MORE NEWS FROM A DIFFERENT FRONT PART ONE

Blog number 144                                               Jan 21, 2008

So I finished that book on naval battles and am again on the book about the battles in New Guinea in WW2.  Nasty stuff.  Malaria, beri beri, bleeding feet, bleeding diarrhea, bleeding ulcers, swamps, starvation, thirst, freezing cold, debilitating heat, leeches, huge bats, dangerous snakes and spiders.  Japs.  Nasty stuff. 

Meanwhile, back at the fort, General MacArthur, who has been demanding the troops "Get off their asses" and get the job done, was living the good life.  He had the only house in New Guinea with modern plumbing.  It was appointed with fine tropical furniture, hardwood floors and even a library.  MacArthur enjoyed a menu of fresh eggs, milk, salad and meat.  He also had a staff of nine native boys, who wore serving gloves and pressed white laptops decorated with blue stars and red stripes. 

The guys are trying to flank the Japs, sneaking in through a swamp.  When the first shot rang through the swamp, "Everybody," according to Lutjens, "flopped down and sank his face into the mud.  I don't know exactly how the rest of the guys felt, but it scared the hell out of me.  Somebody whispered, ' That's a Jap.' "

One guy, who was out on the post, was trying to figure out where the shot had come from.  When he reported that it had come from behind a tree, Lutjens must have shaken his head.  Talk about stating the obvious.  The swamp was full of trees.

Though neither Lutjens nor Schultz knew it, Company E had stumbled smack into a Japanese outpost.  The Japanese were guarding the bridge that spanned Entrance Creek, northwest of the Triangle.  Lutjens men were scared, but they were not content to stay put.  They crept forward.  "We all wanted a peek at them [the Japanese]," Lutjens admitted, "after coming all that way, we wanted to see what they looked like."

Despite their curiosity, Schultz and Lutjens eventually did the prudent thing - they halted the company.  Men stood as still as mannequins As dusk neared, a fog settled over the swamp.  The men grew cold and  uncomfortable.  A few guys decided to light cigarettes to calm their nerves.  It was a soldier's prerogative - if he was going to be miserable, he might as well have a smoke.  The Americans might have been short of 81mm mortar ammunition, but they sure were not short of cigarettes.

According to Lutjens, "The Japs had automatic fire emplaced in coconut trees, and as soon as they saw the matches flare up, they let us have it - not just from in front, but from all sides.  We'd walked right into the middle of them."