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The Path of Infinite Sorrow: The Japanese on the Kokoda Track |  | Authors: Craig Collie, Hajime Marutani
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 30829
Media: Paperback
Pages: 328
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1741758394
Dewey Decimal Number: 940
EAN: 9781741758399
ASIN: 1741758394
Publication Date: June 1, 2010
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Product Description
The Australian story of Kokoda has been told often from the perspective of the Australians. Now, for the first time ever, the full Japanese story of Kokoda is told, a poignant tale of comradeship and heartwrending suffering. This is a very human story of the other side, told through the eyes of Japanese soldiers who were there. It draws from a range of firsthand sources—interviews with survivors, diaries that soldiers left behind, memoirs written after the war, and what's survived of the records of the Japanese military. Full of painful recollections and startling wartime revelations, this is the lesser-known story of a tragic battle that continues to haunt survivors from both sides.
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| Customer Reviews:
The story of the Japanese attempt to capture Port Moresby by land in 1942 August 19, 2010
Kiwi (Mississauga, Ontario Canada)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Path of Infinite Sorrow is the story of the Japanese attempt to capture Port Moresby by land in 1942. It presents a good alternative view to the accounts of the Australian defence. For the Japanese, the campaign commenced with the full expectation of victory. The men of General Horii's South Seas Force were confident, experienced troops facing a small number of untested young Australian Militia troops with no combat experience. The campaign ended in a total, humiliating defeat of the Japanese. While the Gallipoli Campaign of World War I was Australia's first military test as a new nation, the fighting during the Kokoda campaign represents the first time in the nation's history that its security was directly threatened. Although it has since become accepted that an invasion of Australia was not possible, or even planned by the Japanese, at the time there was a very real belief within Australia that this was possible and as such the Kokoda campaign has come to be viewed by many as the "battle that saved Australia." As a result, within the collective Australian psyche, the campaign and particularly the role of the 39th Battalion, has become a key part of modern notions of the Anzac legend, indeed, the Battle of Isurava has been described as "Australia's Thermopylae".
Much of the "legend" has a basis in fact but reasons for the defeat of the Japanese were many and varied, and this book details them, along with providing an insight into the psyche of the Japanese soldier of World War Two and putting a human face on them. The two authors work well together to provide a short history of the Japanese nation, its justification for going to war, and the training methods which produced the initially all-conquering men of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Diary extracts of Japanese soldiers are interwoven with recollections of survivors and insights into the workings of the higher command structure of the IJA to provide a clear picture of the campaign.
The Kokoda campaign extended from the Japanese landing at Buna on the north coast of Papua in July 1942 to the final evacuation of survivors from that same area in January 1943. This book takes the reader from the landing beaches all the way to Ioribaiwa Ridge, the furthest penetration of the South Seas Force, and back again to the final defence of the beachhead. Each ridge along the way was stubbornly defended, by the Australians at first and then, equally stubbornly, by the Japanese as they retreated. Tactics were simple and dictated by the terrain. Frontal attacks were supplemented by the proven Japanese ploy of encirclement where possible. Wider outflanking was not possible in a war fought along the mountain tops and valleys. Both sides suffered from the extremes of the terrain: cold and rain, mud and malaria, dysentery and dengue debilitated troops without discrimination. Logistics was a key factor; in the absence of any roads all food, medical supplies, weapons and ammunition had to be transported by manpower alone.
Pros:
The book includes a number of helpful maps to accompany the details of the various actions, both along the Track and at the beachheads. Good maps are essential to any military history text and those provided are clear and well placed. A larger-scale map of the Buna/Port Moresby slice of Papua would have been of help though.
Cons
In keeping with the theme of making the Japanese soldiers the main protagonists, the Australians are rarely identified beyond 'AIF' or 'Militia' troops. Personally, I don't like this, particularly where such troops were involved in crucial parts of the campaign. And it's not as if we donl;t know what the Australian units were. An example: the reason for the failure and subsequent demonising of the Militia troops of the 53rd Battalion is detailed well in the book and the authors have more compassion for those troops than have any Australian authors. Again, the 49th (Militia) Battalion made their debut of fire on the Sanananda Track. The book again mentions them only as Militia but they need to be named to understand their action on that day. Their pent-up anger against their own command, rather than hatred of the Japanese, caused 50% casualties in a few minutes.
There are a small number of errors: Books about the Kokoda Track Campaign abound, a number of the earlier books written by participants in the Campaign, and the authors of Infinite Sorrow have used many sources to craft their story. Not all the books used are repositories of fact and so Infinite Sorrow has some errors which should be corrected. For example, page 143/44 tells of a 25 pounder 'cannon' firing from Imita Ridge and being unable to reach Ioribaiwa with its shells. In fact, the short 25 pounder on Imita would have been firing point blank at that range but the Japanese had left Ioribaiwa by the time the gun arrived. However, two 25 pound gun howitzers had been firing accurately on Ioribaiwa from Owen's Corner at a range of about 8 kilometres, well within the gun's capability.
Infinite Sorrow does not flinch from mentioning two of the most abhorrent traits levelled at the Japanese in this and the comcomitant Milne Bay campaign - atrocities and cannibalism. They are, curiously, given near-absolution, being seen as the result of the rigorous training of recruits and of the Japanese refusal to be insulted by an 'inferior'. The previously mysterious death of Captain Templeton is trivialised as he gives cheek to his captor who, understandably, cannot abide such behaviour and ends his helpless captive's life with a sword thrust to the stomach. The atrocious treatment of Australian captives at Milne Bay is cast in a doubtful light as though they are perhaps propaganda.
Having personally known old soldiers who fought against the Japanese in WW2, many of them now passed on, I know from them what they saw and what happened to their fellow soldiers who were captured. To their dying day, almost all of them had an enduring hatred for all things Japanese. In casting a doubtful light on Japanese atrocities, the authors do themselves a disservice.
Overall though, these are minor quibbles and the book is an excellent military history, well written and helping the reader understand the campaign from "the other side." Well worth reading for antone interested in the Kokoda Track Campaign.
The Path of Infinate Sorrow July 21, 2010
Dave
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
As a WWII buff, I find myself particularly interested in the Pacific Theater. The Papua New Guinea area under General MacArthur has always seemed a bit on the under reported side to me so I jumped at the chance to buy this book. As a good readable tome on the conflict, it does not disappoint and it is written in an interesting and readable format with many firsthand accounts from mostly the Japanese side. It readily explains the perceived Japanese need for the operation and how it was conceived following the inconclusive Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1941. It also gives some insight into the command climate of General MacArthur and his staff in Australia.
The author follows the lives and experiences of several Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Navy soldiers from their school days, through initial military training and into China and finally their experiences in New Guinea with the South Seas Force. While the title would lead you to believe that it deals only with the Kokoda Track over the Owen Stanly Mountains between Port Moresby and Buna, it also takes into account actions at Milne Bay as well as decisions made at the Japanese HQ at Rabaul.
The book also nicely articulates the competing needs between the Japanese forces on Guadalcanal and those on New Guinea as well as the changing strategies and thought processes of soldiers coming to the realization that their wild successes at the start of the war were doomed to failure.
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