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Haunted by the Horror of a Forgotten
Battle
In February 1942, only two months after the attack on the U.S. Navy at
Pearl Harbor, Japanese bombs rained down on Darwin, Australia, killing
more than 200 people, wounding more than 400 and sinking eight ships,
including some U.S. military vessels. Many feared this “Australian Pearl
Harbor” was prelude to a Japanese invasion of the Australian mainland,
though Japan’s intentions remain unknown and are still debated.
The attacks on Australia, which had dispatched most of its troops to the
European theater after declaring war on Germany in 1939, were either the
beginnings of an attempted occupation or merely a “warning blow” meant
to humble, isolate and keep the country out of Japan’s other advances in
the Pacific.
New Guinea’s Key Location
But 100 miles north of Australia, separated only by the Coral Sea, stood
New Guinea. The world’s second-largest island, the Japanese considered
it vital to their plans of domination in the southwest Pacific.
In early 1942 the war in the Pacific was not going well for the
Americans and Australians. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had just retreated
from the Philippines; the Japanese had moved quickly through the western
rim: Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Burma and the Dutch East Indies.
President Roosevelt had made a commitment to Prime Minister Churchill
that American resources would be sent to the European front, leaving the
Pacific commanders scrambling for men, supplies and, sometimes, solid
strategy.
When MacArthur pleaded for more troops to halt the Japanese advance—they
had established airfields and fortified positions on New Guinea’s
northeast coast and were moving inland—the 32nd Division, a 6,000-man
unit composed primarily of National Guardsmen from Michigan and
Wisconsin, was quickly shipped out.
Despite their lack of training, despite their lack of equipment, and
despite their lack experienced leadership, the 32nd Division became this
country’s first jungle fighters.
The Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell (Crown, 400 pages, $25.95) is
the story of the 32nd Division’s battle for New Guinea and in particular
the 126th Infantry unit’s march across one of the most inhospitable
parts of the planet, the Owen Stanley Mountains, 130 miles from the
south coast to the north coast.
Mountain of Misery
The trek by the 300-strong 126th across Ghost Mountain is the stuff of
horror movies. Called Ghost Mountain because of the
phosphorescence glow given off at night by the moss in its trees, this
“razorback” ridge required men to crawl on their hands and knees and to
pull themselves up by vines dangling in the thick jungles.
The troops had no machetes, no jungle gear at all, and as they wallowed
through the mud in the 100-degree-plus heat, they quickly shed their
hard helmets, extra ammunition, clothing, tents and blankets, which many
came to regret during the cold nights on the 10,000-foot mountain.
Forty-two days after setting out, the Ghost Mountain Boys arrived at the
Japanese stronghold of Buna. Most were sick with dysentery and/or
malaria. All were covered with skin infections and blisters. All were
malnourished. Those lucky enough to still have boots found that the
leather had rotted on their feet from the incessant rain and mud.
They were walking corpses, yet when they reached Buna, they were ordered
directly into hand-to-hand battle against a 6,000-strong unit of
seasoned, dug-in Japanese veterans.
Page-turning History
Campbell has crafted a compelling war history, one that reads as a
page-turner. He brings a human touch into this most-inhumane story
through his use of personal correspondence, diaries and interviews with
survivors. (Of those, there weren’t many. Of the 6,000 men who went to
Australia in the 32nd, only 132 survived. Of the 300 Ghost Mountain
Boys, only 40 survived the campaign.) The reader cares about the
individual, whether it’s an American infantryman, a corpsman or a
Japanese officer.
There is cruelty on both sides, from torture to sadism to cannibalism.
But there is also pathos. One cannot read an American’s letter home to
his wife on the eve of battle and not ask “why?” Likewise, reading the
hopelessness contained in captured Japanese diaries evokes the same
feelings about the futility and waste of war as men on both sides push
themselves to the limits of human endurance for a piece of
disease-ridden swamp land in a forgotten corner of the world.
This is a 60-year-old story of World War II, yet much of it resonates
today. The political motivations of battlefield leaders, for example,
can still be seen in our headlines.
MacArthur wanted victory at any cost (“Take Buna,” he told his top
battlefield general, “or don’t come back alive.”) and his spinning of
the news from the front is particularly disturbing. It is also a story
of men sent to battle without proper equipment: weapons that didn’t work
in rain and mud, clothing that didn’t breathe in the jungle climate,
food that had to be cooked even though there was no way to heat it.
Without proselytizing, Campbell shows us that war is, indeed, hell. And
this type of jungle warfare must have its special circle there.
Author Appearance
James Campbell, author of “The Ghost Mountain Boys,” will visit Fountain
Bookstore on Thursday, October 4, 6:30 p.m.
Fountain Bookstore is in Richmond’s Shockoe Slip at 1312 E. Cary St. For
information, call 788-1594 or see
www.fountainbookstore.com.
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