Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943 [Hardcover]

Bruce Gamble (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2010

For most of World War II, the mention of Japan's island stronghold sent shudders through thousands of Allied airmen. Some called it “Fortress Rabaul,” an apt name for the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese forces in the Southwest Pacific. Author Bruce Gamble chronicles Rabaul’s crucial role in Japanese operations in the Southwest Pacific. Millions of square feet of housing and storage facilities supported a hundred thousand soldiers and naval personnel. Simpson Harbor and the airfields were the focus of hundreds of missions by American air forces.

 

Winner of the "Gold Medal" (Military Writers Society of America) and "Editor's Choice Award" (Stone & Stone Second World War Books), Fortress Rabaul details a critical and, until now, little understood chapter in the history of World War II.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Col. Walter Boyne, USAF (Ret.), author of Clash of Wings
“This tour de force by Bruce Gamble is an absolute must for anyone interested in the true story of one of World War II’s most interesting—and most overlooked—battles. The author rivals Stephen Ambrose with his detailed personal accounts of not only victory and defeat, but also of the more routine events that entail quiet pride or—sometimes—suppressed embarrassment.”

 

Eric Hammel, author of Islands of Hell: The U.S. Marines in the Western Pacific
“Not for the first time, Bruce Gamble has done amazing work gathering a dazzling array of tiny, little facts, then arranging them in a big, dazzling story that amazes one's inner historian even as it breaks one's heart on its way to a triumphal conclusion.”

 

AIR CLASSICS
"Drawing on a variety of sources from both sides, the author has written a detailed reference book that reads like a novel.”

 

WWII HISTORY MAGAZINE
"...Fortress Rabaul opens a broader vista on this under-studied campaign with its wide research, thoughtful analysis, and gifted story-teller’s panache.”

 

Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945

“To most of the reading public, the aerial siege of Rabaul remains one of the untold stories of the Pacific War.  Nobody is better qualified than Bruce Gamble to relate that lengthy campaign, beginning with the first 15 months of the conflict.  The depth and variety of his coverage is exceptional: not only the Allied and the Japanese perspectives, but the personalities and their attendant feuds; and ultimately the successful air blockade that released the unstoppable might of an industrialized America to take the war ever nearer Japan itself."

 

Anthony Tully, coauthor of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

“Continuing his theme of Rabaul opened in Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul, Bruce Gamble now continues the saga, moving forward with the Japanese occupation in January 1942 to the almost immediate start of the Allied counter air-offensives against Rabaul. Gamble sets the stage magnificently, with a compelling description of the geography, volcanic origin and cultural setting and development level of Rabaul at the time of the Japanese occupation. After an excellent description of the too little, too late attempts to prepare for the Japanese invasion and the futile attempts to repel the powerful Japanese carrier strikes, the focus shifts to the Japanese construction at Rabaul that will make it the famous fortress port of the Solomons campaign. The human drama, Allied and Japanese, is enriched by skillfully placed anecdotes, like a botched demolition of an ammo dump by the Allied garrison to Japanese carrier aircraft having embarrassing results in bombing runs, to behind-the-scenes bickering of officers and staffs. The narrative reads with all the vigor and imagery of a novel, while incorporating copious facts and detail…Not only does Fortress Rabaul fill an important gap in the coverage of the Southwest section of the Pacific War, it makes fine and engaging reading.”

WORLD WAR II

"Using international sources, Gamble musters anecdotes from airmen on both sides to illustrate the appalling natural challenges and capricious weather, miserable living conditions, primal diseases, and frightful hazards posed by limitless spans of water and cloud-cloaked jungle peaks. He also incorporates incisive sketches of key leaders among the antagonists, notable American Maj. Gen. George Kenny and Japanese Vice Adm. Jinichi Kusaka, and underlines the logistical nightmares that rendered both aircraft and spare parts scarce for combatants locked in war at such distant reaches….Fortress Rabaul opens a broader vista on this under-studied campaign with its wide research, thoughtful analysis, and gifted story-teller’s panache.”

 

From the Inside Flap

Japan invaded the Southwest Pacific island of New Britain on January 23, 1942. Rabaul, on the northern tip of the island, was quickly developed into a major military complex. It served as a springboard for several new offensives and became the key to Japanese operations in the region. The mere mention of the island stronghold sent shudders through thousands of Allied airmen. 

Author Bruce Gamble chronicles the dramatic events that contributed to Rabaul’s increasing notoriety, detailing the island’s transformation into the ultimate twentieth-century fortification. Millions of square feet of new construction provided housing and storage facilities for a hundred thousand soldiers and naval personnel, and by mid-1943 Rabaul’s air strength stood at six hundred planes. Some called it “Fortress Rabaul,” an apt name for Japan’s mightiest base in the Southwest Pacific and the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s 8th and 11th Air Fleets.

In the beginning, only the Royal Australian Air Force’s 75 Squadron stood against the amassing Japanese force on New Britain, but there was an increasing presence of American squadrons in Australia joining the escalating air war over Rabaul. The virtually impregnable stronghold was the focus of attacks by American, Australian, and New Zealand air forces from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945, a total of forty-four months, the longest battle of World War II.

Gamble fills in the historical background behind Rabaul’s crucial role in the Pacific war, from the Japanese invasion through the shooting down of Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto on April 18, 1943, a turning point in Japan’s offensive operations. A compelling story of military strategy and might, it is also a critical and, until now, little understood chapter in the history of World War II.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Zenith Press; 1st edition (May 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076032350X
• ISBN-13: 978-0760323502
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Papua New Guinea
  • #50 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Australia

More About the Author

A native of central Pennsylvania, Bruce Gamble is an award-winning author and historian specializing in highly readable narratives about World War II in the Pacific.

During his career as a Naval Flight Officer in the closing years of the Cold War, Bruce logged nearly 1,000 hours as a navigator in EA-3B Skywarriors, including deployments aboard aircraft carriers in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. While serving as a flight instructor in 1988, he was diagnosed with a malignant spinal cord tumor. He underwent a complicated surgery and was medically retired from the Navy the following year.

Starting over as a wheelchair user, Bruce began volunteering at the National Naval Aviation Museum and eventually worked part-time as the staff historian for the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Over the next several years he collected oral history interviews and wrote numerous articles for Foundation magazine. Bruce then made the leap to freelance writing and published his first book, The Black Sheep, in 1998.

With a total of four titles now in print, Bruce is gaining recognition as one of the top authors on the air war in the Pacific. His narrative style and use of human-interest vignettes have earned critical acclaim in publications such as Publishers Weekly and Booklist. In addition to writing, Bruce does a substantial amount of public speaking. He is also the featured historian in documentaries produced by the History Channel, Fox News Channel, PBS, and the Pritzker Military Library.

Bruce earned two literary awards in 2010: the Admiral Arthur W. Radford award for excellence in naval aviation history and literature, presented by the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, and a Gold Medal in the history category from the Military Writers Society of America.

Bruce is a member of the Authors Guild and holds life memberships in the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation and Paralyzed Veterans of America. Cancer-free for more than twenty years, he lives near Panama City, Florida.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rise and Fall of a Japanese Stronghold Part I! May 23, 2010

By Michael OConnor TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Second only to Truk in notoriety, the Japanese base at Rabaul, New Britain played a pivotal role in the fighting in the Southwest Pacific in World War II. It was a well-fortified stronghold in its own right bristling with hundreds of AAA guns, scores of fighters and bombers and possessing a fine harbor. Just as importantly, it served as a conduit funneling various Japanese air, land and sea units southward to Guadalcanal and other areas. Fresh from his marvelous LARK FORCE book, noted military historian Bruce Gamble recounts the creation and evolution of Rabaul as a major Japanese base and the ever-increasing Allied air efforts to derail that developmeht.

Captured by the Japanese in early 1942, Rabaul was swiftly developed, eventually boasting of a number of airfields that could hold hundreds of IJN/IJAAF warbirds. Its Simpson Harbor was developed and was soon crowded with dozens of merchantmen and warships. Gamble skilfully interweaves the growth of Rabaul with other military developments in the SWPA in the early war years to underscore Rabaul's steadily growing importance to the Japanese war effort. For instance, aircraft from Rabaul pounded various Allied targets including Port Moresby, Guadalcanal (following its capture in August 1942) and American carrier units in the Coral Sea. Shipping from Simpson Harbor transported troops and equipment to various islands to establish and develop bases including airfields and so on.

As shown in FORTRESS RABAUL, the American response to Rabaul's growth took the form of air attacks. Initially the attacks were feeble and ineffectual. Following George Kenney's arrival to the SWPA, the Americans began a very slow but steady build-up of air units that, in time, would mount devastating attacks on Rabaul. By the close of Gamble's book, Kenney's 5th Air Force was becoming a more effective force, in part because of growing aircraft numbers but also because of effective tactics like skip-bombing. The post-April 1943 air attacks that later left Rabaul withering on the vine would seem to be the subject of Gamble's next book; here's hoping!

In summary, Gamble does an excellent job of utilizing Japanese and American records, reports and reminiscences to create an all-encompassing view of Rabaul's crucial role in the Pacific war. He easily shifts between high-level American or Japanese conferences to in-the-cockpit descriptions of bombing hops and air combats. He also practices some myth-busting and record-correcting in recounting who-did-what-when. All in all, FORTRESS RABAUL is great history...and a great read. Highly recommended.

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellant with a reservation May 10, 2010

By John R. Beaman Jr.

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Review of:

Fortress Rabaul, The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943
by Bruce Gamble

The Allied effort again the island of New Britain, specifically, Rabaul, was a long and bloody chapter in the war against Japan. Aside from some official, generalized histories, or books written with some specific focus, there has not been a detailed study of the American, Australian and New Zealand effort in this campaign. This book changes that.

The author is just known for his superb history of Greg Boyington and the "Black Sheep" Marine squadron in two previous books. In these, he told a masterfully researched and apocryphal narrative telling it like it was, both good and bad. This book is no different. The best part is his integration of Japanese stories and records, comparing both sides' claims and reality--most eye opening. He does not spare McArthur, Kenny, or the Japanese commanders with their errors and shortsightedness, especially Kenny. The effort of both sides was tremendous and much rode on who won what and dominated the skies over the area.

However, there is disappointment. Even though the title says so, it is a great disappointment that the story ends with the killing of Adm. Yamamoto in April 1943. While he does not say so, it is as if the author considers the story over. However, there were great air battles in the Fall of 1943 and well into 1944 as the Allies worked to reduce Rabaul to impotence as well as take the main Japanese naval base, Truk, out of the picture. Perhaps there is a second volume?

Aside from that disappointment, the book is very well done and worth a read.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Gamble does an excellent job telling the story! June 11, 2010

By Jimmie Kepler

Format:Hardcover

Bruce Gamble's "Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942 - April 1943" is a magnificent and important work on this often neglected part of World War II. Mr. Gamble has paid the price in research. The accounts he collected from participants in the campaign, the US and Australian archives, and the official records of the US, Australian, and Japanese clarify and punctuate the events.

You experience Rabaul and New Britain through his graphic description of the topography and weather. You get a clear understand of the volcanic origins of the Rabaul and the impact the volcanoes and volcanic activity to include earthquakes have on the land and inhabitants.

Mr. Gamble does an excellent job telling the story. I read the book in one week while on vacation. I found it that compelling and entertaining. The author does an exceptional job telling the story. I was floored by the account of the bombing of the Komaki Maru. "The Komaki Maru shuddered under the impact of the two hits, which ignited the cargo of aviation fuel. 'A few seconds later,' recalled an Australian eyewitness, 'the ship was an inferno and the roar of the flames almost drowned out the screams of the Japanese trapped aboard.'

The narrative reads with all the vigor and imagery of a novel. The chapter Medal of Honor: Lieutenant Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare reads like a Hollywood action movie. We learn the story of the man whose name graces O'Hare Airport in Chicago. We see how his action saved the USS Lexington and won him his nations highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. We learn the story of how he interposed his fighter between his ship and an advancing enemy formation of 9 attacking twin-engine heavy bombers. We see how without hesitation, alone and unaided, he repeatedly attacked this enemy formation, at close range in the face of intense combined machine gun and cannon fire. We find out that by his gallant and courageous action, his extremely skillful marksmanship in making the most of every shot of his limited amount of ammunition that he shot down 5 enemy bombers and severely damaged a sixth before they reached the bomb release point. As a result of his gallant action--one of the most daring, if not the most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation--he undoubtedly saved his carrier from serious damage.

Other Medal of Honor stories like that of Harl Pease, Jr are include. The book is excellent. It is a must read for any military or aviation history buff. It would make a great addition to any community or university library.