War at the End of the World : Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight For New Guinea, 1942-1945

A harrowing account of an epic, yet nearly forgotten, battle of World War II—General Douglas MacArthur's four-year assault on the Pacific War's most hostile battleground: the mountainous, jungle-cloaked island of New Guinea. “A meaty, engrossing narrative history… This will likely stand as the definitive account of the New Guinea campaign.” —The Christian Science Monitor One American soldier called it “a green hell on earth.” Monsoon-soaked wilderness, debilitating heat, impassable mountains, torrential rivers, and disease-infested swamps—New Guinea was a battleground far more deadly than the most fanatical of enemy troops. Japanese forces numbering some 600,000 men began landing in January 1942, determined to seize the island as a cornerstone of the Empire’s strategy to knock Australia out of the war. Allied Commander-in-Chief General Douglas MacArthur committed 340,000 Americans, as well as tens of thousands of Australian, Dutch, and New Guinea troops, to retake New Guinea at all costs. What followed was a four-year campaign that involved some of the most horrific warfare in history. At first emboldened by easy victories throughout the Pacific, the Japanese soon encountered in New Guinea a roadblock akin to the Germans’ disastrous attempt to take Moscow, a catastrophic setback to their war machine. For the Americans, victory in New Guinea was the first essential step in the long march towards the Japanese home islands and the ultimate destruction of Hirohito’s empire. Winning the war in New Guinea was of critical importance to MacArthur. His avowed “I shall return” to the Philippines could only be accomplished after taking the island. In this gripping narrative, historian James P. Duffy chronicles the most ruthless combat of the Pacific War, a fight complicated by rampant tropical disease, violent rainstorms, and unforgiving terrain that punished both Axis and Allied forces alike. Drawing on primary sources, War at the End of the World fills in a crucial gap in the history of World War II while offering readers a narrative of the first rank. A harrowing account of an epic, yet nearly forgotten, battle of World War II--General Douglas MacArthur's four-year assault on the Pacific War's most hostile battleground: the mountainous, jungle-cloaked island of New Guinea. One American soldier called it "a green hell on earth." Monsoon-soaked wilderness, debilitating heat, impassable mountains, torrential rivers, and disease-infested swamps--New Guinea was a battleground far deadlier than the most fanatical of enemy troops. Some 600,000 Japanese began landing in January 1942, determined to seize the island as a cornerstone of the Empire's strategy to knock Australia out of the war. Allied Commander-in-Chief MacArthur committed 340,000 Americans, as well as tens of thousands of Australian, Dutch, and New Guinea troops, to retake New Guinea at all costs. What followed was a four-year campaign that involved some of the most horrific warfare in history. At first emboldened by easy victories throughout the Pacific, the Japanese soon encountered in New Guinea a quagmire akin to the Germans' disastrous attempt to take Moscow. For the Americans, victory in New Guinea was the first essential step in the long march towards the Japanese home islands and the ultimate destruction of Hirohito's empire. Winning the war in New Guinea was of critical importance to MacArthur. His avowed "I shall return" to the Philippines could only be accomplished after taking the island. Here, historian James P. Duffy chronicles the most ruthless combat of the Pacific War, a fight complicated by rampant tropical disease, violent rainstorms, and unforgiving terrain that punished Axis and Allied forces alike.--Adapted from dust jacket Dedication Epigraph List of Maps INTRODUCTION PROLOGUE PART ONE: 1942 CHAPTER 1. “This Is War, Not a Sunday School Picnic” CHAPTER 2. “Every Man for Himself” CHAPTER 3. First Landings in New Guinea CHAPTER 4. A General in Search of an Army CHAPTER 5. To Port Moresby by Sea CHAPTER 6. Second Landings in New Guinea CHAPTER 7. Death Along the Kokoda Track CHAPTER 8. First Defeat at Milne Bay CHAPTER 9. “Take Buna, or Not Come Back Alive” PART TWO: 1943 CHAPTER 10. Sailing the Bismarck Sea CHAPTER 11. Assault on Salamaua CHAPTER 12. Pincers Around Lae CHAPTER 13. War on the Huon Peninsula CHAPTER 14. Invasion Across the Straits PART THREE: 1944 CHAPTER 15. The General and the Admiralties CHAPTER 16. Reckless and Persecution CHAPTER 17. Next Stop: Wakde CHAPTER 18. Bloody Biak CHAPTER 19. The General, the President, and the Admiral CHAPTER 20. Breakout from Wewak CHAPTER 21. Island-Hopping to Victory EPILOGUE Photographs Acknowledgments Bibliography Source Notes Index