "Besby Frank Holmes; WWII Fighter Pilot". The Washington Post. Washington, DC, USA.- Obituary on the death of Lt. Col. Frank Holmes.
- Kahn, David (1996). "Chapter 17: The Scrutable Orientals; pp 595-601". The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet, Revised and Updated. New York, NY, USA: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-83130-9.
Illustrations
Maps
Nearly forty years ago,
Guadalcanal veteran and author James Jones lamented how little was remembered
about the World War II battlefields of the South Pacific. He wrote, “Almost all
of them names people in the United States never heard of.” The same could likely
have been said about how much was remembered by Australians and New Zealanders,
whose nations fought there alongside America. Since Jones’ lament,
the situation can only have worsened with the deaths of most who served there.
Even the setting is
largely forgotten. The words “South Pacific,” for most, evoke only the
fictional island paradise on which Rodgers and Hammerstein set their musical
adaptation of James Michener’s tales. But there were few “enchanted evenings”
in the very different South Pacific region—Melanesia—that we speak of here.
Encompassing the Solomon Islands, the eastern half of New Guinea, and the
waters and lands of the Solomon and Bismarck seas in between, this region
contained some of the worst terrain and weather of all World War II combat
zones. With towering mountains; treacherous razorback ridges; dense,
disease-ridden jungles; great miasmal swamps; infernal heat and humidity; and
torrential rainfall, the environment there was challenging enough without the
dangers of battle.
From that war zone,
one battlefield, Guadalcanal, has remained etched in American memory as a
symbol of courage and endurance. Australians and New Zealanders might remember,
too, the Battle of the Coral
Sea and the Kokoda Trail, fought when their nations were under dire
threat of invasion from Japan.
After these 1942
battles, the Allies went on the offensive and the character of the war in the
South Pacific changed. Beachheads were obtained on large islands at relatively
low cost, and terrain, weather, and supply difficulties often slowed advances
more than the Japanese did. It
was slow, hardscrabble fighting, hardly material for dazzling war reporting,
and what public attention remained was mostly absorbed by the more spectacular
Central Pacific offensive that started in November 1943 with Tarawa. Except for those at home with ties
to men whose lives were invested there, the war in the South Pacific was
eminently forgettable. But for those who were there it was The War. And its result influenced
the outcome of World War II no less than El Alamein, Kursk, Anzio, Normandy,
and Iwo Jima did.
James Jones commented
about the war in the South Pacific in 1943: “They had a year of battles, fought
without any great victories to stimulate troop morale. . . . Short, sharp,
costly fights, each of them, which got scant publicity at home.” His
observation about publicity was correct, but Jones’ mordant view about what was
accomplished was not. In just nine months, the Allies wrested control of the
South Pacific from the Japanese, neutralizing their great base of Rabaul and
opening the way to the Philippines and the heart of the Japanese Empire.
After these battles,
it was generally assumed that nothing that occurred in the South Pacific could
materially affect the war’s outcome. But the isolated Japanese fought back, mounting great counteroffensives
on Bougainville and New Guinea that are among the least-known major battles
fought by the American Army in World War II. Still later, Australian
forces fought final battles about which historian Eric Bergerud wrote, “The
campaign was never pressed with great vigor and casualties were low on both
sides. In none of the areas were the Japanese pushed to the point of surrender
or suicide.” That was indeed true on New Britain, but the still numerous
Japanese on Bougainville and New Guinea were in fact aggressively forced back
to last-stand positions and would certainly have fought to the death had the
general surrender not intervened. How this situation came about despite the
disapproval of much of the Australian army, government, and public is a
powerful cautionary tale.
Although essentially terra incognita for
most people, the South Pacific has been visited repeatedly by historians
following varying approaches. Official histories in the United
States, Australia, and New Zealand have detailed the contributions of their
respective armed forces. Other historians have concentrated on individual
battles, with Guadalcanal attracting particular interest commensurate with its
importance. Writing on a broader scale, some historians have covered the war on
New Guinea while others have dealt with the entire Solomon Islands campaign.
Easily forgotten in
such separate treatments is that the South Pacific war, in its principal phase,
was fought by both the Allies and the Japanese following strategies covering
the entire South Pacific. It was all one battle. Also, although fighting
continued until the general Japanese surrender, historians have shown little
interest in the theater after Rabaul was surrounded in early 1944. A clear and complete understanding
of operations, and a full appreciation of the sacrifices made by those who
served there, requires consideration of the South Pacific war in its entirety
and to its conclusion.
Until now, no single
work has attempted to tell the full story of the war in the South Pacific. This
account of the important and stirring land, sea, and air actions fought there
makes it obvious that the South Pacific was one of the great battlegrounds of
World War II. James Jones’ rueful observations about national memory should not
stand as the final verdict.
ALAN REMS
Centreville,
Virginia, 2013
In extending thanks to
those who made this volume possible, pride of place belongs to Richard Latture,
editor-in-chief of Naval Historymagazine. By selecting me as the
magazine’s 2008 Author of the Year for my first writing effort, he provided all
the encouragement an aspiring writer could desire. My friend Carl Smith, a
former English teacher and author of several fine works of military history,
read the manuscript closely and offered numerous excellent suggestions for
improvement. Jim Wise, prolific author of many books published by the Naval
Institute Press and a recipient of its Author of the Year award, generously
provided advice from his experience. His recent passing is a loss to those who
knew Jim and to the historical community. My daughter Emily Rems, a magazine
editor, helped me over a troublesome hurdle, and my wife Janet Rems contributed
invaluably from her storehouse of editorial art and production skills acquired
in her long career as a journalist and managing editor.
AIRCRAFT (number of engines in
parentheses)
LANDING CRAFT AND SHIPS, AND AMPHIBIOUS
VEHICLES
OTHER
Regular typeface indicates operations
under Southwest Pacific Command (including all Australian Army operations).
Italic typeface indicates Operations
under South Pacific Command.
ALL CAPS INDICATES OTHER OPERATIONS OR
EVENTS.
(*) indicates naval battle.
1942
Naval Institute Press
291 Wood Road
Annapolis, MD 21402
© 2014 by Alan Rems
All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rems, Alan, author.
South
Pacific cauldron : World War II’s great forgotten battlegrounds / Alan Rems.
1
online resource.
Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Description
based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not
viewed.
ISBN
978-1-61251-470-3 (epub) 1. World War, 1939–1945—Campaigns—Pacific Area. I.
Title.
D767
940.54’26—dc23
2013048656
Print
editions meet the requirements of ANSI/NISO z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First printing
To Those Who Were There
Tech 4 Sergeants Glenn
Moore and John Denlinger, A Company, 533rd Engineer Boat and Shore Regiment,
3rd Engineer Special Brigade (Cape Gloucester and Finschhafen); Major Francis
E. Kavanaugh, Executive Officer, 517th Field Artillery Battalion (Bougainville);
First Lieutenant Mayo S. Stuntz, Alamo Scouts (New Guinea); Colonel Marion
Unruh, CO 5th Bomber Group, 13th Air Force (shot down over Rabaul and then a
prisoner of war in Japan); Lieutenant John T. Pigott, destroyer USSLansdowne DD486
(Solomon Islands); Lieutenant Colonel Francis Dougherty, Division G4, 1st
Cavalry Division (Admiralty Islands); Corporal Charles S. Murch, 182nd Infantry
Regiment, Americal Division (Guadalcanal and Bougainville); and Staff Sergeant
Samuel Milner, Army Air Forces (Australia and Papua), author of Victory
in Papua.
and to
Herman Gitelson, my
father-in-law, engineering sergeant with the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion,
wounded in Lorraine, France.
Private First Class Harold
E. “Snuff” Kurvers, medic with the 194th Tank Battalion, survivor of the Bataan
death march, imprisonment at Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan, “Hell Ship” voyage
to Japan, and heavy labor at Fukuoka #17 POW camp.
Private First Class Robert
Don Wendroff, medic with the 194th Tank Battalion, survivor of the Bataan death
march and imprisonment at Camp O’Donnell; died in Cabanatuan.
CONTENTS
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