The Battle of Milne Bay 1942

The Battle of Milne Bay 1942 PDF Author: Nicholas Anderson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1925675688
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
By 1942 the formidable Japanese military had conquered swathes of territory across south-east Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Despite its defeat at the Battle of Midway, Japan remained a potent enemy committed to the creation of a defensive arc to shield its captured possessions in the Pacific. The capture of Port Moresby would cement the southern border of this defensive arc and sever the vital lines of communication between Australia and the United States. It was the Japanese plan to seize Moresby that would set the course for the Battle of Milne Bay. Situated on the eastern tip of New Guinea, Milne Bay was a wretched hell-hole: swamp-riddled, a haven for malaria and cursed with torrential rain. It was here that General Douglas MacArthur ordered the secret construction of an Allied base with airfields to protect the maritime approach to Port Moresby. But the Japanese soon discovered the base at Milne Bay and despatched a task force to destroy its garrison and occupy the base. All that stood between the Japanese and their prize was a brigade of regular Australian soldiers untrained in tropical warfare and a brigade of Australian militia with no combat experience whatsoever. While the Kokoda campaign is etched in public memory, its sister battle at Milne Bay has long been neglected. However the bitter fighting over this isolated harbour played an equally important role in protecting Port Moresby and made a valuable contribution to shifting Allied fortunes in the Pacific War.

The Battle of Milne Bay 1942

The Battle of Milne Bay 1942 PDF Author: Nicholas Anderson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1925675688
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 382

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Book Description
By 1942 the formidable Japanese military had conquered swathes of territory across south-east Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Despite its defeat at the Battle of Midway, Japan remained a potent enemy committed to the creation of a defensive arc to shield its captured possessions in the Pacific. The capture of Port Moresby would cement the southern border of this defensive arc and sever the vital lines of communication between Australia and the United States. It was the Japanese plan to seize Moresby that would set the course for the Battle of Milne Bay. Situated on the eastern tip of New Guinea, Milne Bay was a wretched hell-hole: swamp-riddled, a haven for malaria and cursed with torrential rain. It was here that General Douglas MacArthur ordered the secret construction of an Allied base with airfields to protect the maritime approach to Port Moresby. But the Japanese soon discovered the base at Milne Bay and despatched a task force to destroy its garrison and occupy the base. All that stood between the Japanese and their prize was a brigade of regular Australian soldiers untrained in tropical warfare and a brigade of Australian militia with no combat experience whatsoever. While the Kokoda campaign is etched in public memory, its sister battle at Milne Bay has long been neglected. However the bitter fighting over this isolated harbour played an equally important role in protecting Port Moresby and made a valuable contribution to shifting Allied fortunes in the Pacific War.

The Spell Broken

The Spell Broken PDF Author: Peter Brune
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 9781864486933
Category : Milne Bay (Papua New Guinea)
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Tells the story of how the Australian 18th brigade inflicted the first defeat on land of the Japanese army in World War 2.

Australian National Bibliography

Australian National Bibliography PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Australia
Languages : en
Pages : 930

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Book Description


Medical Emergency

Medical Emergency PDF Author: Ian Howie-Willis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1921941626
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
Major-General `Ginger' Burston led the Army Medical Service throughout the Pacific campaigns. This pivotal book explains how Burston and his medical team kept Allied troops healthy in primitive and hostile conditions and during the greatest medical emergency of World War II - the struggle against malaria. By keeping the soldiers healthy, and particularly by reducing malaria infection rates from 100 to less than one case per 1000 troops per week, the Army Medical Service assured an Allied victory over Japan. A Medical Emergency tells this remarkable story for the first time. In engrossing detail and using contemporary accounts, veteran historian Ian Howie-Willis brings to life the struggle of `Ginger' Burston and his Medical Service to fight a deadly opponent that decimated the ranks of friend and foe alike. Their victory was key to the ultimate Allied success.

United States Army in World War II.: Special studies

United States Army in World War II.: Special studies PDF Author: United States. Dept. of the Army. Office of Military History
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description


Shadows on the Track

Shadows on the Track PDF Author: Jan McLeod
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1925675912
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
At Templeton’s Crossing in October 1942, Private Nick Kennedy paused to write in his diary: ‘One wonders why all this strife should be … these men in the prime of their life cut down like flowers’. As a young nursing orderly serving with the 2/4th Australian Field Ambulance, Kennedy was unenviably well-placed to reflect on the futility of war. The Australian Army was woefully unprepared to fight a medical war in Papua and the soldiers paid the price. Almost 30,000 soldiers suffered from illness and tropical diseases, and an estimated 6000 were killed or wounded during the six-month campaign. These statistics have traditionally been represented as unavoidable consequences of fighting a war in a place such as Papua. This book disputes that narrative. Death and disease were inevitable outcomes, but the scale of the suffering was not. The medical challenges presented in Papua were extreme – they were not insurmountable. Shadows on the Track considers a wide range of issues that impacted on the health of the Australian soldiers before, during and after the Papuan campaign was fought and won. The strengths, successes, shortcomings and failures of the medical campaign are identified, analysed and evaluated. The focus on the front-line medical personnel – the men of the field ambulance units – brings a new perspective to the battles of the Kokoda Track, Milne Bay and the Beachheads. Shining a light on these Australians who tended the sick, mended the wounded and buried the dead in Papua makes stepping out of the shadows a little easier.

Milne Bay 1942

Milne Bay 1942 PDF Author: Richard Reid
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Australia
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description


Chronology, 1941-1945

Chronology, 1941-1945 PDF Author:
Publisher: Washington, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description
This chronology focuses on tactical events from the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 to the signing of the instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri on 2 September 1945. The work includes a comprehensive index.

Chronology, 1941-1945

Chronology, 1941-1945 PDF Author: Mary H. Williams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 680

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Book Description


Turning Point

Turning Point PDF Author: Michael Veitch
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 0733640567
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The Battle for Milne Bay - Japan's first defeat on land in the Second World War - was a defining moment in the evolution of the indomitable Australian fighting spirit. For the men of the AIF, the militia and the RAAF, it was the turning point in the Pacific, and their finest - though now largely forgotten - hour. Forgotten, until now. In August 1942, Japan's forces were unstoppable. Having conquered vast swathes of south-east Asia - Malaya, Singapore, the Dutch East Indies - and now invading New Guinea, many feared the Empire of the Rising Sun stood poised to knock down Australia's northern door. But first they needed Port Moresby. In the still of an August night, Japanese marines sailed quietly into Milne Bay, a long, malaria-ridden dead end at the far eastern tip of Papua, to unleash an audacious pincer movement. Unbeknown to them, however, a secret airstrip had been carved out of a coconut plantation by US Engineers, and a garrison of Australian troops had been established, supported by two locally based squadrons of RAAF Kittyhawks, including the men of the famed 75 Squadron. The scene was set for one of the most decisive and vicious battles of the war. For ten days and nights Australia's soldiers and airmen fought the elite of Japan's forces along a sodden jungle track, and forced them back step by muddy, bloody step. In Turning Point, bestselling author Michael Veitch brings to life the incredible exploits and tragic sacrifices of these Australian heroes.