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
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
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
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 B: Types of Engineer Units and Their Functions
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