Description
Title: Milne Bay 1942 – The Story of the Milne Force and Japan’s Worst Military Defeat on Land
Author: Baker, Clive and Knight, Greg
Condition: Very Good Plus – Pic forms part of the description. Covers minor damage and some minor creases.
Edition: 3rd (Revised) Edition
Publication Date: 1992
ISBN: 0646054058
Cover: Soft Cover without Dust Jacket – 496 pages
Comments: This book is a detailed history of the Battle of Milne Bay during World War Two.
The Battle of Milne Bay, also known as Operation RE by the Japanese, was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II. Japanese marines attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea on 25 August 1942, and fighting continued until the Japanese retreated on 5 September 1942. However armed resistance ended on 7 September 1942. The battle was the first in the Pacific campaign in which Allied troops decisively defeated Japanese land forces, forcing them to withdraw and completely abandon their strategic objective.
Japanese forces had experienced local setbacks before: their first attack on Wake Island was thrown back, and American Marines defeated the Japanese on Guadalcanal in the Battle of the Tenaru, four days before the Battle of Milne Bay began. But unlike Milne Bay, these actions did not result in complete Japanese withdrawal and the abandonment of the military campaign.
