The Campaign on New Britain

Download or read book The Campaign on New Britain written by United States. Marine Corps and published by . This book was released on 1952 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The truth is that nothing was easy on New Britain. Jungle, swamp and mountain combined with atrocious weather to multiply problems of time and space. Then, too, the Japanese held an inestimable advantage in their familiarity with the terrain -- an advantage which they exploited with no little skill. It took maneuver on our part to cope with this phalanx of difficulties, and before the fighting ended it had sprawled over more territory than any other Marine campaign of the war. There is no such thing as a "light" casualty list, and more than 300 Marines paid with their lives in New Britain's fetid jungle. But viewed in the light of numbers engaged, ground gained, and enemy losses, it was not a costly victory. On the contrary, the fighting that ranged from Cape Gloucester to Talasea ranks as one of the most economical operations in the entire Pacific. - Foreword.