Battle of Gona-Buna

Hey all, i'm a new poster here, and apologies if this has been posted before, but i was wondering if much is known about the battle of Gona-Buna? It seems to be a very unknown battle, but one that was percentage wise bloodier than the battle for guadacanal. Am i right in saying that Australian and American forces overcame nurmerically superiour, well dug in, Japanese forces?

 

Gona Buna Sanananda, hard slog but Japs beaten

hope this is of interest...

 

This battle, and the fight for New Georgia several months later, was in many aspects, worse than what the Marines endured at Guadalcanal.

 

.... but what to make of this extract from the weblink provided by sniper?

Oooooh, is that a nasty AMERICAN killing Australian soldiers???

 

Firstly, Macarthur was directly ORDERED to leave the Phillipines, after offering to remain behind with the troops, passing command to Wainwright...

His escape, with family, on a pair of PT Boats was a perilous trip with no guarantee of success, but they made it to the Australian Port of Melbourne. Stepping ashore, he made probably the most stirring announcement by an American General of WW2, ("I shall return"), a policy that was in no way ratified by FDR, and one that he struggled to keep in place when the pendulum swung the other way, with most US commanders wishing to bypass the Phillipines altogether....

On arrival in Australia, he found the number of troops there to be practically non-existent, less in fact than he had in the Phillipines. Furthermore, Australian commanders and politicians were in the worst throes of 'invasion fever', and firmly of the belief in a paper concept defence called "The Brisbane Line", which sacrificed the top half of Australia in a line drawn roughly on a map level with the city of Brisbane. Macarthur threatened to resign on the spot if the concept was not changed IMMEDIATELY...

As for Buna-Gona, Macarthur issued orders to the AMERICAN commander of the battle, (Robert Eichelberger) to "Capture Buna-Gona, or don't come back alive." Whether he meant this literally or it was simply a method of firing up Eichelberger is not clear, but Big Mac's insistence on a positive result gave Eichelberger the incentive he needed to finish the Japanese in this part of New Guinea once and for all.

I might also point out that Mac's casualties from Pearl Harbor to VJ day (95,000) were less than the ETOs for the Battle of the Bulge ALONE,(101,000). His strategy for landing in the Admiralty islands and bypassing 200,000 Japanese soldiers dug in and well provisioned at Rabaul took at least 6 to 12 months off the Pacific and saved thousands of Allied lives....

You just leave Douglas Macarthur ALONE....A GREAT American, humanitarian and commander....

Regards...VB (Living in DARWIN AUSTRALIA)

 

Volga Boatman,
i believe history proves it was mainy Australian forces who finished off the Japanese in PNG. Kokoda, Milne Bay, Gona, Buna (with American Red Arrow division present), Lae, sananada, etc, most of the hard work done by Australian forces, not helped by Publicity hungray MacArthur and a very dubious general Blamey.

'As for Buna-Gona, Macarthur issued orders to the AMERICAN commander of the battle'...commander of the American division maybe, not of any Australian forces. That was General Vasey. I think history has proven MacArthur to be at times a brilliant general, and at other times an egotisitical, media hungary, 1000 miles from the front general.

'On arrival in Australia, he found the number of troops there to be practically non-existent'...another reason for the Aussie divisions to come back to Australia instead of Burma/Ceylon as Churchill and FDR requested. God bless John Curtin for ignoring them.

If you are still in Darwin, an excellent detailed source of the fighting in PNG up to Sanananda is a book called 'A bastard of a place' by Peter Brune, only about $20, and a first rate bit of writing that is not an American General bashing exercise (has a big go at many Aussie commanders too, mainly Blamey)An excellent reference for the fighting in PNG.

 

He was all that....brilliant, egotistical, media hungry, far from the front. But, this is the job of a modern General officer and the entire reason why his performance in the South Pac theater ranks so highly. If he had listened for a moment to his advisors, the war here would have taken far longer, and cost more Australians their lives. I think for this, and for his shameless promotion of not only himself, but for his tireless promotion of the importance of backing the South Pac theater with troops and resources, he should be lionized by Australians, not condemned.

Big Mac was a winner, as he proved in Korea before his mouth got him sacked. He is very much in the mold of a Great Commander. Napolean was vain, egotistical, but ultimately a loser. Mac started off making mistakes, learnt from them, and emerged as a winner.

Just for the pundits, I happen to have "A Bastard of a Place" sitting on my shelf. Sorry to dissappoint you. Without American troops and resources, we were Gonas..(terrible pun I know, but appropriate).

 

VB,
Fair enough point about General MacArthur, but the things that i can't understand about his conduct is things like pushing underprepared troops into battle with inadequate support, inadequate intelligence, and a complete lack of understanding of the terrain and conditions. It is the the Kokoda-Gona-Buna battles i am especially thinking of. (Aussie general Blamey just as guilty too)There a few other instances i can think of too. How can you adequately control a battle when your HQ is 2000 miles away?
You made a point about Robert Eichelberger, what was he like as a General? The little i have read seems to indicate he was a good leader of men, and a smart general. Any info/sources that i can read up on? I'd like top learn more about him.
Cheers

 

And i can't disagree, if not for the American victory at the battle of the Coral Sea (the single most important American contribution to Australia's security i think), Australia was in a very dire situation

 

I agree that it was as bad if not worse.

What I would like to point out though (not many realize this) is that it was due to near simultaneous operations of Guadalcanal and our Aussie allies standing firm on the Kokoda trail that either of these operations were ultimately successful. Both operations caused the Japanese, to split their resources between the two. The Japanese best bet at the time would have been to write off Guadalcanal and concentrate their forces on New Guinea. I'm not saying this would have changed the course or ultimate outcome on New Guinea but itwould have given them the best chance to win at that time.

 

Thats a good point. I understand that many Japanese soldiers in PNG were starving due to lack of supplies, which were being diverted to Guadacanal. Would have been interesting if thhe japanese had focused on eith Guadacanal or New Guinea, not both.

 

What made B-G and New Georgia different from Guadalcanal was the Japanese were dug in and on the defense. And that was a wake call for the allies.

Far different than when they were on the offense.

 

I've started reading accounts of the Aussie/American assualts on Gona and Buna, a well dug in, fanatical enemy, prepared killing fields, and imopatient commanders pushing thier troops into battle without proper support, intel or recon. Sounds like a nightmare

 

There is a book on the battle (published in the 1970's) called Bloody Buna...
Bloody Buna: Amazon.co.uk: Lida Mayo: Books

 

May I also suggest Kokoda by Paul Ham 2004 or 2010 : (HarperCollins: Australia). This is a gritty and realistic account of the Kokoda campaign. It covers the Gona/Buna battles as well, which were truly horrible. Also includes valuable accounts from soldiers from both sides. Which is helpful as the Japanese point of view is often dehumanised. A very worthwhile read. It seems Australian experiences were as bad or worse than Guadalcanal.

 

Hi there, I'm new in here and looking for someone who can give me any information on the battle of Buna in the 2nd World War.
I'm hoping to write a bio on my late dad, the Australian war artist, Geoffrey Mainwaring-there are many of his commissioned works in the Canberra War Memorial-in case any of you are interested, I will post the link-you just need to type in his name and it will bring you to the art database in Canberra.
http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/?q=geoffrey+mainwaring

My late dad never talked to much about his experiences, except to say that it was quite horrific to see man's inhumanity to man.
Someone mentioned that a member called southwestpacific has some good knowledge of the battle field in Buna-I have no idea how to find him-can anyone please help me here?
Thanks heaps
Julia Mainwaring-Berry aka artyjules

 

If you can find a copy of Bloody Buna, by Lida Mayo, it is an excellent, well-researched book that will give you fine details about the battles for Gona, Buna and Sanananda, and the horrific living conditions of both forces. I just finished it and highly recommend it. Copyright 1974, Doubleday & Company, Inc. I found my copy at a used bookstore. Lida Mayo was the Senior Military Historian in the U.S. Army's Office of Military History.

N. Reeves

 

Have you heard of this book?

"Ghost Mountain Boys" by James Campbell

 

My Dad was at Buna and I have a lot of photos of his from there He told me it was real bad and I knew a lot of guys that were there with him (most dead now) Dad always said they tore up a lot of pages about jungle warfare a Buna.

 

It would be great of you could share them with us!