Papuan Campaign

American Forces in Action Series commemoration of the Papuan Campaign.

This commemorative report was originally published as part of the American Forces in Actions Series by the Military Intelligence Division of the U.S. War Department in mid-1944. This is a postwar re-issue, free of any Confidential or Restricted designation. According to the foreword written by George C. Marshall, “AMERICAN FORCES IN ACTION is a series prepared by the War Department especially for the information of wounded men. It will show these soldiers, who have served their country so well, the part they and their comrades played in achievements who do honor to the record of the United States Army.”

This example is the second of the series, and covers the beginning of the Allied counterattack against Japanese forces on New Guinea. The Battle of Buna–Gona lasted from November 1943 to January 1944 and saw vicious jungle fighting between inexperienced American troops and well-defended Japanese positions. A summary of the campaign is supplemented by several maps, charts, illustrations, and photographs. Images of the hidden defense networks and indigenous Papuans working as porters or stretcher bearers are particularly interesting.