Table Of ContentReports
of
General MacArthur
THE CAMPAIGNS OF
MAcARTHUR IN THE PACIFIC
VOLUME I
PREPARED BY HIS GENERAL STAFF
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 66-60005
Facsimile Reprint, 1994
CMH Pub \3-3
FOREWORD
The Reports of General MacArthur include two volumes being published by the
Department of the Army in four books reproduced exactly as they were printed by
General MacArthur's Tokyo headquarters in 1950, except for the addition of this
foreword and indexes. Since they were Government property, the general turned over
to the Department in 1953 these volumes and related source materials. In Army and
National Archives custody these materials have been available for research although
they have not been easily accessible. While he lived, General MacArthur was un
willing to approve the reproduction and dissemination of the Reports, because he be
lieved they needed further editing and correction of some inaccuracies. His passing
permits publication but not the correction he deemed desirable. In publishing them,
the Department of the Army must therefore disclaim any responsibility for their ac
curacy. But the Army also recognizes that these volumes have substantial and endur
ing value, and it believes the American people are entitled to have them made widely
available through government publication.
The preliminary work for compiling the MacArthur volumes began in 1943
within the G-3 Section of his General Staff, and was carried forward after the war by
members of the G-2 Section, headed by Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby with Pro
fessor Gordon W. Prange, on leave from the University of Maryland, as his principal
professional assistant. Volume II of the Reports represents the contributions of J ap
anese officers employed to tell their story of operations against MacArthur's forces.
The very large number of individuals, American and Japanese, who participated in the
compilation and editing of the Reports would make a complete listing of contributors
relatively meaningless.
Volume I narrates the operations of forces under General MacArthur's command
from the Japanese attack on Luzon in 1941 through the surrender in 1945. While
service histories have covered much of the same ground in separate volumes, no single
detailed narrative of General MacArthur's leadership as commander of the Southwest
Pacific Area has yet appeared. Chapters dealing with the reconquest of Borneo,
plans for the invasion of Japan, and the Japanese surrender make a distinctly new
contribution. Volume I Supplement describes the military phase of the occupation
through December 1948, reporting events not treated elsewhere in American publica
tions. Volume II on Japanese operations brings together a mass of information on
the enemy now only partially available in many separate works. Collectively, the
Reports should be of wide interest and value to the American people generally, as well
as to students of military affairs. They are an illuminating record of momentous
events influenced in large measure by a distinguished American soldier.
Washington, D.C. HAROLD K. JOHNSON
January 1966 General, United States Army
Chief of Staff
ill
FOREWORD TO THE 1994 EDITION
I determined for several reasons to republish General MacArthur's reports to
commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of World War II. First, the Reports of General
MacArthur still stand as a detailed account from MacArthur's perspective of his opera
tions against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific Area. Second, the Reports offer a
unique Japanese version of their operations in the Southwest Pacific that remains one
of the few English-language descriptions of Imperial Army campaigns during World
War II. Third, excellent illustrations, many of them original artwork commissioned for
the Reports, plus superb maps give these volumes an enduring value for military histo
rians and the American public. Finally, while General MacArthur remains a towering
figure in American historiography, the passage of fifty years has dimmed the contribu
tions of the U.S. Army units that first checked the Japanese southward advance in
Papua New Guinea, then spearheaded the counteroffensive along the north New
Guinea coastline that enabled MacArthur to make good his promise to return to the
Philippines. The veterans of these campaigns, both men and women, deserve to be
remembered for their contributions to the Nation in its time of greatest peril. These
are General MacArthur's Reports, but they are also his testament to the American sol
diers who served under his command.
Washington, D.C. HAROLD W. NELSON
31 January 1994 Brigadier General, USA
Chief of Military History
IV
PREFACE
This report has been prepared by the General Staff of GHQ to serve as a back
ground for, and introduction to the detailed operational histories of the various tactical
commands involvecl.
The pressure of other duties having prevented my personal participation in its
preparation, it has been entrusted by me to that magnificent staff group which actually
conducted the staff work during the progress of the campaigns. They speak with
that sincere and accurate knowledge which is possessed only by those who have per
sonally participated in the operations which they record.
DOUGLAS MACARTHUR
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I : THE JAPANESE OFFENSIVE IN THE PACIFIC
Page
Pearl Harbor .................................................................... I
Japanese Strategic Objectives .................................................
I
Initial American Dispositions................................................ 3
Allied Strategy after Pearl Harbor ........................................ 4
The Attack agamst the Philippmes........................................ 6
Strategic Withdrawal to Bataan ............................................ 14
The Battle for Bataan ......................................................... 16
United States Army Forces in Australia ................................. 21
The ABDA Command ....................................................... 22
The Threat to Australia ..................................................... 22
Disposition of Forces .......................................................... 26
CHAPTER II : ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC
AREA
General MacArthur Arrives in Australia ................................ 28
Organization of the Paci6c Theater· ..........................., ........... 30
Establishment of General Headquarters, Southwest Paci6c Area . -3 1
The Organization of Forces ................................... · ............. 33
Decision to Take the Offensive ............................................ 34
The Magnitude of the Task ................................................ 40
CHAPTER III: HALTING THE JAPANESE
Concept of the Offensive .................................................... 45
Strengthening Port Moresby ................................................ 45
Battle of the Coral Sea ...................................................... 46
Kanga Force ................................................................... 049
Battle of Midway .............................................................. 50
Milne Bay and Merauke .................................................... 50
Kokoda Trail .................................................................... 51
Intelligence in Operations .................................................... 53
General Headquarters Transferred to Brisbane ........................ 55
Pursuing the Counteroffensive .............................................. 55
Japanese Landing near Buna ................................................ 62
Enemy Advance along Kokoda Trail .................................... 62
Action in the Solomons ...................................................... 63
Battle of Milne Bay .......................................................... 66
Enemy Checked near Port Moresby ...................................... 7
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