Kenneth E. Hunter

“ On 16 September the enemy advance in Papua was halted at a point less than 20 miles from Port Moresby where it was met by stiffened Australian resistance. American troops were rushed into Port Moresby by plane and boat, and a counter-attack was launched in the last days of September. The enemy fell back to Buna and, while the Australian forces laboriously made their way over the steep mountain trails, American troops were flown overland toward Jaure. During this campaign U.S. troops in New Guinea learned the bitter lessons of jungle warfare by actual experience. ”

“ As infantry troops march through a town, an old woman looks at a demolished building (bottom) . During the advance into Germany many towns surrendered to the Allied troops and the buildings remained undamaged. However, in some towns enemy troops offered resistance and fighting and shelling ensued. In one week five Allied armies were on the east bank of the Rhine and twenty-four bridges had been constructed to replace those which were knocked out. During this period the Allied casualties were much lighter than had been expected. The last German line of defense had been shattered. ”

“ The Japanese were well emplaced in the mountain areas beyond the beaches and the U.S. artillery and armor were greatly limited in their effectiveness by the rugged terrain. The enemy put up his first strong opposition along the Rosario-Pozorrubio-Binalonan line, where he had built pillboxes and dugouts of every description with artillery and automatic weapons well hidden and camouflaged. This fighting was not a part of the drive on Manila. The enemy casualties during the latter part of January 1945 were much greater than those suffered by the U.S. forces. ”

“ INFANTRYMEN OF THE SEVENTH ARMY advance through snow and sleet. The attack of 6th Army Group was to breach the Vosges mountains whereupon the two armies would join in the Rhine plain to isolate the enemy’s Vosges positions. Short of artillery ammunition, the troops slugged it out with the enemy over difficult terrain and in increasingly bad weather, with the infantry carrying most of the burden. ”

“ Since most of the available U.S. ships, planes, and trained troops were needed in other areas, no immediate action was begun to recapture Attu and Kiska. Both the United States and Japan learned that, because of the extremely bad weather conditions, this area was one of the most unsuitable in the world for combat operations and the Aleutians were not used as an important base for operations. ”

“ On 25 July 1944 the Allied forces fighting in Normandy were able to begin the offensive to break out of Normandy and carry to the German frontier. Preceding the ground attack planes of the Allied air forces dropped more than 3,390 tons of bombs on enemy positions on a narrow front in the vicinity of Saint-Lô. The air attack’s crushing power and its paralyzing effect on the German forces opened the way for a rapid and powerful drive by Allied armored and infantry units. Cities were captured in quick succession and the enemy troops were forced to flee in a disorderly retreat. ”

“ While U.S. forces were liberating the Philippines, Australian troops were fighting against isolated enemy positions in New Guinea, New Britain, and Bougainville, and at the same time were preparing for an attack on Borneo. On 1 May Australian forces landed on Tarakan Island off the northeast coast of Borneo. On 10 June Australians landed at Brunei Bay, Borneo, and by the middle of July there was little enemy activity. The best harbors were seized and the rich oil fields were again under Allied control. The remaining Japanese troops withdrew into the jungles of the interior. ”

“ But more important than any other single factor was the problem of supplying the large forces which had advanced so rapidly that they had outrun their supplies.
During this period, as the Allies came to the West Wall and the Rhine, severe fighting took place all along the front. Some of the most difficult operations of the war in western Europe occurred during the Rhineland Campaign as battles were fought in the Arnhem area, the Schelde estuary, the Huertgen Forest, the Aachen sector, the Metz and Saar regions, and the Belfort and Saverne Gaps. ”

“ On 16 March it was officially announced that all organized enemy resistance had come to an end, although mopping up continued for many days in the Kitano Point area. The exact number of casualties to the enemy is not known as many were lost in their caves and tunnels, but by 21 March over 21,000 dead had been counted, while only 212 prisoners were taken. Out of approximately 20,000 casualties the Marines lost over 4,000 killed, while Navy casualties amounted to over 1,000. Iwo Jima was probably the most strongly fortified island selected as an objective during the war. ”

“ In addition, 270 miles of railroad were constructed in England to facilitate movements. The Transportation Corps was responsible for the movement of men and supplies by land and water, and for the operation and supply of a great deal of this equipment. Since much of the railroad equipment in Europe had been destroyed or damaged by preinvasion bombing by the Allied airforces, locomotives and cars had to be supplied by both the United States and the United Kingdom for use in Europe. ”

“ This period of fighting was marked by Japanese suicide attacks against Allied naval ships and the Navy sustained heavy losses, losses greater than in any other campaign during the war. On 21 June the island was declared secure and the next few days were spent mopping up enemy pockets. The fall of Okinawa and Iwo gave the Allies the air bases from which the almost daily aerial attacks on the principal industrial cities of Japan were to be launched, as well as emergency landing fields for crippled B-29’s returning to their more distant island bases from attacks on Japan. ”

“ For two months the U. S. Third Army was stalled in the vicinity of Metz, the fortress which would have to be captured before any substantial advance eastward could be made. Metz dominated three invasion routes into Germany from France: the valley of the Moselle through Trier and Coblenz; the Kaiserslautern Pass through Saarbruecken to Mainz and Worms; and the route through the Saverne Gap from Sarrebourg to Strasbourg and the Rhine. Only once in modern times had the fortress of Metz fallen to an attacking army—in 1871 the defending French troops surrendered to the Prussians. ”

“ The last three months of 1944 marked the almost complete destruction of Japanese air power in the Philippines and the defeat of the enemy ground forces on Leyte. In January 1945 men and equipment began to arrive in the Pacific in ever increasing numbers. Sixth and Eighth Armies were fighting the Japanese in the Philippines, while the Tenth was being organized to be used later on Okinawa. The Navy and Air Forces were also expanding in number of men, ships, and planes. ”

“ U.S. TROOPS ARRIVING IN AUSTRALIA. In March the headquarters of the Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific was established at Melbourne. The Netherlands East Indies had fallen to the enemy and it was necessary to build up a force in the Southwest Pacific area to combat the Japanese threat to Australia. With the Japanese blocking the sea lanes of the Central Pacific, a new line of supply to the Far East was established by way of the Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, and Australia. ”

“ In the battle of the Falaise-Argentan pocket the Allies did not accomplish the utter destruction of the German forces in Normandy, but the enemy troops were broken as an effective fighting force and the way across France was open. ”

“ DAMAGE AT HENDERSON FIELD following the bombardment of 13 and 14 October 1942 by enemy bombers and field artillery which severely damaged the runways and destroyed more than fifty planes. Japanese bombing at first was amazingly accurate. Smoking ruins are all that remain of an airplane hangar after a direct hit (top) . Marines extinguish fire destroying a burning Grumman Wildcat fighter by the bucket brigade method (bottom) . The raid also destroyed most of the ready ammunition available at the time. ”

“ INFANTRYMEN PASS A DEAD GERMAN as they cross a stream (top) . Third Army troops climbing a steep hill in the mountainous region (bottom) . On 10 April the Ninth, First, and Third Armies resumed the attack to the east with twenty-two divisions. Only in the Harz Mountains was any serious organized resistance encountered. The Germans had hurriedly assembled about 10,000 men to form an army which was initially to break through into the Ruhr pocket. When that failed it was to break through to the Thuringian pocket. ”

“ MARINES LOADED WITH EQUIPMENT go ashore to assemble for the move forward after disembarking from an LST. Craft in the background is an LVT; in the foreground a jeep is being pushed through the surf. Many of the men carry litters for the expected casualties. Troops succeeded in driving the Japanese out of the cape in four days. The lodgments on New Britain severed one of the main enemy supply lines between Rabaul and eastern New Guinea, and as the year drew to a close, Rabaul was rapidly being isolated. ”

“ PLANES TOWING GLIDERS take off for the invasion of the Netherlands, 17 September 1944. The First Allied Airborne Army launched its attack to secure a bridgehead across the Rhine in the Arnhem area. Complete surprise was achieved and the drops and glider landings were effective and in most cases were made in the prescribed areas. During the following ten days the fighting was severe with repeated German counterattacks. However, the railroad bridge across the Waal River in the Nijmegen area was captured on 20 September and remained in Allied hands. ”

“ The United States Navy played a vital role in transporting men and supplies and in protecting the convoys while en route. During this period the administrative task was enormous since facilities for quartering and training such large forces and for storing supplies and equipment had to be provided within the limited area of the United Kingdom. In October 1942 some of the units stationed in the United Kingdom were sent to the Mediterranean for the invasion of North Africa. The build-up continued after this, well-trained units arriving from the United States. ”

“ MARINES LEAVING A LOG BEACH BARRICADE, face fire-swept open ground on Betio Island in their advance toward the immediate objective, the Japanese airport. Landings were made under enemy fire on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll on 20 November, concurrent with the invasion of Butaritari Island, Makin Atoll. Tarawa, one of the coral atolls which comprise the Gilbert Islands, is roughly triangular in shape; about 18 miles long on east side, 12 miles long on south side, and 121⁄2 miles long on northwest side. The Japanese had concentrated their strength on Betio Island. ”

“ MEN OF AN INFANTRY DIVISION climbing into box cars to move from the Brittany Peninsula to the U. S. Third Army zone. On 9 January 1945 a new attack was started after fresh troops had been brought into the battle area. The Germans offered fierce resistance in order to keep open their escape route to the east. On 16 January elements of an armored division of Third Army contacted those from First Army, closing the German salient just one month after the enemy had launched his counteroffensive in the Ardennes. ”

“ Medical Corps men move a soldier off a field under machine gun fire during training at the Jungle Training Center (bottom) . The course in first aid and sanitation emphasized those aspects of the subject which pertained to combat conditions in the Pacific. Training in jungle living covered all phases of survival in the jungle terrain, on the open seas, and on Pacific atolls. ”

“ The Germans, taking advantage of their continuous front along the West Wall, planned a counterattack to strike the Allies in one of the weakest portions of the line—the Ardennes sector. The ultimate goals of this German operation were to capture the port city of Antwerp, sever the major Allied supply lines emanating from that port, and destroy the Allied forces north of the Antwerp-Brussels-Bastogne line. ”

“ The capture of Iwo Jima gave the Allies bases for fighter planes which were to escort the Superfortresses, based in the Marianas, when they attacked Japan. With Okinawa in U.S. hands other bombers could join the B-29’s in the raids. The first Superfortresses flying from the Marianas struck Tokyo in November 1944. The number of planes used in the attacks increased with each raid until, in July 1945, over 40,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Japan. During July most of the industrial areas of Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, and Osaka had been destroyed. ”

“ NORTHERN IRELAND
TRAINING IN IRELAND, FEBRUARY 1942. Before leaving the United States members of the U. S. armed forces normally had completed their training, but to keep the men at the peak of their fighting fitness programs in firing, field exercises, and special problems were begun under varying weather and terrain conditions. Men in their late teens or early twenties made the finest soldiers as they had stamina and recuperative power far beyond that of older men. ”

“ The invasion of Morotai, lying between New Guinea and the Philippines, was the last major operation undertaken by Southwest Pacific forces before the attack on the Philippines in October.
Prior to the invasion of the Philippines a seven-day air attack, beginning on 10 October, was undertaken against enemy bases on the Ryukyu Islands, Formosa, and Luzon. On 17 October, Suluan, Homonhon, and Dinagat Islands, guarding Leyte Gulf where the main invasion was to be made, were captured. ”

“ During the fighting in Normandy armored vehicles found the hedgerows a serious obstacle which they could neither cross over nor break through. An enlisted man of an Ordnance unit in Normandy devised the method of attaching to the front of tanks rake-like cutters improvised from heavy angle-iron salvaged from the underwater beach obstacles which the Germans had placed to wreck landing craft. ”

“ Plans were made, ships and supplies collected, and the troops given special training for the invasion; meanwhile Japanese air and ground reinforcements poured into the Central Pacific.
An intense air offensive against enemy installations in the Marianas began on 11 June 1944 and a naval bombardment of Saipan began on the 13th, two days before the landings on the 15th. Opposition was heavy at first, but by the 25th U.S. troops, supported by tanks, heavy artillery, renewed naval gunfire, and aerial bombardment, drove the enemy from the high ground on the central part of the island. ”