Hollandia

Hollandia, however, was lightly defended with eleven thousand mostly rear-echelon enemy troops.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

While Donovan trekked to the Pacific to be with MacArthur at the Hollandia landing in early April, Churchill fired off a cable to FDR pleading with him to reverse his decision.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

Donovan had spent less than a fortnight in Washington after his Hollandia landing.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

MacArthur decided to leapfrog the Japanese defenses just ahead and land two divisions with 55,000 GIs at Hollandia, then move inland behind the enemy.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

At 11 a.m., MacArthur went ashore at the Humboldt Bay beach just south of Hollandia with his staff officers and Donovan in tow.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

Since he waded ashore at Hollandia the previous April, the Marines had taken Saipan, Tinian, and Guam.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

The landing at Hollandia on the northern coast of New Guinea was a MacArthur masterstroke.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

But forty thousand well-armed and dug-in Japanese soldiers in between prepared to make the 550 miles between Saidor and Hollandia a killing ground as the Americans slogged northwest.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

He arrived in Brisbane the second week in April for the invasion of Hollandia.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

The Hollandia landing was a resounding success, catching the Japanese completely by surprise as MacArthur had predicted.

Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011