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There are currently two contradictory schools of thought in the historiography of General Robert L. Eichelberger’s generalship. One group of authors, John Shortal and Jay Luvaas, consider Eichelberger a brilliant World War II commander. Another author, Paul Chwialkowski, believes Eichelberger to be good, but not distinguished. This study attempts to develop a concise judgment of Eichelberger’s leadership. The research analyzed Eichelberger’s generalship using Clausewitz’s theory of military genius as a model. The first step was to define military genius and to determine its components and subcomponents. Next, Eichelberger’s pre-World War II education, mentorship, and training exper...
Our Jungle Road to Tokyo is the dazzling account of how US and Allied forces overcame incredible odds to rout invading Japanese from entrenched positions deep in the mountain jungles of Papua New Guinea. Battles take place in swamps, impassable vegetation, coconut plantations with invisible snipers buried in tree roots, hillsides riddled with pill-boxes and maze-like underground bunkers impervious to artillery and mortar. It is a detailed, autobiographical report from a leading architect of the Southwest Pacific Campaign, General Robert Eichelberger, who took his orders directly from Big Chief himself, General Douglas MacArthur. The action begins in earnest with MacArthur's chilling directive to Eichelberger regarding the recapturing of Buna, on Papua's north coast: "Take Buna, Bob, or don't come back alive."
“The letters of World War II Gen. Eichelberger to his wife delineate an intriguing picture of infighting at the high level of military command. He reveals more about Gen. Douglas MacArthur for one, than a searching biographer. The large-scale picture of a major army at war is superb.”–UPI
This book examines Eichelberger's evolution as a combat commander in the Pacific in WW II. Eichelberger was profoundly affected by his initial combat experience at Buna in December 1942. In that battle, the Japanese had the advantage of terrain, training & morale. As a result of this experience, he devised a new training program to prepare his soldiers for battle & also developed an innovative philosophy of tactics & leadership. The author skillfully utilizes Eichelberger's personal papers to examine the successful application of the lessons learned at Buna, in all his campaigns throughout the remainder of the war.
Although considered by MacArthur as his number one fighting general, Eichelberger is one of the least known of the World War II commanders. Professor Chwialkowski examines General Eichelberger's background, rise through the ranks, and wartime experiences. In the end, he concludes that Eichelberger failed to achieve a widely perceived special competence among his peers, that he had the bad luck to lead in secondary theaters of operations in both world wars, and, most importantly, that his personality undermined his standing among superiors and subordinates alike. As the only in-depth biography of Eichelberger, the volume provides new material on the campaigns at Buna, Biak, and the Philippines, as well as fresh insights on MacArthur's handling of the Pacific theater of operations. As such, the volume will be of considerable value to students of World War II and American twentieth-century military history.
The First Washington Conference, codenamed Arcadia, was a secret meeting held in the days immediately following the entrance of the United States into World War II. It was the first meeting between the United States and Britain to determine military strategy. Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and their top military advisors spent hours making major decisions that would determine the direction of the Allied war effort. The main achievement of the conference was the “Europe first” decision, declaring that the defeat of Germany was the highest priority. Neither side knew what to expect before this momentous meeting. Before the war, the British and the Americans had differing strategic ...
Our Jungle Road to Tokyo, first published in 1950, is the World War II memoir of U.S. Army Lt. General Robert Eichelberger.Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (1886-1961) was a general officer in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II.A 1909 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he saw service in Panama and on the Mexican border before joining the American Expeditionary Force Siberia in 1918. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for repeated acts of bravery in Siberia. After the war, he transferred to the Adjutant General's Corps. He attended the Command and General Staff College and the ...
Waged for a just cause and culminating in total victory, World War II was America’s “good war.” Yet for millions of GIs overseas, the war did not end with Germany and Japan’s surrender. The Good Occupation chronicles America’s transition from wartime combatant to postwar occupier, by exploring the intimate thoughts and feelings of the ordinary servicemen and women who participated—often reluctantly—in the difficult project of rebuilding nations they had so recently worked to destroy. When the war ended, most of the seven million Americans in uniform longed to return to civilian life. Yet many remained on active duty, becoming the “after-army” tasked with bringing order and ...
The reconquest of the Philippine archipelago (exclusive of Leyte), with detailed accounts of Sixth Army and Eighth Army operations on Luzon, as well as of the Eighth Army's reoccupation of the southern Philippines.