Soputa, New Guinea officer’s mess
8-19 December – after Buna and Gona, on New Guinea, were finally taken, the Allies knew that at least 7,000 Japanese might be defending Sanananda. So, it came as quite a surprise to generals Vassey and Eichelberger when MacArthur released his communiqué, “The Papuan Campaign is in its closing phase.” It would be another 2 weeks before the last enemy soldier left his bunker [where evidence of cannibalism was found]. The close quarter battles killed about 630 of the enemy, but the 530 Australian casualties were a heavy price to pay.
Replacements and supplies arrive.
On Guadalcanal, the Japanese had suffered, at this point, about 23,000 casualties; more from disease and starvation than combat, out of 40,000 men. They lost 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 12 destroyers, 16 transports and many hundreds of planes. Adm. Tanaka would later say, “There is no question that Japan’s doom…
View original post 507 more words
Thank you, Steven. I hope you are enjoying your Pacific War research.
GP
No my friend, Thank You for putting forth the effort to ensure these stories remain to be told.
I’m not sure I enjoy doing war research GP, nobody who has ever been in Combat or has seen War would ever say they “enjoy” it; same way about being a “WW2 Enthusiast”… but what I do enjoy is learning about what these brave men did in Europe and the Pacific so tyranny could be stopped..that is inspiring to me!
You’ve got me – I’ve caught myself many times using that word and failed to catch myself with you [of all people!]. I’m afraid, I know exactly what you mean.