Bougainville - Interview with Karl James

Australian War Memorial Senior Historian Dr Karl James joins Mat to discuss the Bougainville Campaign, one of the most controversial actions of the Second World War. Should the Australians have been fighting there at all and was the cost worth it?

[sjasloan]

Great interview. The Bougainville campaign was a mistake from the beginning. Unnecessary. The US Marines had it right. Ultimately it was the Curtin government which failed to rein in Blamey.
The US is more pragmatic that people think. The US Navy view in 1945 was that now Japan was entirely cut off by sea there was no need to invade. I read somewhere that that view is still embedded in US Navy tradition!