_Sources_
Three books have proved essential to this account of the fighting on New
Britain. Lieutenant Colonel Frank O. Hough, USMCR, dealt at length with
the campaign in _The Island War: The United States Marine Corps in the
Pacific_ (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1947). With Major John Crown,
USMCR, he wrote the official Marine Corps historical monograph: _The New
Britain Campaign_ (Washington: Historical Branch, G-3 Division, HQMC,
1952). The third of these essential volumes is Henry I. Shaw, Jr., and
Major Douglas T. Kane, USMC, _Isolation of Rabaul--History of U. S.
Marine Corps Operations in World War II_, vol 2 (Washington: Historical
Branch, G-3 Division, HQMC, 1963.)
Other valuable sources include: Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate,
eds., _The Pacific: Guadalcanal to Saipan, August 1942-July 1944--The
Army Air Forces in World War II_, vol 4 (Washington: Office of Air Force
History, reprint 1983); George McMillan, _The Old Breed: A History of
the First Marine Division in World War II_ (Washington: Infantry Journal
Press, 1949); John Miller, Jr., _The United States Army in World War II;
The War in the Pacific: CARTWHEEL, The Reduction of Rabaul_ (Washington:
Office of Chief of Military History, 1959); Samuel Eliot Morison,
_Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944--A History of
United States Naval Operations in World War II_, vol 6 (Boston: Little,
Brown, and Company, 1950).
The _Marine Corps Gazette_ printed four articles analyzing aspects of
the New Britain campaign: Lieutenant Colonel Robert B. Luckey, USMC,
"Cannon, Mud, and Japs," vol 28, no 10 (October 1944); George McMillan,
"Scouting at Cape Gloucester," vol 30, no 5 (May 1946); and Fletcher
Pratt, "Marines Under MacArthur: Cape Gloucester," vol 31, no 12
(December 1947); and "Marines Under MacArthur: Willaumez," vol 32, no 1
(January 1947).
Of the Marine Corps oral history interviews of participants in the New
Britain fighting, the most valuable were with Generals Lemuel C.
Shepherd, Jr., and Edwin A. Pollock and Lieutenant Generals Henry W.
Buse, Lewis J. Fields, Robert B. Luckey, and John N. McLaughlin.
Almost three dozen collections of personal papers deal in one way or
another with the campaign, some of them providing narratives of varying
length and others photographs or maps. The most enlightening commentary
came from the papers of Major Sherwood Moran, USMCR, before the war a
missionary in Japan and during the fighting an intelligence specialist
with the 1st Marine Division, who discussed everything from coping with
the weather to understanding the motivation of the Japanese soldier.
_About the Author_
[Illustration]
Bernard C. Nalty served as a civilian member of the Historical Branch,
G-3 Division, HQMC, from October 1956 to September 1961. In
collaboration with Henry I. Shaw, Jr., and Edwin T. Turnbladh, he wrote
_Central Pacific Drive_, volume 3 of the _History of U.S. Marine Corps
Operations in World War II_, and he also completed a number of short
historical studies, some of which appeared as articles in _Leatherneck_
or _Marine Corps Gazette_. He joined the history office of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff in 1961, transferring in 1964 to the Air Force history
program, from which he retired in January 1994.
[Illustration]
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted to U.S. Marines in the
World War II era, is published for the education and training of Marines
by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps,
Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S. Department of Defense observance
of the 50th anniversary of victory in that war.
Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been defrayed in part by
a bequest from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in memory of her late
husband, Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and was the recipient
of a Purple Heart.