The Ghost Mountain Boys

The Ghost Mountain Boys
Author :
Publisher : Crown
Total Pages : 305
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780307407436
ISBN-13 : 0307407438
Rating : 4/5 (36 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Ghost Mountain Boys by : James Campbell

Download or read book The Ghost Mountain Boys written by James Campbell and published by Crown. This book was released on 2007-10-02 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.


The Ghost Mountain Boys Related Books

The Ghost Mountain Boys
Language: en
Pages: 305
Authors: James Campbell
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007-10-02 - Publisher: Crown

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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, cu
The Guilty River and the Ghost's Touch
Language: en
Pages: 288
Authors: Wilkie Collins
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 1887 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Ghosts of the Big Sandy River
Language: en
Pages: 242
Authors: Edward Hartshorn
Categories:
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-06-26 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

When newcomers Clayton and Scot Hall investigate ghosts, myths, and legends of Louisa and Fort Gay, they discover a fifty-year secret. The townsfolk don't appre
The Big Book of New York Ghost Stories
Language: en
Pages: 369
Authors: Cheri Farnsworth
Categories: Body, Mind & Spirit
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-07-17 - Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hauntings lurk and spirits linger in the Empire State Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike cree
Ghost Towns of Kansas
Language: en
Pages: 376
Authors: Daniel Fitzgerald
Categories: Travel
Type: BOOK - Published: 1988 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This illustrated guide to Kansas ghost towns will delight travelers and armchair tourists alike. Organized by region, it tells the story of 100 towns that have