United States Army in World War II: The Technical Services

The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Japan

by Karl C. Dod

1965

... to Those Who Served

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1: Strengthening the Defense Triangle: Panama, Hawaii, and Alaska

Early War Plans and the Corps of Engineers—First Steps in Building Up the Pacific Outposts

Chapter 2: The Defense Effort Gains Momentum

Panama—Alaska—Hawaii—The Air Ferry Route—Supplies—War Appears Imminent—Last Days of Peace

Chapter 3: The Fall of the Philippines

Preparations for Defense—Withdrawal to Bataan and Corregidor—Bataan—Corregidor and the End of the Campaign

Chapter 4: Build-up in the Southwest Pacific

Australia—The First Days—Toward a More Aggressive Strategy—Preparing for the Offensive

Chapter 5: First Offensives: The Solomons and Papua

Strengthening the South Pacific—Preparing To Fight in New Guinea—Engineers in Combat—Problems of Logistics

Chapter 6: The Drive Toward Rabaul

Preparing for CARTWHEEL—CARTWHEEL—The Engineers Continue To Furnish Logistic Support—Arawe, Cape Gloucester, and Saidor

Chapter 7: The Far North

Strengthening Alaska’s Defenses—The Alcan Highway—Canol—The Danger Passes

Chapter 8: Hawaii after Pearl Harbor

The Engineers Organize for War—Protection Against Air Raids—Military Defenses—Change in Organization

Chapter 9: After Midway

Work on Defensive Installations Slows Down—First Offensives in the Central Pacific

Chapter 10: The China–Burma–India Theater: 1941—August 1943

Priority on Airfields—Ground Communications for a Campaign in Burma—Renewed Priority on Airfields

Chapter 11: The China–Burma–India Theater: August 1943—January 1945

QUADRANT Directs an All-out Effort—The All-out Effort Continues—The CBI Is Cut Back

Chapter 12: The Drive Across the Central Pacific

The Marshalls—Logistical Support From Hawaii—The Marianas—1944 Draws to a Close

Chapter 13: Amphibious Warfare and Base Construction in the Southwest Pacific

The Advance to Biak—Logistical Support—Western New Guinea and the Moluccas

Chapter 14: Return to the Philippines

Leyte and Mindoro—Luzon: The Drive to Manila—The Capture of Manila and the Islands of Manila Bay

Chapter 15: The Final Months of the War

Destruction of the Japanese in the Philippines and Borneo—Iwo Jima—Okinawa—Base and Airfield Construction for the Assault on Japan—Planning for the Invasion of Japan—Conclusion

Appendix A: U.S. army and Army Engineer Personnel Strength in Overseas Theaters, 1 January 1942–1 October 1945

Appendix B: Types of Engineer Units and Their Functions

Bibliographical Note

List of Abbreviations

List of Code Names

Index

Chart

Major Command Channels and Lines of Engineer Technical Supervision, Southwest Pacific Area, 1 May 1942

Maps

1. The Pacific Outposts

2. Alaska, 1940

3. Hawaiian Islands

4. Panama, 1941

5. Philippine Islands

6. Bataan, 1942

7. Australia, 1942

8. Pacific Ocean Areas, 1 August 1942

9. Papua

10. Milne Bay, August 1942

11. Buna

12. Combat Zone, 1943

13. Airfields Constructed or Improved by the Commonwealth of Australia for the United States Army up to 31 December 1943

14. Facilities Other Than Airfields Constructed or Improved by the Commonwealth of Australia for the United States Army up to 31 December 1943

15. Alaska and Western Canada, 1942–43

16. Aleutian Islands

17. Oahu

18. Honolulu Harbor, 1946

19. Makin Atoll

20. The China–Burma–India Theater, December 1942

21. China

22. The Ledo Road

23. Kwajalein Island

24. South Marianas and Saipan

25. Guam, 1945

26. The Western Pacific

27. Hollandia

28. The Southern Philippines, 1944–45

29. Central Luzon

30. Iwo Jima

31. Okinawa

32. Pipelines in CBI, 1 July 1945

33. Planned Attack on Japan

Illustrations

Brig. Gen. Eugene Reybold—Malinta Tunnel—Col. Wendell W. Fertig—Camp Columbia—Maj. Gen. Hugh J. Casey and Brig. Gen. Leif J. Sverdrup—An Australian Road Builder—Noumea, New Caledonia—The Port Moresby Causeway—Buna Area Adjacent to Simemi Creek—43rd Engineers at Dobodura Strip No. 1—Improvised Bridge Over Entrance Creek—Chow Time at a Native Labor Camp—Airstrip at Dobodura, Showing Revetments—Moving Supplies on the Rebuilt Railroad, Noumea—A Section of the Oro Bay—Dobodura Road—A Corduroy Road, New Georgia—Base B Area, Oro Bay—Engineer’ Troops Making Their Own Hardware—Construction of the First Steel Building at Milne Bay—Engineers Dressed for -37° F.—Digging Out Tundra—Constructing a Pacific Hut on Kiska—Brig. Gen. William M. Hoge—Skagway Harbor—Trucking Supplies Through Mud—Alcan Highway—Peace River Suspension Bridge—Refinery at Whitehorse—A Pipeline Carried on a Trestle—King’s Wharf, Butaritari, Makin Atoll—Brig. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler—Native Bridge on the Refugee Trail—A Pipeline Carried on an A-Frame—Stringing a Ferry Cable Across the Salween—Footbridge and Ferry on the Salween—A Japanese Pillbox, Kwajalein—Guam Landing—Floating Ponton Pier, Saipan—Engineers of the 1881st With Full Jungle Equipment—Hollandia Development, 1944—Dispensary in Native-Type Building, Milne Bay—Liberty Docks, Oro Bay—Section of the Map Distribution Area, Finschhafen—Dredging Coral for Runway Construction—Laying Pierced Steel Plank, Tacloban—Repairs on the Carmen Bridge, Agno River—Infantry Support Rafts on the Pasig River—Laying a Pipeline to the Mortar Pit, Caballo Island—Fort Drum—Trucks Negotiate the Villa Verde Trail—Filipinos Help Construct a Road, Luzon—Japanese Truck Supporting a Temporary Bridge—Airfield Construction, Iwo Jima—Three Examples of Bridging in the CBI

All illustrations are from Department of Defense files.

Center of Military History: United States Army

Washington, d. C

United States Army in World War II

Stetson Conn, General Editor

Advisory Committee (as of 15 June 1965)

Lt. Gen. August Schomburg, Industrial College of the Armed Forces

Maj. Gen. David W. Gray, U.S. Continental Army Command

Brig. Gen. Jaroslav T. Folda, U.S. Army War College

Brig. Gen. Elias C. Townsend, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

Lt. Col. Thomas E. Griess, United States Military Academy

Theodore Rapp, Duke University

Fred C. Cole, Washington and Lee University

James A. Field, Jr., Swarthmore College

Ernest R. May, Harvard University

Earl Pomeroy, University of Oregon

Charles P. Roland, Tulane University

Office of the Chief of Military History

Brig. Gen. Hal C. Pattison, Chief of Military History

Stetson Conn, Chief Historian

Col. Paul P. Hinkley, Chief, Histories Division

Col. Joseph S. Coulter, Chief, Editorial and Graphics Division

Joseph R. Friedman, Editor in Chief