War at the End of the World
Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight For New Guinea, 1942-1945
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Historian Duffy (Lincoln's Admiral) recovers from the annals of nearly lost history the decisive WWII campaign to secure New Guinea from Japanese forces. Duffy's clear, concise, and comprehensive history, based primarily on secondary sources, begins with the Japanese invasion of New Britain (in the Bismarck Archipelago off the coast of New Guinea) in 1942 and ends with the last major operations on the western end of New Guinea in August 1944. He addresses the strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign through the experiences of senior leaders such as General MacArthur as well as the common soldiers in combat. Duffy also includes the Japanese and Australian perspectives of the campaign, equally important. The New Guinea campaign, which lasted more than two full years, is not that well known because it didn't produce a large casualty count. This doesn't diminish its strategic importance. Had the Japanese been successful in New Guinea, the use of Australia as a base for an Allied offensive against Japan would have been impossible. Duffy makes a strong case that MacArthur's generalship is a major reason for the campaign's success. The book lacks some deep analysis, but it is a good introduction. Maps.
