United States Army in World War II: The Western Hemisphere
Guarding the United States and Its Outposts
by Stetson Conn, Rose C. Engelman, and Byron Fairchild
. . . to Those Who Served
Contents
The Authors
Chapter 1: The Framework of Hemisphere Defense
Chapter 2: The Command of Continental Defense Forces
Peacetime and Planned Wartime Organization—Reorganization, July 1940–December 1941—The Wartime Organization
Chapter 3: Preparations for Continental Defense
Harbor Defenses—Air Defense Preparations—The Army and Civilian Defense—Guarding Non-military Installations
Chapter 4: The Continental Defense Commands After Pearl Harbor
Defense Measures on the West Coast, 1941–42—Defense Measures on the East and Gulf Coasts, 1941–42—Guarding the Sault Ste. Marie Canal—The Period of Reduction, 1942–45
Chapter 5: Japanese Evacuation From the West Coast
The Background of Evacuation Planning—The Decision for Mass Evacuation—The Evacuation of the Japanese
Chapter 6: The Reinforcement of Oahu
The Hawaiian Department Before 1941—Defense Preparations During 1941
Chapter 7: The Pearl Harbor Attack
The Approach to War—The Plan and Launching of the Attack—The Attack and the Response—Investigation and Judgment
Chapter 8: The Hawaiian Defenses After Pearl Harbor
The Impact of War—The Question of Japanese Evacuation—Reinforcement—Midway
Chapter 9: The Garrisoning of Alaska, 1939-41
Initial Army Plans and Preparations—The Alaska Defense Command—Making Ready To Defend the Navy’s Bases—The Air Defense Problems—Airfields, Radar, and the Construction Program—Reinforcing the Air Defenses—On the Alert
Chapter 10: Alaska in the War, 1942
Reinforcement—The Attack on the Aleutians—The Army’s Reaction—Command Problems—Aid to the Soviet Union—The Advance Westward
Chapter 11: Clearing the Aleutians
Attu Retaken—Kiska—Grand Anticlimax
Chapter 12: Forging the Defenses of the Canal
The Prewar Defenses—Emergency measures, August 1939–January 1940—Reorganization and Expansion—The Puerto Rican Outpost, 1939–40—The Alert of June 1940
Chapter 13: Out From the Canal Zone
Organizing the Caribbean Theater—The Alert of July 1941—The Outposts in the Dutch West Indies—Securing the Pacific Approaches—Expansion in the Republic of Panama—Strength and Readiness of the Defenses, 1941—Naval Factors in Area defense
Chapter 14: The New Bases Acquired for Old Destroyers
The Local Setting—Planning the Garrisons—Negotiating the Base Agreement—Launching the Construction Program
Chapter 15: Manning and Organizing the New Atlantic Bases
The Garrisons and Their Mission—Problems of Organization and Command—Early Administrative Problems
Chapter 16: The Caribbean in Wartime
The First Effects of War—Shaping the Local Commands—The First Blow—The Watch on the Canal—The War Against the U-Boat—Passing the Peak
Chapter 17: Greenland: Arctic Outpost
Growth of American Interest in Greenland—Greenland’s Strategic Importance Reappraised—Establishing the BLUIE Bases—The Defense of Greenland
Chapter 18: Planning the Iceland Operation
The Shifting Focus of American Interest—The President’s Decision and the War Department’s Response—Problems, Remote and Immediate—INDIGO Planning, First Phase—A New Decision: Reinforcement, Not Relief—The First American forces Land in Iceland—INDIGO Planning, Second Phase—A Backward Glance at the INDIGO Planning
Chapter 19: Establishing the Iceland Base Command
The Movement of the Second Echelon, Task Force 4—Problems of Defense; Ground and Air—Problems of Administration and Human Relations—The Question of Reinforcements and Relief—A New Role—Basic Considerations for Determining the Post-Pearl Harbor Course of Action
Chapter 20: The North Atlantic Bases in Wartime
The Build-up—The Command Problem—Operations Against the Enemy
Tables
1: Recommended and Approved Strengths for Atlantic Bases, 1940–41
2: Estimated Cost of Army and Air Bases, 1940
3: Estimated Cost of Army and Air Bases, 1941
4: Actual Cost of Army and Air Bases
5: Shipping Losses in the Caribbean Area, January 1942–July 1944
Chart
1: Organization Approved 3 May 1941
Maps
I: Continental Defense Organization, 20 May 1942
II: Oahu Island
III: The Capture of Attu, 7th Infantry Division, 11–30 May 1943
IV: Iceland
Illustrations
Lt. Gen. Hugh A. Drum—Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt—Six-Inch Gun Emplacement on Jasper Parapet—Mayor La Guardia in Action During Practice Alert—Camouflaged Airplane Factory—Camouflaged Airplane Factory—Infantrymen on Beach Patrol—Japanese Free Balloon—Japanese Evacuees Arrive at the Colorado River Relocation Center—Troop Maneuvers in Hawaii—Troop Maneuvers in Hawaii—Wheeler Field After the Bombing—Japanese Children Drilling—View of Dutch Harbor—Naval Base at Kodiak—Construction on Adak—Construction on Adak—Attu Landings—Attu Landings—Enemy Radar Installation—Panama Airfields—Panama Airfields—Antiaircraft Defenses of the Panama Canal—Antiaircraft Defenses of the Panama Canal—U.S. Army Installations in the Bermuda Islands—U.S. Army Installations in the Bermuda Islands—The Edmund B. Alexander—First Troops in Trinidad—First Troops in Trinidad—Installations in Newfoundland—Installations in Newfoundland—Optical Height Finder Mounted on Old El Morro Fortress—Torpedoed Vessel Being Towed Into San Juan Harbor—Coast Guard Tug Aiding Freighter Off Greenland—Abandoned German Equipment in Greenland—Temporary Supply Dump in Reykjavik—Maj. Gen. Charles H. Bonesteel—Gale in Iceland—Army Posts in Iceland—Army Posts in Iceland—U.S. Army Troops Arriving in Reykjavik, January 1942—Section of a Greenland Airfield, 1943—American Fighter Planes Over Camp Artun, Iceland—German Prisoners Under Guard in Greenland
All but three of the illustrations are from Department of Defense files. The photographs on page 69 is used by courtesy of the New York Daily News. The two photographs on page 90 were furnished by The Boeing Company.