Summary of James P. Duffy's War at the End of the World

Book excerpt: Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 On January 3, 1942, an assembly of top army officers was flying in to meet with their naval counterparts, with whom they rarely agreed on anything. The meeting was to discuss the invasion of New Guinea, which lay just eleven hundred miles to the southwest. #2 In 1940, the Imperial Army had promoted Horii to major general and assigned him command of the South Seas Detachment, an elite amphibious landing unit that was part of the Imperial Navy’s South Seas Force. The detachment participated in the successful battle for Wake Island against American forces, then joined in on the swift move south that conquered island after island. #3 The town of Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, had been abandoned in 1937 after a series of volcanic eruptions destroyed most of its buildings. It was just starting to reestablish itself when the war began. The town’s defenses were slim, consisting of only fifteen hundred men and women, even less than the figure reported to Horii. #4 The Australian government decided not to reinforce Rabaul, and instead sent fourteen Royal Australian Air Force planes to defend it. They were not prepared for the tropical jungles that covered the islands they were now expected to defend.