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Title details for The Ghost Mountain Boys by James Campbell - Available

The Ghost Mountain Boys

Their Epic March and the Terrifying Battle for New Guinea—-the Forgotten War of the South Pacific

by James Campbell
Stephen Hoye
Audiobook
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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.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    December 10, 2007

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781400125760
      • File size: 310301 KB
      • Duration: 10:46:27

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Stephen Hoye gives a solid reading of Campbell's account of the battle for New Guinea during WWII. The campaign, largely eclipsed by the struggle over Guadalcanal, was a pivotal struggle that might even have been a turning point in the Pacific theater. In the long, grueling, dirty fight men were felled by disease as often as by bullets. Listeners follow individual soldiers, the 32nd Division's Ghost Mountain Boys, from their training through the campaign. Campbell often quotes from letters home. He also quotes from Japanese journals found later. This gives the book real humanity. Hoye doesn't try to give each character a distinctive voice, but he varies pace and tone to show when individuals are speaking for themselves. R.C.G. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 28, 2008
      Campbell tells a largely unknown WWII tale of the 32nd Red Arrow division of the U.S Army and its trek through the rugged terrain of New Guinea to battle the Japanese. Stephen Hoye presents the remarkable account in a matter-of-fact manner, somewhat detached from the story while attempting to relay the information in a journalistic manner. As interesting as the story of this unprepared and ill-fated band is, Hoye fails to capture the adventurous aspect of this tale in his reading, which seems far removed from the story itself. Stylistically the reading is superb, offering a clear and professional narration. However, Hoye simply fails to keep the listener's interest throughout, presenting the story as a news documentary rather than a captivating account of these courageous individuals. The material itself is strong enough to warrant repeated listens, but Hoye offers little in the way of originality or spontaneity. Simultaneous release with the Crown hardcover (reviewed online).

    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 1, 2007
      Author Campbell (The Final Frontiersman) retraces the steps of the U.S. Army's 32nd Infantry Division, and its harrowing fight to capture Buna, New Guinea from the Japanese, in this grunt's-eye-view of one harrowing WWII mission. The 32nd was a National Guard Division that had made a name for itself on the battlefields in WWI, but by the time America entered WWII, they were less than prepared. Still, the division was shipped to Australia without any effective combat training, from which they were sent to navigate New Guinea's rain forests without any jungle training, or even proper supplies. Eager to take the fight to the enemy, the men of the 32nd were not ready for their fight against the island itself, a poorly mapped country with no overland roads, virtually impassable mountains, crocodile-filled swamps and disease-carrying mosquitoes. Campbell's novel-like retelling shows how they accomplished what many would call impossible, or at least suicidal; at the same time, Campbell accounts for the Japanese in New Guinea, who suffered the same, if not worse-both high commands viewed New Guinea as crucial, but not crucial enough to properly support. This intense narrative is a fitting tribute and an excellent, relevant illustration of that elusive phenomenon known as the fog of war.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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