The Ghost Mountain Boys - James E. Campbell [93]
After only three hundred yards, the Americans encountered barriers of barbed wire that the Japanese had laid across the track. As they walked up to it to assess their options, the Japanese opened fire. Some of the men were so close, they could taste the gunpowder. Lieutenant Odell hit the ground and rolled off the track into the swamp that flanked it. He and the others had just two options: to dig in or to retreat. Captain Nummer called for a retreat. If they had any hope at all of advancing, they would need engineers with explosives to clear the trail.
In the swamp to the right, White Smith’s men, like Lutjens and company, were trying to work their way behind the Triangle when a large enemy force attacked them. It was a classic Japanese attack—near dusk, the Japanese riflemen unleashed savage yells and bore down on the Americans. Though the Japanese could not have known just how raw and unseasoned the American soldiers were, the reality was that they were up against men who had never before experienced battle. Furthermore, they had caught them off guard. The Americans scrambled to defend themselves, only to have their weapons fail. According to the official report, “[M]ortars fell short because increments [the propelling charges in the mortar ammunition] were wet. Machine guns jammed because web belts were wet and dirty and had shrunk. Tommy guns and BARs were full of muck and dirt, and even the Mls fired well only for the first clip, and then jammed because clips taken from the belts were wet and full of muck from the swamp.”
When their weapons failed, the Americans panicked and fled into the swamp. The following day, White Smith’s company commanders met with him at his command post. Red Smith was on hand for the meeting, too. Outraged that American soldiers would so easily relinquish a position, he wrote later that “Smith should have kicked their fannies right back into the forward positions.”
White Smith, however, saw the situation differently—his men were hungry and exhausted. Besides, he had little faith in the possibility of success on the right. His decision, he wrote, was “to abandon for the time being any action on the right and concentrate on the left…” When he made General Harding aware of his decision, Harding agreed—“the left hand road to Buna” was best. That put the burden of the attack squarely on the shoulders of Stutterin’ Smith’s Ghost Mountain boys.
Chapter 14
IF THEY DON’T STINK, STICK ’EM
FROM THE SAFETY OF Port Moresby, MacArthur watched in impotent fury. Offensives on both the Warren and Urbana Fronts had yielded nothing but bad news. Making matters worse, the Japanese landed more troops on the night of November 24.
The next day, Generals Blamey and Herring paid MacArthur an unexpected visit at Government House. In the course of their conversation, both generals lobbied for bringing in reinforcements. MacArthur proposed calling in the 41st Division, which had been training in Australia for over six months. The Australian generals wasted no time being polite—they were unimpressed with the 32nd Division, they said. They preferred to use Australian troops. For Blamey and Herring, who remembered MacArthur’s remarks about the efforts of their troops on the Kokoda track two months before, it was sweet revenge.
According to General Kenney, who was staying at Government House at the time of the Australian generals’ visit, the accusation that the Americans wouldn’t fight was “a bitter pill for MacArthur to swallow.” Kenney did not bother to defend the 32nd either; in fact, he was openly critical of the division’s commanders, who, he said, were unable to inspire their inexperienced troops. MacArthur was all ears. As a career army officer he did not have much faith in National Guard officers. In fact, the only one he trusted was General Hanford MacNider, and MacNider was recuperating in Port Moresby after being wounded by a Japanese rifle grenade while observing the fighting on the Warren Front.
The day after the generals’ visit, MacArthur sent two operations staff officers to the front with