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The Ghost Mountain Boys: Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea--The Forgotten War of the South Pacific

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Manufacturer: Crown
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Lying due north of Australia, New Guinea is among the world’s largest islands. In 1942, when World War II exploded onto its shores, it was an inhospitable, cursorily mapped, disease-ridden land of dense jungle, towering mountain peaks, deep valleys, and fetid swamps. Coveted by the Japanese for its strategic position, New Guinea became the site of one of the South Pacific’s most savage campaigns. Despite their lack of jungle training, the 32nd Division’s Ghost Mountain Boys were assigned the most grueling mission of the entire Pacific campaign: to march 130 miles over the rugged Owen Stanley Mountains and to protect the right flank of the Australian army as they fought to push the Japanese back to the village of Buna on New Guinea’s north coast.

Comprised of National Guardsmen from Michigan and Wisconsin, reserve officers, and draftees from across the country, the 32nd Division lacked more than training—they were without even the basics necessary for survival. The men were not issued the specialized clothing that later became standard issue for soldiers fighting in the South Pacific; they fought in hastily dyed combat fatigues that bled in the intense humidity and left them with festering sores. They waded through brush and vines without the aid of machetes. They did not have insect repellent. Without waterproof containers, their matches were useless and the quinine and vitamin pills they carried, as well as salt and chlorination tablets, crumbled in their pockets. Exhausted and pushed to the brink of human endurance, the Ghost Mountain Boys fell victim to malnutrition and disease. Forty-two days after they set out, they arrived two miles south of Buna, nearly shattered by the experience.

Arrival in Buna provided no respite. The 32nd Division was ordered to launch an immediate assault on the Japanese position. After two months of furious—sometimes hand-to-hand—combat, the decimated division finally achieved victory. The ferocity of the struggle for Buna was summed up in Time magazine on December 28, 1942, three weeks before the Japanese army was defeated: “Nowhere in the world today are American soldiers engaged in fighting so desperate, so merciless, so bitter, or so bloody.”

Reminiscent of classics like Band of Brothers and The Things They Carried, this harrowing portrait of a largely overlooked campaign is part war diary, part extreme adventure tale, and (through letters, journals, and interviews) part biography of a group of men who fought to survive in an environment every bit as fierce as the enemy they faced.


DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.542653
EAN: 9780307335968
ISBN: 0307335968
Label: Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2007-10-02
Publisher: Crown
Release Date: 2007-10-02
Studio: Crown


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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story that illustrates the true cost of freedom
Comment: This is one of the best written historical books that I have ever read. It reads more like a novel but is fully and carefully documented with historical notes. James Campbell tells a compelling story of the bitter fight between the American/Australian forces and the Japanese in a little known area in the southwest Pacific. The level of detail is perfect, giving a grim view of the terrain and hardships encountered. You truly feel the mud, the heat, the bugs, and the hunger as you read about the deprivations on both sides. The diaries and letters make it very real. Campbell also provides the reader with plenty of interesting background and details to explain the significance of both the men who fought and the meaning of the battle. Make sure that you take out an atlas to find the location of New Guinea to Australia to understand the significance of this battle. Here's to the Red Arrows and all the other heroes who fought to protect their homeland!
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Gost Mountain Boys" DVD
Comment: Good sound rendition of "Gost Mountain Boys" on CD/ROM DVD.
During his life my father, HQ Coy - Special troops, 32nd Infantry Division, He did not speak much about his service.
This DVD provides insight of the trials and tribulation
and commemorates his New Guinea service. It is a good sound rendition of the book "GhostMountain Boys".
He did not talk much about his WW2 service.
He did, however, march on ANZAC Day commemoratiomns with Australian vets he fought alongside at Gona and Buna. Purple Heart awarded there. Returned to recover at Townsville and returned to go to Leyte and the Grosse Verde Trail and then into recover Manila. Another Purple heart there and then onto Japan after the surrender and demobilisation.
Charles Schuster,
Australia
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ghost Mountain Boys Remembered
Comment: Along with the great U.S. sacrifices at Iwo Jima, a little known action of Americans and Australians fought well dug-in Japanese forces in Papua, New Guinea. The green troops of the 32nd Division (Wisconsin and Michigan men) withstood the withering fire from the Japanese, the plague of malaria and jungle rot, and the complete misunderstanding of the state of affairs by MacArthur. They crossed over on foot the nearly impassable Owen Stanley Mountains, referred by them as Ghost Mountain, only to be met with chest deep swamps, flesh cutting grass while an invisible enemy poured machinegun fire onto them.

With the greatest of efforts, the Ghost Mountain Boys surmounted all the obstacles, both natural and human, at a great price in blood and death. Only after the conclusion of the action did the American high command come to realize what the facts were concerning the conditions the 32nd had to face.

Although I know of no monuments in Washington commemorating this event, readers should know about the Ghost Mountain Boys and other lesser known actions that didn't make the newsreels. Their sacrifices were as real as those that made the headlines.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Ghost Mountain Boys
Comment: Great book. I couldnt put it down. Well written. Anyone interested in history should read this. DR
Customer Rating:
Summary: Jungle War on a Shoestring!
Comment: This book is an easy read. I recommend it to anyone interested in how America's citizen soldiers fought in World War II. The book's style is similar to many of Stephen Ambroses works such as Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest or Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany.
This book follows the story of the 32 Infantry, the Red Arrow Division in Early World War II. The Red Arrow Division was composed of National Guard units from Michigan and Wisconsin and fleshed out with draftees. The unit was nationalized in 1941, before the beginning of the war and trained in Louisiana. The first section of the book focuses on these early days of the division.
The Red Arrow was originally slated to fight in Europe but with rapid advance of the Japanese, the Red Arrow was sent to protect Australia. Soon after the division completed construction of its training base, units were sent to help Australian troops in New Guinea. Several units marched over the Owen Stanley Mountains racing the Japanese back to their bases near Buna on the northern coast. Coastal shipping transported other units to the area. The account of the air attack on these ships as they tried to land supplies was gripping. None of the troops were trained or prepared for the tropical jungles and harsh conditions they faced. Niether was the United States prepared to supply troop in this environment. The troops were malnourished and soon suffered from tropical diseases such as malaria and dysentery. Trapped at the end of a long supply line before the industrial strength of the United States was brought to bear, this small band fought a battle in the jungle similar to trench warfare in World War 1.
This book focuses on the personal experiences of the front line troops in their struggle against the environment and enemy. Excerpts from Japanese diaries show that both sides suffered terribly from the conditions, which neither side was prepared for. Distant commanders demanded immediate action and that the attacks be pressed forward regardless of losses. I am amazed that the sick emaciated troops were able to walk let alone fight. I wished for more maps. Three maps at the beginning of the book meant that I was constantly turning back to the front to see if the location was on the map and where it was. The campaign in the Southwestern Pacific is almost ignored by the public who remember the Marine landings in the Central Pacific and the great carrier battles that destroyed the Japanese Navy.
I drive home from work every day on the Red Arrow Highway. When I moved here, I asked about the name and was told that it was named for a famous unit in World War I made up of local boys. Someone else told me that the Red Arrow was in combat longer than any other unit in WW II. I don't think of them the same way as I did before I read this book.

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