Eleventh Air Force

The Eleventh Air Force (11 AF) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It is headquartered at Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson, Alaska.
11 AF plans, conducts, controls and coordinates air operations in accordance with the tasks assigned by the commander, Pacific Air Forces, and is the force provider for Alaskan Command, the Alaska North American Aerospace Defense Command Region and other unified commanders. The Commander, Eleventh Air Force, also serves as Commander, Alaskan Command, and as commander of the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region. The NORAD mission is accomplished largely through the PACAF Regional Support Center (PRSC), the 611th Air and Space Operations Center, and units of the Alaska Air National Guard (AK ANG). Together, they carry out air surveillance, and command and control forces that provide tactical warning and attack assessment in defense of Alaska.
Established on 28 December 1941 as the Alaskan Air Force at Elmendorf Field, Alaska Territory. it was initially part of the United States Army Air Forces. It provided air defense of Alaska during World War II and fought in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. It was re-designated as the Alaskan Air Command in late 1945, and became responsible for the air defense of Alaska. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was transferred to the control of PACAF in 1990 and reduced to the status of a Numbered Air Force.
History.
Military aircraft began flying in Alaska in 1920 when the Black Wolf Squadron, or The Alaska Flying Expedition, made The New York to Nome Flight. Capt. St. Clair Streett commanded 7 men in 4 DH-4s as they took off from Mitchel Field on 17 July 1920. Each plane had a black profile of a Wolf's head painted on their sides. The trip organizer, Billy Mitchell wanted to establish an airway to Alaska and Asia. The 9349 mile round trip route included flying west to North Dakota, then north through Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon, and onwards to Fairbanks on 19 Aug. and finally Nome on the 23rd. They started their return trip on the 31st, landing Mitchel Field on 20 Oct. 1920 after 112 flying hours.
In 1924, the around the world flight by the Army using Douglas "World Cruiser"s also transited though Alaska. However, the first permanently based military aircraft began to deploy to Alaska during the last half of 1940 after the breakout of World War II in Europe and tensions began to deteriorate with Japan. To coordinate air activities there, the Alaskan Defense Command established the Air Field Forces, Alaskan Defense Command on 29 May 1941.
Origins.
Early in 1940, the question of air defense of the Alaska Territory came into the limelight when President Roosevelt pointed out in his message to Congress requesting funds for fortification of Guam and Wake Islands and other strategic points in the Pacific that airfields were needed in Alaska. The original request for $12,000,000 to be appropriated for the construction of Alaskan defenses was cut to $600,000, but still was sufficient to begin the construction of an air base at Anchorage, Alaska. Thus was begun the construction of Elmendorf Field, primary fourth-echelon base for all future Eleventh Air Force operations. Construction of the airfield began on 8 June when 25 locally hired men began clearing brush, the Army intending it to be a permanent airfield.
The first "troops" of the Alaskan Air Force advance echelon to arrive in Alaska included a six-year-old Martin B-10 on 12 August 1940. On 12 December the Army designated the base Fort Richardson and flying field Elmendorf Field. The post was named for Brig Gen Wilds P. Richardson, former head of the Alaska Road Commission; the airfield and flying facilities were named Elmendorf Field in honor of Captain Hugh M. Elmendorf, killed in 1933 while flight testing an experimental fighter near Wright Field, Ohio.
The first Air Corps unit to be assigned to Alaska was the 18th Pursuit Squadron, which transferred to Elmendorf from Hamilton Army Airfield, California on 21 February 1941 with Curtiss P-40 Warhawks. The 23d Air Base Group was assigned shortly afterwards to provide base support. The 36th Bombardment Squadron arrived less than a month later from Lowry Field, Colorado, equipped with Douglas B-18 Bolo medium bombers.
A major problem was the training of personnel and the preparing of equipment for operation in the cold Alaskan climate. Mechanical things showed unusual behavior at 40 degrees below zero. Oil became almost solid, metal and rubber brittle and fractured easily. At the same time, Texas-trained pilots had to learn to fly in a country where sudden fogs could close out airports in less than 10 minutes and high-velocity "williwaws" could tear the wings off combat planes.
The first months activities of the new command were spent in reconnaissance for a rim of defense bases. The hub of this defense "wheel" was to be at Elmendorf Field near Anchorage. In the meantime, plans for the establishment of bases were moving slowly. Certain planned fields had to be constructed in summer, because the severe Alaskan frost in winter made construction impossible, but equipment for the construction of fields north of Nome and around Anchorage failed to arrive, and construction was postponed until the following summer. Construction had been completed, however, on two important coastal fields in southeastern Alaska, Annette Army Airfield at Annette Island and Yakutat Army Airfield at Yakutat, and the first direct all-weather air route to Alaska from Seattle was open.
An extremely fortunate accident took place in October 1941, which possibly changed the whole course of World War II in Alaska. Equipment for the construction of a CAA-DLA (Civil Aeronautics Authority-Defense Land Appropriation) airfield at McGrath, on the mainland, arrived too late to begin construction of the field, since the ground already had become frozen, and General Buckner requested and received permission to divert the equipment and men to Cold Bay on the Alaskan Peninsula and Otter Point on Umnak Island, to build two airfields for the defense of the Naval Base at Dutch Harbor. To conceal their purpose, both fields were organized as ostensible business enterprises concerned with fishing and canning. The two cover names were: "Blair Packing Company" and "Saxton & Company", whose peculiar canning equipment consisted of bulldozers, power shovels and similar construction equipment. The top holding-company for these enterprises was the "Consolidated Packing Company" of Anchorage, known in military circles as the Alaskan Defense Command. Security was complete. Japanese intelligence never learned of the existence of these airfields and the Japanese tactical decisions were based on the assumption that their attack on Dutch Harbor would not be opposed by land-based aircraft.
All through the winter of 1941–1942, men worked at the construction of these two air bases, and by spring, two 5,000-foot airstrips were completed, one at Cold Bay (Fort Randall Army Airfield), the other at Otter Point on Umnak (Fort Glenn Army Airfield). Another vital factor in the construction of the Umnak field was the use of perforated steel matting. No other medium could have been used to build that runway in the time required, since Umnak has no natural construction material. The matting was laid over a graded gash in the tundra and set the pattern for the construction of future Aleutian runways.
Administratively speaking, the Eleventh Air Force also was born in that winter of 1941–1942. First conceived as the Air Force, Alaskan Defense Command, it emerged as an integral unit as the Alaskan Air Force on 15 January 1942, and was redesignated the Eleventh Air Force on 5 February. In May 1942, a field headquarters was established at Fort Morrow Army Airfield, Port Heiden, Alaska, and planes of the 73d Bombardment Squadron were deployed at Fort Randall Army Airfield, Cold Bay and the 21st Bombardment Squadron at Fort Glenn Army Airfield, Umnak.
Ladd Field near Fairbanks became a secondary major air base in Alaska. It was named after Major Arthur K. Ladd, killed in a flying accident near Dale, South Carolina on 13 December 1935. Unlike Elmendorf, Ladd Field came the jurisdiction of Ferrying Command, which was a part of the Lend-Lease Program. Through Lend-Lease, the United States transferred nearly 8,000 aircraft to the Soviet Union though Ladd Field during the course of World War II. The aircraft were flown into Ladd from Great Falls Airfield, Montana by American civilian aircrews; Soviet crews then flew the planes west through Nome (Marks Field) and on to Siberia. The pilots leaving Great Falls flew along a route of small airfields that became known as the Northwest Staging Route. One of those airfields, Big Delta Army Airfield, southeast of Fairbanks, became Fort Greely.
Aleutian Campaign 1942.
In mid-1942 the Imperial Japanese Navy laid plans to attack Alaska in conjunction with an attack on Midway Island in the central Pacific. The Japanese Northern Area Fleet's attacks on Dutch Harbor and Adak Island resulted in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. But because United States Naval intelligence had broken the Japanese naval cypher code, Admiral Nimitz, Commander-in-Chief Pacific Ocean Areas in Hawaii, learned of Japanese plans by 21 May 1942. As of 1 June 1942, United States military strength in Alaska stood at 45,000 men. On that day the XI Intercepter Command, activated earlier, in March, was redesignated the XI Fighter Command. However, Eleventh Air Force operational strength was small. It consisted of 10 B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers and 34 B-18 Bolo medium bombers at Elmendorf Airfield, and 95 P-40 Warhawk fighters divided between Fort Randall AAF at Cold Bay and Fort Glenn AAF on Umnak.
When the first inklings of a possible Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands were known, the Eleventh Air Force was ordered to send out reconnaissance aircraft to locate the Japanese fleet reported heading toward Dutch Harbor and attack it with bombers, concentrating on sinking Hosogaya's two aircraft carriers. Once the enemy planes were removed, Task Force 8 of the Navy would engage the enemy fleet and destroy it. On the afternoon of 2 June a naval patrol plane spotted the approaching Japanese fleet, reporting its location as 800 miles southwest of Dutch Harbor. Eleventh Air Force was placed on full alert. Shortly thereafter bad weather set in, and no further sightings of the fleet were made that day.
Attack on Dutch Harbor.
The first aerial bombing of the American continent during World War II took place on 3 and 4 June 1942, when two Japanese raids were made on the Dutch Harbor in the city of Unalaska, Alaska. While the first did little damage, the second destroyed the base's oil storage tanks, part of the hospital, and damaged a beached barracks ship. Although American pilots had finally located the Japanese carriers, attempts to destroy them proved fruitless. As bad weather again set in, all contact with the enemy fleet was lost.
In all, the Japanese raid claimed 43 U.S. lives, of which 33 were soldiers. Another 64 Americans were wounded. Eleven U.S. planes were downed, while the Japanese lost ten aircraft. During the two-day fight, Naval Task Force 8 had remained south of Kodiak Island, taking no part in the action. On 5 June, it received a report of enemy warships in the Bering Sea heading south toward Unalaska Island, which was interpreted to be a landing force intent upon seizing Dutch Harbor. While Task Force 8 entered the Bering Sea, Hosogaya's fleet moved south to join Yamamoto, who had just suffered the loss of his four large carriers at the Battle of Midway.
Possible attack at Nome.
By mid-June the Joint Chiefs of Staff theorized that the attack on the Aleutian Islands and the occupation of its westernmost islands might be part of a holding action designed to screen a northward thrust by Japanese forces into Siberia's maritime provinces and the Kamchatka Peninsula. As a result of their concern about a possible Japanese attack upon the Soviet Union that might also include the occupation of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea and of nearby Nome and its adjacent airfields on the Alaskan mainland.
Supporting the possibility of an invasion of the Alaskan mainland were reports of a Japanese fleet operating in the Bering Sea. Three separate sightings placed an enemy fleet somewhere between the Pribilof and St. Lawrence Islands, suggesting that either an enemy raid on or an outright invasion of the Alaskan mainland was imminent, with Nome the likely objective. As a result, within thirty-six hours, Eleventh Air Force using commandeered civilian aircraft flew nearly 2,300 troops to Nome, along with artillery and antiaircraft guns and several tons of other equipment and supplies. Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers of the 404th Bombardment Squadron were sent to the Air Transport Command Marks Army Airfield with a mission to locate and attack the Japanese Fleet.
Not until late July when United States intelligence reported with some certainty the departure of Hosogaya's fleet from the Bering Sea did the threat of invasion of the Alaskan mainland decline, allowing for the redeployment of many of the troops hastily assembled at Nome.
United States response.
On 30 August 1942, in the face of a howling gale, American Army troops went ashore on Adak Island, some 250 miles east of Kiska. Adak affords a good fleet anchorage, a sheltered harbor and as was revealed later, a superlative site for quick construction of an airfield. The 807th Army Aviation Engineering Battalion set to work constructing a dike and draining the tidal flat between Kuluk Bay and the Sweeper Cove areas to create an airfield. Only ten days later engineers built a runway, and on 10 September the first aircraft, a B-18, landed at "Longview Army Airfield". Three days later there were 15 B-24s, a B-17, 15 P-38s and 16 P-39s on the island. On 12 September, the first air attack from Adak, consisting of 12 B-24s, 14 P-38s and 14 P-39s, was launched under the command of Major John S. Chennault of the 343d Fighter Group. The attack was launched against Japanese positions on Kiska. The airfield on Adak was renamed "Davis Army Airfield" in honor of Colonel Everett S. Davis, the first Commander, Eleventh Air Force, killed in an aircraft accident on 28 November 1942.
Throughout the winter of 1942–1943, the Eleventh Air Force bombed Kiska and Attu whenever possible, although the flyers were extremely handicapped by the almost constant fog which covered the island. At the same time, the bases to the east of Adak were consolidated and built up. In October, the Field Headquarters of the Eleventh Air Force was closed at Kodiak and moved to Davis AAF.
On 11 January 1943, American Army troops went ashore on the unoccupied Amchitka Island, barely 75 statute miles from Kiska, and a month later, on 16 February, the first aircraft, a P-38 and a P-40, landed on Amchitka Army Airfield, a quickly-built airstrip. The first mission against Kiska was flown on 18 February.
By March, both medium and heavy bombers could make the short hop from Amchitka to Kiska and on good days, rare enough, crews flew as many as four and occasionally six sorties per day. It was said that the Japanese needed no air warning system on Kiska, because they could hear the Eleventh Air Force bombers warming up on Amchitka, and knew from the sound of the engines when the raids were taking off.
Throughout this period, the striking power of the Eleventh Air Force included only three squadrons of medium bombers, three squadrons of heavies and four squadrons of fighters. An additional squadron of P-39 Airacobras operated in the Aleutian theater for a short while, but their light landing gear was unsatisfactory for use on the rough fields and they were returned to the States.
Tactically, the Eleventh Air Force was operating under the jurisdiction of the Navy, since Alaska was still in the situation of a "fleet-opposed invasion". The air arm, designated Task Force "X", was commanded by General Butler, and included the Air Striking Group (Eleventh Air Force) and the Air Search Group (Naval Fleet Air Wing Four). Overall command was vested in Vice Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, Commander, North Pacific Force, abbreviated to ComNorPacFor or ComNorPac.
Recapture of Attu and Kiska.
On 1 April, a plan to by-pass Kiska and capture Attu was presented to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was approved, and on 11 May, American troops went ashore on Attu. In a short and fierce battle, the Japanese garrison was wiped out, and on 29 May, the island was declared secure. The first plane, a hospital C-47, landed on a newly completed runway at Alexai Point Army Airfield, Attu, on 7 June. The operation against Attu also included the occupation of the Semichi Islands, an archipelago of three tiny bits of land some 35 miles east of Attu. The flattest of these, Shemya, was to be the site of the most important American air base for future operations. Barely four miles long and only two miles wide, Shemya Army Airfield became, literally, a stationary aircraft carrier. These islands were taken without opposition, on 29 May.
With Kiska cut off by the occupation of Attu, the Japanese made plans to evacuate the Aleutian Islands. Numerous sorties were made by the Japanese Fifth Fleet, based at Paramushiru, but finally on 28 July, under cover of a thick fog, destroyers were able to enter Kiska Harbor and remove all occupation troops. When American troops went ashore on 15 August, the island was deserted, ending the Aleutian Campaign.
Six million pounds of bombs had been dropped on Kiska and Attu in Eleventh Air Force operations. The Japanese had been prevented from building an air field and from bringing in reinforcements. 'Rufe' seaplane fighters were shot out of the air as soon as they came up to give combat. Air Force fighters and bombers had played an instrumental part in driving Japanese out of the Aleutian Islands. Illustrative of the challenges omnipresent in Alaska, only 35 aircraft were lost in combat compared to 150 operational accidents. It was the highest American combat-to-accidental loss ratio for any theater in World War II. Weather was the prime culprit. The Eleventh Air Force accounted for approximately 60 Japanese aircraft, one destroyer, one submarine and seven transport ships destroyed by air operations.
With the Aleutian Campaign completed, the Eleventh Air Force had the following units reassigned to other combat areas between 20 August and 1 September: the 21st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 36th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 73d Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 406th Bombardment Squadron (Medium) and the 407th Bombardment Squadron (Dive Bomber).
Operations against Japan.
More than a month before the unopposed landing on Kiska, the Eleventh Air Force began a new phase of operations against the Japanese. On 10 July 1943, six Eleventh Air Force B-25 Mitchells made the long flight to Paramushiru Island in the Kuriles and made the first direct attack on the Japanese home islands since the famous Doolittle raid in April 1942. From Alexai Point AAF on Attu, eight Mitchells of the 77th Bomb Squadron. (28th BG) struck Paramushiro bases principally. All returned safely.
A week later, B-24 Liberator heavy bombers from Attu bombed the Kuriles and secured pictures of the Japanese installations, the first pictures taken of northern Japan home-island defenses. The next Kurile raid, carried out on 11 August, was a diversionary raid prior to the landings on Kiska. On this mission, the first plane was lost over the Kuriles and Lieutenant James C. Pottenger and his crew made a forced landing in Russia.
These operations led to a joint mission on 11 September 1943, when Eleventh Air Force dispatched eight B-24 Liberators and 12 B-25s. However the Japanese were alert and reinforced their defenses. 74 crew members in three B-24s and seven B-25 failed to return. Twenty two men were killed in action, one taken prisoner and 51 interned in Kamchatka, Russia. It had proven that the Kurile Islands could be attacked, but new methods had to be devised as the raid lost Eleventh Air Force over half its offensive striking power. No more combat missions were flown in 1943.
Several changes took place following the occupation of Kiska. The Eleventh Air Force became a component of Task Force "Y", still under Navy jurisdiction. Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher was named ComNorPac and Major General Davenport Johnson relieved General Butler as commander of the Eleventh Air Force. One of General Johnson's first acts was the establishment of the Eleventh Air Force Instrument flying school and the promotion of an intensive training program in navigation and instrument flying, as well as the accelerated development of radio and navigation aids in the Aleutian Islands. Because of the tremendous advances brought about by intensive instrument training and the increased aids to navigation and radio, planes that used to be grounded by weather, were now flying regular schedules. Troop Carrier Command and Air Transport Command planes were operating in the Aleutian Islands with airline regularity.
In November 1943 a second airfield, Casco Cove Army Airfield was constructed on Attu for long-range bombing operations.
Eleventh Air Force carried out another bombing mission against northern Kurils on 5 February 1944, when it attacked with six B-24s from the 404th Bomb Sqdn. (28th BG) and 16 P-38s from the 54th Fighter Sqdn. (343d FG). March 1944 saw Eleventh Air Force bombers over the Kuriles on daylight armed reconnaissance missions. Not many, but a sufficient number to convince the Japanese that there were aircraft in the Aleutian Islands and that the Kuriles were in constant danger of air attack. During the crucial period, while other United States forces were advancing in the South Pacific, the Japanese were forced to keep much-needed aircraft, in the Kuriles and Hokkaido as defense against possible attack from the North.
Operations against Northern Japan became the new mission of the Eleventh Air Force, and it was being successfully carried out. Except for July 1944, when the weather was especially bad, each month of 1944 showed a steady increase in operations against the Kuriles. Each month's record showed planes turned back short of their targets, weather again protecting the Japanese. Often, too, B-24 Liberator bomb loads were dropped through the undercast by aid of the newly installed radar bombing equipment, a far cry from the timed runs made on the Kiska main camp area using the Kiska volcano as an initial point when the target was closed in. The record month, June 1945, for the Eleventh Air Force showed a record number of tons of bombs dropped.
The B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, too, were playing their part in operations against the Kuriles. They had been kept on shipping alert since the abortive 11 September raid, but in May, two planes on a gasoline consumption test west of Attu, discovered and sank two armed Japanese trawlers. From that time on, the Mitchells, made sweeps against shipping when weather permitted, and by fall were bombing land targets in the Kuriles.
Air Transport Command operations.
Although Eleventh Air Force was engaged in combat during the Aleutian Campaign, the command also supported the Lend-Lease transport of aircraft though Alaska to the Soviet Union by Air Transport Command beginning in September 1942. Lend-Lease aircraft were ferried from Great Falls Army Air Base, Montana to Ladd Field by the 7th Ferrying Group (Later Alaskan Wing), ATC. The United States manufactured aircraft were turned over to Red Air Force pilots at Ladd Field, and from there the Soviet pilots would fly to Marks Army Airfield, near Nome as a final refueling and maintenance stop on-route to Uel'kal', Siberia. From Siberia, the aircraft were flown westward across the Soviet Union (Uelkal-Krasnoyarsk route) to the combat areas in Russia for use against Nazi forces. Eleventh Air Force aircraft were also ferried up the NWSR, with the aircraft being flown to Elmendorf from RCAF Station Whitehorse. More than 8,000 airplanes were delivered over the route. Most were Bell Airacobras and Kingcobras, along with A-20s, B-25s and C-47s. ATC personnel were based at Edmonton as well as other Canadian bases.
A lesser-known part of the aircraft ferrying mission for ATC pilots was search and rescue for Ferrying Command pilots and crews who were forced down in the remote wilderness. The ATC Alaska Wing was equipped with a number of single-engine C-64 "Norseman" light transports, which were equipped alternatively with pontoons, skis and wheels, depending the season. The C-64s were used to resupply stations along the Canadian pipeline as well as for search and rescue work.
ATC also developed two transport routes to Alaska during the war to support Eleventh Air Force. The first was from McChord Field, near Seattle, Washington north along the British Columbia coastline to Annette Island, then to Yakutat and into Elmendorf AFB. The second was developed to support the Aleutian Campaign and was built as American forces moved westward along the island chain. It started in Anchorage and went through Nannek Airfield then to Point Heiden, Cold Bay and along the Aleutian Islands until reaching Shemya and Attu Islands in 1944. These transport routes ferried personnel, along with high-value equipment and supplies that could not be shipped by normal cargo sealift. This eventually extended to Hokkaido, Japan after the end of the war, the route becoming part of the Great Circle Route from Japan to the United States. Much of the transport along the routes were an airline responsibility, with Northwest Airlines and Western Airlines operating the routes under contract.
Drawdown and redesignation, 1944–1945.
1944 also saw a drastic reduction in the personnel of the Eleventh Air Force. Fort Glenn AAF and Fort Randall AAF were reduced to the status of gasoline stations for the Aleutian air transport routes, and were manned by small housekeeping units; Annette Island Landing Field and Yakutat Landing Field assigned as sub bases to Elmendorf Field. The XI Bomber Command and XI Fighter Command disbanded per General Order 9, Headquarters, Eleventh Air Force, 25 February 1944.
It took these actions due to the fact that only two bomber squadrons remained in the Eleventh Air Force and the need to reduce the number of personnel. The 28th Bombardment Group on Shemya and the 343d Fighter Group at Alexai Point AAF, Attu, assumed the responsibilities of the two commands. The 404th Bombardment Squadron was responsible for conducting night reconnaissance missions over the Kuriles and flying a daily weather reconnaissance flights. The 77th Bombardment Squadron was held in readiness to repel a seaborne invasion and the fighter squadrons provided air defense. Air Corps supply and fourth echelon maintenance was carried on at the Alaska Air Depot at Elmendorf, and the normal paper-work, customarily handled by a Service command, devolved upon the Eleventh Air Force Headquarters.
Eleventh Air Force, sent between 24 August and 4 September 1945 two B-24 Liberators of the 28th BG flew reconnaissance overflights over the North Kuril Islands to take photos of the Soviet occupation in the area. Soviet fighters intercepted and forced them away a foretaste of the Cold war that lay ahead.
Americans planners had briefly contemplated an invasion of northern Japan from the Aleutian Islands during fall of 1943, but rejected that idea as too risky and impractical. They considered the use of Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, on Amchitka and Shemya Bases, but rejected that idea too. U.S. military maintained interest in these plans when they ordered the expansion of bases in the western Aleutian Islands, and major construction began on Shemya for a possible invasion of Japan via the Northern route in 1945.
The real nature of the Aleutian Islands the value of the Eleventh Air Force to America was known but not confirmed until 3 September 1945. On that day, a C-54 piloted by Major G. E. Cain, filed a flight plan at Atsugi Airdrome, near Tokyo, Honshū, Japan. Twelve hours later, he landed at Adak, refueled and took off for Seattle. He landed in Washington after 31 hours of flying time, with the first motion pictures of the Japanese surrender the previous day.
The Aleutian Islands, on the Great Circle route from North America to the Orient may not have fulfilled their hope of becoming the "Northern Highway to Victory," but they were established as an air transport route, vital during the early years of the Cold War before long-distance air transports were developed.
With the end of the war, many of the small air bases in the Aleutian Islands closed permanently, and postwar emphasis turned to training. Air Transport Command transferred Ladd Field to the Eleventh Air Force on 1 November. On 15 December 1945, The Army reorganized its organization in Alaska. Eleventh Air Force, which was under the jurisdiction of the Army Western Defense Command, headquartered at the Presidio of San Francisco since its establishment in 1941, was transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States Army Air Forces.
Under the USAAF, it was re-designated as Alaskan Air Command' on 18 December 1945, without any change in headquarters location. Alaskan Air Command was established at the same Major Command echelon as the other overseas combat commands, the United States Air Forces in Europe, Far East Air Forces and Caribbean Air Command, with its mission being the air defense of the Territory of Alaska.
Eleventh Air Force in Pennsylvania 1946–1948.
Six months after Eleventh Air Force had been redesignated in Alaska, another headquarters, also named Eleventh Air Force, was established on 13 May 1946 and activated at Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania, on 13 June 1946. This new organization was assigned to Air Defense Command.
Major General Thomas J. Hanley, Jr. took command, and a cadre of enlisted personnel arrived at Olmsted on 19 June 1946. The headquarters was relocated to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 9 August 1946, base units were assigned and training commenced for reserve and National Guard units in Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Training continued until the unit was inactivated on 1 July 1948. This organization was to have been activated on 1 July 1962 at Travis Air Force Base under Military Air Transport Service, but that action was revoked three days before it became effective. This unit is not related to the current Eleventh Air Force.
Post-Cold War.
Pacific Air Forces.
With the activation of the Alaskan Command in 1989, the next logical step was to place its air component (AAC) under the Pacific Air Forces. By reorganizing AAC into a Numbered Air Force, the Air Force was able to reduce its administrative manpower requirements during a period of massive Air Force strength reductions. On 9 August 1990, the Alaskan Air Command was redesignated the 11th Air Force once again and assigned as a Numbered Air Force (NAF) under United States Pacific Air Forces. The new organization was allotted the lineage of the previous Eleventh Air Force that had served in Alaska.
The early 1990s was a period of mission changes and force modernization. The 11th Air Force was reorganized as an objective Numbered Air Force during 1992–1993 and its headquarters reduced to only 100 authorizations. Its major units also changed. At Elmendorf AFB the 21st Tactical Fighter Wing was inactivated and was replaced by the 3rd Wing transferred from Clark Air Base in December 1991 due to the destruction of Clark AB by the Mount Pinatubo eruption. The F-15E Strike Eagle-equipped 90th Fighter Squadron was added as were the 517th Airlift Squadron (C-130Hs and C-12Fs) and the 962d Airborne Air Control Squadron (E-3B).
There were also significant changes at Eielson AFB, when on 1 September 1992, Strategic Air Command inactivated the 6th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, assigned there in 1967. The 343d Composite Wing became the host unit. The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II assigned to the 18th Fighter Squadron were replaced with General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons in 1992 and an OA-10A squadron was activated. Eielson AFB became home of the Exercise Cope Thunder series, and the Alaskan range complex was greatly expanded and improved to accommodate not only Cope Thunder but other joint training requirements as well.
Finally, in keeping with Air Force Chief of Staff guidance to retain the most illustrious units, the 343rd Wing, a veteran of the Aleutian Campaign, was inactivated in August 1993. The 354th Fighter Wing was activated in its place.
Other changes during the period included upgrading the 11th Tactical Air Control Group to the 11th Air Control Wing (11 ACW) at Eareckson AS in January 1992. During yet another reorganization, the wing subsequently inactivated 1 July 1994 with the closure of the station. It was replaced by three smaller groups directly subordinate to the Eleventh Air Force; the 611th Air Operations Group, 611th Logistics Group and the 611th Air Support Group.
Eleventh Air Force also accomplished the daunting drawdown of the forward operating bases at Galena Airport, King Salmon Airport and Eareckson Air Force Station (Shemya Island), in a two-year period of time, 1993–1995, reflecting cost savings derived from the end of the Cold War. The stations remain in a standby status, their facilities being maintained by civilian contractors.
The mission of the Eleventh Air Force moved from statically defending Alaska against a bomber threat to committing its forces to worldwide deployment. The shift from a Major Command to an Objective Numbered Air Force was among the most drastic reorganizations undertaken anywhere in the Air Force.
Air Force personnel in Alaska were also fully integrated into the Air and Space Expeditionary Force deployment cycles, supporting operations as part of the Global War on Terrorism. In 2001–2002, the 18th Fighter Squadron deployed to Al Jaber, AB, Kuwait to take part in Operation Southern Watch, ENDURING FREEDOM, and ANACONDA; in 2004, The 355th Fighter Squadron deployed to Bagram AB, Afghanistan, as part of the War in Afghanistan.
The Secretary of Defense released the proposed 2005 Base Realignment And Closure recommendations and Eielson AFB was on the list. The original recommendations called for Eielson to be drawn down to a warm status...nearly to the point of closure. However, the final decision came later in the year and it called for the departure of all the A-10s. Shortly thereafter, the 18 FS learned that they would be converting to F-16 Aggressors over the next few years. In 2007, the last three A-10 aircraft departed Eielson
Alaskan NORAD Region.
The responsibilities for aerospace warning and aerospace control for North America are assigned to NORAD through the binational NORAD agreement. The Alaskan NORAD Region (ANR) is one of three NORAD regions responsible for the execution of the aerospace warning and aerospace control missions. ANR conducts these missions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Eleventh Air Force is the United States Air Force component of ANR. Coordinating with the Canadian Forces Air Command, Both 11th AF and the Canadian Forces provide active duty forces to the 611th Air and Space Operations Center. The 176th Air Control Squadron, an Alaska Air National Guard unit, provides manning for the Alaskan Air Defense Sector to maintain continuous surveillance of Alaskan airspace with Alaskan Radar System long and short-range radars.
The appearance of a strategic cruise missile threat once again prompted a buildup of air defense capabilities. The Alaska NORAD Region Air Operations Center (AK RAOC), operated by U.S. and Canadian personnel, became operational in 1983 at Elmendorf AFB. It receives and analyses surveillance radar data from the sites in the Alaska Radar System (ARS) to determine range, direction altitude speed and whether or not the objects are friendly or hostile.
The Alaska RAOC enjoins state-of-the-art air defense systems and cutting-edge computer technology to significantly increase surveillance and identification capabilities, and better protect the nation's airways from intrusion and attack. It is fully integrated with the Boeing E-3 Sentry Airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system. The Battle Control System-Fixed (BCS-F) fuses data from airborne, ground and naval elements and civil air traffic sensors into an integrated air defence and sovereignty picture. This allows commanders to monitor the airspace above, beyond and within U.S. and Canadian borders, providing a major component for homeland defense. It also incorporates a newly developed situational awareness system that gives ANR unprecedented tools and technology to assist state and local responders in dealing with natural disasters.
The ARS consists of minimally attended AN/FPS-117 radar sites which were established between 1984 and 1985 at the former manned surveillance and Ground Control Intercept sites of Alaskan Air Command, first activated in the 1950s. Elements of the 1985 North American Air Defense Modernization program followed. Flexible and graduated alert concepts were introduced in the 1990s.
The ANR provides an ongoing capability to detect, validate, and warn of any aircraft and/or cruise missile threat in its area of operations that could threaten North American security. By maintaining surveillance of Northwest Canadian and U.S. airspace, ANR is able to determine what goes on in and near North American airspace 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Aerospace control requires capabilities to intercept, shadow, escort, divert, direct landings, and if necessary, use force utilizing interceptors and other means up to and including the destruction of airborne objects.
Lineage.
The United States Department of War activated the Alaskan Air Force to manage the buildup of the Army Air Forces in Alaska and replacing the Air Force, Alaskan Defense Command.
Airbases.
The formation's headquarters was located at Elmendorf Airfield, from 15 January 1942; then Davis Army Airfield, August 1943 – 18 December 1945, and, after being reformed as Eleventh Air Force, at Elmendorf Air Force Base from 9 August 1990 onwards.
Components.
Alaska Air National Guard.
If activated for federal service, the 11th Air Force gains two wings of the Alaska Air National Guard.


VS-33

Scouting Squadron 33 (VS-33) was a United States Navy anti-submarine warfare squadron in World War II.
World War II.
As part of Eastern Sea Frontier Force Headquarters Air Group operation plan 1-43, the squadron flew anti-submarine patrols while temporarily based at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, and a detachment at Naval Auxiliary Air Station Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. During this operation, the higher headquarters was Fleet Air Wing 9 of the Atlantic Fleet Air Force for administration and Headquarters Air Group of Eastern Sea Frontier for operations. Weather permitting, the squadron maintained a routine of two sets of two-plane patrols per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, originating from both Quonset Point and Martha's Vineyard.
In this squadron, the OS2U-3 airplanes were radio equipped, and were armed with one fixed .30 caliber machine gun with 500 rounds of ammunition, as well as two Mark 17, 325 pound depth bombs. The SBD-5 airplanes were radio and radar equipped, and were armed with two fixed M2 Browning .50 caliber machine guns each with 180 rounds of ammunition, as well as two Mark 47, 350 pound depth bombs.


Soviet assault on Maoka

The Soviet assault on Maoka (Maoka Landing, ) was carried out at the port of Maoka (now Kholmsk), Southern Sakhalin during August 19-22, 1945, by the forces of the Soviet Northern Pacific Flotilla of the Pacific Fleet during the South Sakhalin Offensive of the Soviet–Japanese War at the end of World War II. It was the second amphibious assault on South Sakhalin, after the (now Shakhtyorsk) on August 16.
Assault.
Japanese forces in the port and the city had two battalions of infantry, artillery and mortar units, and coast guard. All of them were subordinate to the commander of the 88th Infantry Division of the Fifth Area Army.
After a Soviet submarine and aviation reconnaissance on August 17, on August 19 an amphibious force of the 113th Rifle Brigade and a battalion of marines of total force of 3,400 moved out from Sovetskaya Gavan and landed at Maoka early morning on August 20. Due to heavy fog there was no aviation support, and instead the city was subject to heavy artillery bombardment from ships. Due to initial surprise the coastal facilities were quickly occupied, but later the Soviet troops, according to the Soviet sources, were met with fierce Japanese resistance. However the Japanese side states that their military tried to avoid engagement keeping defensive positions, busy with evacuation of equipment (described as "looting the city" in some Soviet sources ) and guiding the evacuation of about 18,000 civilians.
After the success of the assault, during August 22-24 Soviet reinforcements arrived from Vladivostok and proceeded to clear the Japanese forces from South Sakhalin. According to refugees already evacuated from the area, Soviet forces carried out fierce naval bombardment and artillery strikes against Japanese installations in Maoka, Shikuka and civilians who were awaiting evacuation. Nearly 1,000 civilians were killed in this attack. Witnesses reported that to a high level of fatalities among civilians were caused by the confusion of European-style "kokumin-fuku", men's approved civil attire, with military uniforms.
A number of telephone operators of the city post office pledged not to evacuate and maintained contact with the city of Wakkanai on Hokkaido, as well as mainland Japan, until the moment that Soviet forces destroyed the telephone and postal installations in the city. On August 20, fearing that they would be raped by the invading Soviet troops, nine of the twelve female operators poisoned themselves. Three were saved by male colleagues' intervention. The survivors at the post office were treated well by the Soviets. In Japan it is known as the . The city of Wakkanai has a memorial to these post office operators.
On August 21 the weather permitted the operation of aviation, nevertheless the Japanese continued the resistance following the order to cover the evacuation.
References.
[[Category:Pacific theatre of World War II]]
[[Category:Battles of World War II involving Japan]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Japan–Soviet Union relations]]
[[Category:Karafuto]]
[[Category:1945 in Japan]]
[[Category:1945 in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1945]]
[[Category:Mass murder in 1945]]
[[Category:August 1945 events]]


Convoy UGS-40

Convoy UGS-40 was an Allied merchant navy convoy with a military escort which sailed from Norfolk, Virginia on 22 April 1944, and passed through the Gibraltar Strait on 9 May 1944 on its way to Naples. The convoy was shadowed for two days by German aircraft. Allied Beaufighters were sent out ten times to attack the reconnaissance aircraft without success. After this, on 11 May, the convoy came under heavy air attack 50 miles east of Algiers. At least 19 German aircraft were shot down by the convoy while the Germans failed to hit a single Allied ship.
Bombers attack.
The convoy was shadowed by German reconnaissance aircraft from 9 May, after passing the Gibraltar Strait. The German aircraft avoided at least ten attempts by the Allies to intercept. This was enough to put the convoy on alert, expecting a major attack. Their fears were well founded.
At 19:50 hours, 11 May, the convoy was travelling in eight columns, spaced apart and between ships in each column. Air support was out from the convoy, anticipating an attack in light of the persistent reconnaissance, when the convoy came under attack. Radar warnings were received at 20:25 hours and again by 20:45, as twilight set in. Smoke pots were lit which greatly reduced target visibility for the bomber crews.
German torpedo planes formed up north of the convoy where they were receiving blinkered signals from Arab spies on Cape Tedles. The advance of the attacking planes was clearly monitored by HMS "Caledon" from the edge of the smoke screen. Shortly after 09:00 hours the convoy started to fire a barrage into the sky. Junkers, Heinkels and Dorniers began a "pile driving" attack in four waves, a few minutes apart from each other, of around seven planes per wave.
UGS-40 turned 45 degrees into the attack where the escort and armed guard on the merchant ships, holding fire until the moment of visual confirmation, joined the attack. Around five minutes after the initial barrage had been ordered the battle was in full swing. Five inch, three inch and 20 mm guns were fired from the merchant ships, at the bombers and torpedo bombers as they passed along the convoy in a glide, some as low as from sea level, attempting to find targets within the thick haze of smoke screen. The bombers appeared to be in a confusion trying to find the ships, some exploding in bright flashes under the Allied fire. Dorniers dropped their bombs but did not hit any of the ships, and radio controlled glide bombs were sighted and avoided.
The merchant ships held a steady course while the military escorts manoeuvred at around 20 knots. The convoy turned another 45 degrees back to their original easterly course at 21:22 hours, and by 21:45 hours, the attack was completely over. Algiers signalled the all clear just after 10:00 hours, and many ships remained on high alert through the night, but no more attacks came. One ship in the convoy, "Chips", suffered friendly fire damage from a few stray 20 mm shots, injuring four military personnel, but otherwise no Allied ships were damaged. Reports collated at least 19 German planes destroyed. Two Allied Beaufighters were lost. The admiral, Royal R. Ingersoll II, signalled an "outstanding" performance. Convoy USG-42 was attacked around the same area in a mid-night attack a few weeks later, on 31 May.
Ships in convoy.
USG-40 convoy consisted of 65 merchant ships, 8 escort destroyers, 4 destroyers, 2 minesweepers, 1 anti aircraft cruiser, 1 coast guard cutter, and 1 tug. The individual vessels were as follows:


Allen Dale June

Allen Dale June (November 28, 1921 – September 8, 2010) was an American veteran of World War II. June was one of the 29 original Navajo code talkers who served in the United States Marine Corps during the war.
Early life.
June was born in Kaibito, Arizona on November 28, 1921, to a Navajo family. His mother was , born for , and his father was named , born for . June graduated from Tuba City Vocational High School in Tuba City in 1941. Once the United States entered World War II later that year and began recruiting Navajos as code talkers, June hitchhiked to Fort Defiance and Fort Wingate to enlist.
War years.
June enlisted in 1941 and became one of the 29 original Navajo code talkers in the U.S. Marines. he served until the end of World War II in 1945, when he was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant.
After War.
June received a bachelor's degree in business administration, accounting and economics from New Mexico Highlands University in 1952. He later also obtained a master's degree in 1975 from the University of Utah.
Congressional Gold Medal.
Dale, along with the other original nine Navajo code talkers, received the Congressional Gold Medal on December 21, 2000. In recent years, residents of Longmont, Colorado, raised money to buy June and his third wife, Virginia June, a home when they learned the couple had no permanent place to live.
Death.
Allen Dale June died at Presscott Veteran's Hospital in Prescott, Arizona, on September 8, 2010, at the age of 89. June had become ill while on a trip to Arizona from the family's home in Longmont, Colorado. He was buried at a family cemetery in Kaibeto, Arizona. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. ordered all flags to be flown at half staff in June's honor.
With June's death in 2010, Lloyd Oliver's death in 2011, and Chester Nez's death on June 4, 2014, none of the original 29 Navajo code talkers are alive.


The Naked and the Dead

The Naked and the Dead is a novel by Norman Mailer. Published by Rinehart & Company in 1948, when he was 25, it was his debut novel. It depicts the experiences of a platoon during World War II, based partially on Mailer's experiences as a cook with the 112th Cavalry Regiment during the Philippines Campaign in World War II. The book quickly became a bestseller, paving the way for other Mailer's works such as "The Deer Park", "Advertisements for Myself", and "The Time of Our Time". He believed "The Naked and the Dead" to be his most renowned work. It was the first popular novel about the war and is considered one of the greatest English-language novels. It was later adapted into a film in 1958.
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked "The Naked and the Dead" 51st on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Plot.
The novel is divided into four parts: Wave; Argil and Mold; Plant and Phantom; and Wake. Within these parts are chorus sections, consisting of play-like dialogue between characters, as well as Time Machine sections, which give brief histories and flashbacks of individual characters’ lives.
The story takes place on Anopopei, a fictional island somewhere in the South Pacific. American forces are faced with a campaign to drive out the Japanese so that Americans can advance into the Philippines. The novel focuses on the experiences of one platoon.
Part One - Wave.
Staff Sergeant Sam Croft, Woodrow Wilson, and Roy Gallagher are playing cards the night before a scheduled attack. They are members of a recon platoon fighting in the Asian theater of World War II on a fictional island named Anopopei. The next morning, as the platoon takes boats to the island, they are nervous. Sgt. William Brown and Cpl. Stanley talk about women and the other men in their squad. The assault begins, and as the platoon waits for their scheduled turn to come to the island, they nervously joke amongst themselves. Once the squad reaches the beach, they begin digging foxholes. Stanley picks a fight with Oscar Ridges and Red Valsen, but ultimately Red knows the time is not right for a fight, and he backs down. Croft leaves to find his commanding officer. Once they’ve begun to settle in on the beach, the Japanese begin to attack. The squad splits up. Cpl. Toglio, Hennessey, and Ridges have completed their foxholes, so they stay on the beach. Brown, Gallagher, Wilson, Red, Stanley, and Sgt. Julio Martinez run after Croft. As the beach is shelled, Hennessey panics and soils himself. He runs down the beach in an attempt to clean his pants, but he is killed by shrapnel.
Part Two - Argil and Mold.
Croft pleads with higher officers to give him more men to replace those lost. He ultimately earns an extra replacement man, bringing the depleted squad up to fourteen out of an intended twenty. Roth and Goldstein, two of the new men in the platoon, bond over their shared Jewish heritage.
Lt. Robert Hearn snaps at the officers' table, towards a couple other officers. Major General Edward Cummings steps in to prevent the situation from escalating further. Hearn and Cummings form an odd friendship. The two talk in Cummings’ tent at night. They discuss philosophy and Cummings analyzes Hearn’s personality based on his behavior. Cummings tells Hearn that, as an officer, he must develop resentment for the enlisted men.
An intense storm comes in, destroying all the work the enlisted men had done the previous week building a bivouac. Tents go flying and everyone tries to stay as dry as they can. In an effort to keep the men’s spirits up during the storm, Red leads them in song. General Cummings makes the rounds to evaluate the storm damage and good-naturedly tells the men to expect a Japanese attack. Cummings makes further preparations up and down the line for the attack.
Roth and Minetta are separated from the rest of the squad, and when they hear gunfire, they assume recon must be in the middle of a firefight. As Roth keeps watch, he falls asleep at his post and wakes up Stanley a half hour late. The next day, the other half of the platoon moves anti-tank guns, which is difficult because of all the mud. Wyman drops his leg of the gun, and it rolls all the way back down a hill. When he tries to take responsibility, Croft thinks he’s covering for Goldstein, who he blames instead.
The entire platoon meets back up, and as they sleep, they’re attacked by Japanese soldiers. Luckily, Croft is one of the men on watch when they attack, and he leads the platoon in repelling the Japanese, killing multiple Japanese soldiers. Toglio gets hit in the arm during the battle, which means he’ll get to go home. The soldiers say he’s lucky because his wound won’t prevent him from doing anything once it heals, but he still gets to return to America. The Japanese attack up and down the American lines, but the Americans fend off the attack at all points.
Cummings and Hearn continue their antagonistic relationship and Cummings assigns Hearn to oversee the construction of a recreation tent for the officers. Hearn realizes he is feeling the resentment towards the enlisted men that Cummings predicted. The two discuss the nature of war, soldiers, and fighting. They also discuss politics and philosophy, and Cummings beats Hearn in a game of chess. Cummings tells Hearn, “My wife is a bitch.” It is implied that Cummings is gay. “Between [Cummings and Hearn]...was the uncomfortable realization that they did not like each other at all.”
Croft, Red and Gallagher run into four Japanese soldiers in the forest, who don’t notice them. Croft throws a grenade, killing three of the soldiers. Red goes to finish off the remaining soldier, but his gun jams. The soldier rushes Red with a bayonet, and Red trips and falls. Croft comes out and stops the soldier from killing Red, and the Japanese man surrenders. Red goes back to camp, and Croft and Gallagher take the soldier prisoner. Croft gives the prisoner a cigarette and some chocolate. The prisoner shows them a picture of his family, and Gallagher tells him that his wife is going to have a baby shortly. Croft gives him another cigarette and then shoots him in the face, which brings him a perverse sense of pleasure.
Wilson hears about a sergeant in another platoon who makes good liquor. He borrows money from a few other men to buy some. Wilson buys four canteens and brings three back to the squad, hiding one for himself. The men get drunk together. Wilson offers Goldstein a drink, but he refuses, saying that he is in the middle of writing a letter to his wife. The men mock Goldstein for being Jewish, and he realizes he hates everyone around him. He writes to his wife that he cannot remember why he is fighting. The drunk members of the platoon look for corpses to loot, but only find bodies that have been picked clean of “souvenirs.” Wilson drinks the canteen he stashed away before he goes on watch. As he stands by the machine gun, drunk, he sees a bush that he thinks would be a good hiding spot for a Japanese soldier, so he shoots the bush. The men wake up in a rush, thinking they are under attack. When Croft realizes that Wilson is the only one shooting, he yells at him.
Hearn sits on a beach relaxing with the other officers as the enlisted men work in the forest. He realizes he does not like any of the other officers, and he has stronger feelings of resentment towards the enlisted men. The men discuss all the important men they knew back in the States, and one of them claims to have known Hearn’s father. Hearn quickly realizes that this man did not know his father, and he likely didn’t know any of the other important people he claimed to know either. Major Dalleson makes an officer with a camera take pictures of him shooting pebbles with his carbine to send back to his skeet shooting club back home.
A load of mail comes in. Wyman is upset because he didn’t get anything from his girl back home. Red comforts him. Wilson’s wife is angry that he doesn’t send more money, and Wilson has Gallagher transcribe an angry response for him. Gallagher reads his own letters and feels a pang of jealousy to discover that an old friend earned a promotion that he was once up for. The chaplain calls Gallagher in and reports to him that his wife has died in childbirth, but his child survived. He continues to get letters from his wife, however. When the last letter arrives, Gallagher freaks out. He wonders what the point of fighting is. “He thought of Hennessy and his mouth tightened. Get your head blown off...for what, for what?”
Stanley, who just made corporal, clashes with Sgt. Brown. The two are unsure how to relate to each other. Stanley tells a story about a time he stole and then repaid money from a store he worked at to buy cheap furniture. From the beach, Croft spots a couple Japanese soldiers in the forest. The platoon, led by Croft, shoots them both, but Minetta is hit in the leg. Brown expresses a contempt for women to Stanley, who begins to wonder if his own wife is being faithful.
The fighting settles down for a few weeks, and the lines begin to become stagnant. Cummings worries that the men are getting too comfortable in one place, which will make them unwilling to fight. He fears that if he cannot shift the front line, he will be replaced. His anxiety leads to health problems and constant outbursts directed at Hearn. Cummings commands Hearn to have Clellan, an enlisted man, put flowers in his tent each morning. This inspires conflict between Hearn and Clellan, which is what Cummings intends.
Hearn becomes frustrated and easily provoked. Cummings instructs him to go pick up supplies for the officers’ mess hall, but secretly pays off the seller to keep the goods from Hearn. Hearn bribes an assistant to get the supplies and later realizes what Cummings has done. The incident reframes Hearn’s past experiences with Cummings, which he realizes have all been aimed to anger him. Furious, Hearn extinguishes a cigarette on the floor of Cummings’s tent when Cummings is gone.
Cummings discovers that a sergeant has been falsifying his patrol reports and realizes that his entire command has likely been doing the same thing. He vows to crack down on disciplinary issues. He returns to his tent to discover Hearn’s cigarette. He summons Hearn to his tent for the first time since they played chess. They have an intense discussion about the war and what will happen afterwards. Cummings reiterates his distaste for women. Cummings explains to Hearn that he wants to be a type of god. Cummings smokes a cigarette and throws it on the ground, just as Hearn did. He commands Hearn to pick up the cigarette or he will be court-martialed. Hearns asks him for a transfer to another division and Cummings denies his request and tells him to work labor under Dalleson. Hearns cuts Cummings back by asking, “Short of bringing in every man in the outfit, all six thousand of them, and letting them pick up your cigarettes, how are you going to impress them?”
Minetta is in the hospital from his gunshot wound, which is healing quickly. He worries that he will be sent back to the front lines, so he deliberately re-opens his own wound. When he realizes he will likely be discharged, he decides that he would rather feign insanity in order to get sent home than return to the platoon. Minetta fires his gun in the medical tent and yells about enemy soldiers. A doctor is skeptical, but Minetta is sent to a separate tent for mental patients.
Minetta spends a couple days in the mental ward and realizes he can’t take it anymore, so he claims to have woken up with no memory of the past week. The doctor who was skeptical pulls him aside and tells him that he knew Minetta was faking. When Minetta goes back to the platoon, he reports that the hospital was nicer than the front, so Red and Wilson try to report as sick. The doctors dismiss Red, but they caution Wilson that he’ll need surgery after the war.
Cummings tries to devise a new attack plan. He thinks long and hard about the most effective ways to outmaneuver the Japanese army. He comes up with a plan that he thinks will be militarily successful and also inspire the men to fight hard. Cummings asks Dalleson what he would think if Cummings transferred Hearn to another unit, which Dalleson perceives as odd, since generals usually wouldn’t be concerned with such minutiae.
Hearn is doing busywork recording patrol logs when Dalleson comes in. The two begin to scrap, but Cummings interrupts. He asks Hearn to bring him a large and heavy map, which Hearn semi-accidentally drops on Cummings’s foot.
When Cummings hears that he will not get naval support, he has to adjust his attack plan. He comes up with a new strategy. The plan is to send a recon squad, led by Hearn, who Cummings will transfer, to scout a trail from the backside of the island towards the beach, thereby allowing Cummings to send in a full company through that route from the back. The secondary company would then overpower the beach defenses, allowing for a full invasion from the beach.
Part Three - Plant and Phantom.
Hearn joins the recon platoon on the boat to the other side of the island. He immediately realizes that Croft knows more than he does, and he doesn’t want the rest of the squad to realize that. Croft immediately dislikes Hearn because Hearn tries to befriend the men in the squad. Stanley tells Croft that he wishes Croft were still in charge. All the men are anxious about their own standing within the platoon, particularly the noncommissioned officers. Brown and Martinez discuss their fears. Croft and Hearn struggle for control of the platoon early in the mission, and Croft takes what Hearn will give him.
Roth and Minetta struggle to keep up with the rest of the platoon as they try to bushwack through the jungle. Croft gets on them for being slow, and Minetta snaps at Croft. Croft realizes Hearn will soon get comfortable around the platoon and take more control. Goldstein and Ridges end up doing most of Roth and Minetta’s work. Minetta picks on Roth for being Jewish, and Goldstein, who is also Jewish, takes Minetta’s side. The platoon slowly works their way through the jungle, cutting leaves at a rate of about two yards a minute. It takes them five hours to get through the jungle to open fields.
Hearn and Croft continue to subtly struggle for power. Hearn wants to try to go through a pass in the mountain range, but Croft wants to go over the mountain. Hearn continues to try to befriend the men in the platoon, which further angers Croft. Martinez, as the best at forging a trail, walks in front. Hearn stays in the back of the squad and realizes that no matter what he does he will not be able to get the men to like him.
The platoon comes across an exposed field. Hearn and Croft decide to split the platoon into two groups, one to lead the way and the other to provide cover. Croft offers to lead the first group, but Hearn elects to do it himself. The first group gets about halfway through the field when they begin taking fire. Hearn freezes when the shooting stops and realizes he is waiting for Croft to give an order. This realization frustrates him enough to get him to move. He leads the group in a retreat. They move away from the field for ten minutes before they realize Wilson is missing.
Wilson was shot in the stomach during the skirmish. He hides in a patch of tall grass, unseen to Japanese soldiers who he can hear talking. Croft, Red, Gallagher, Ridges, and Goldstein go back to the field to get Wilson. They bring him back to the rest of the platoon and realize his injury is too severe for him to continue the mission.
Polack, Roth, and Minetta are getting materials to build for a stretcher for Wilson, but Roth gets distracted by a baby bird. Everyone is looking at the bird as Croft builds the stretcher. Croft sees them gathered around the bird and goes into a rage. He crushes the bird and throws it. The men are furious about it, and Red decides that enough is enough and challenges Croft. Hearn breaks up the fight and orders Croft to apologize. He does so reluctantly and only becomes more angry at Hearn.
Brown, Stanley, Ridges, and Goldstein are assigned to carry Wilson back to the beach, and four more men (Minetta, Wyman, Polack, and Gallagher) go with them to help until they’re far from Japanese lines, leaving just five men: Hearn, Croft, Red, Roth, and Martinez. After Minetta, Wyman, Polack, and Gallagher return to the rest of the platoon, Brown stresses over the responsibility that he has been given. He realizes how important it is to him that they bring Wilson back alive.
Back on the other side of the island, Cummings is pleasantly surprised by how well the attacks are going. He realizes he has misjudged his men’s morale, but it has worked out for the best since the men are more inclined to fight when they are restless. He receives word that he will receive more naval support than he expected, and he wonders if the recon mission was necessary.
Roth is experiencing extreme anxiety, which is causing him stomach problems and keeping him from sleeping. He talks to Red and tries to thank him for standing up to Croft over the bird. Red recognizes that if he allows himself to become close with Roth, Roth’s death will be more painful, so he deliberately snaps at Roth to keep him distant. Red thinks to himself about the nature of the war. “‘Did the GIs die in vain?’ [Red] snorted. Who didn’t know the answer? Of course they died in vain, any GI knew the score.”
Hearn realizes that the mission has almost no chance of succeeding now that the Japanese know they’re there. He considers turning back, but he decides that he could not face Cummings empty handed. He finally understands that his whole motivation throughout the entire mission was to get back at Cummings.
That night, Hearn admits that there is nothing left to be gained, and he decides to turn around the next morning. However, Croft persuades him to send out a single man to see if the Japanese are still in the field where they were ambushed. They agree that if the recon man sees anything, they’ll turn back. They pick Martinez as the recon man, but before he leaves, Croft tells Martinez to report to Hearn that he saw nothing when he gets back.
At first, Martinez sees nothing. However, he soon realizes he has wandered into the middle of a Japanese camp, full of sleeping soldiers. He quietly kills the guard and escapes. He makes his way further through the valley and finds another Japanese camp. At this point, Martinez returns to the platoon and reports his findings to Croft. Croft warns him not to say anything about what he has seen to Hearn. Croft tells Hearn that Martinez saw nothing on his recon mission, and Hearn feels obligated to try to go through the valley.
Hearn is leading the men back through the valley when he is unceremoniously shot and killed. Croft feels a sense of relief. “No longer was there that confusion, that momentary internal pause before he gave an order.” The men are generally apathetic about Hearn’s death, seeing him as just another officer. Croft takes control of the platoon and decides to take the platoon up and over the mountain.
Brown, Stanley, Ridges, and Goldstein are still carrying Wilson back to the beach, which is difficult given the terrain, heat, and fatigue. The group moves about a hundred yards at a time. Wilson is drifting in and out of consciousness and swearing at the men carrying him. Brown and Stanley fight. Wilson wants water, but Brown says he can’t have any because he has a stomach wound. Wilson begins to hallucinate. Wilson demands that they leave him, and each man individually considers it. Stanley collapses, and Brown stays with him, while Ridges and Goldstein continue to carry Wilson back to the beach.
Croft cracks down on discipline to reassert himself as the leader of the platoon. Martinez tells the other men that he saw Japanese soldiers on his recon mission the night before, but when he reported it to Hearn, he didn’t believe it. Martinez believes that this is the truth. Martinez and Gallagher, as the Catholics of the group, discuss their fear of death, particularly with no priest around to confess their sins to if something were to happen to them. Croft knows that he must reach the top of the mountain, or the trick he pulled that got Hearn killed would be for nothing. But the mountain is extremely difficult, and the men are not motivated.
Goldstein and Ridges continue to carry Wilson. They are exhausted beyond conversation and can only carry Wilson for ten to fifteen yards at a time. Wilson continues to mutter nonsense. By the end of the day, they’ve advanced five miles since they left Brown and Stanley.
Cummings leaves the island for Army headquarters to appeal for more naval support. Major Dalleson is left in charge. Dalleson receives a report indicating a large breach in the Japanese lines and sees no choice but to attack. He finds himself hoping that the report is untrue, because he is unsure of what to do in the case that the report is correct. He realizes he is unqualified to be leading the Army in such a situation, and he wishes Cummings had not left. Dalleson quickly throws together an attack plan, and as the plan is executed, he realizes there are many things he has not considered.
Dalleson’s attack is wildly successful. The Japanese general is killed, along with much of his support staff. Cummings returns with the destroyer he just begged for, only to find that there is no longer much of a need for it. The destroyer provides a little bit of support from the sea, and the Americans essentially wrap up the campaign. Cummings has forgotten entirely about the recon mission.
Up on the mountain, the platoon has no idea what is happening with the rest of the campaign. The mountain proves more treacherous than even Croft expected, and every man in the platoon, including Croft, feels an internal desire to turn back. Minetta, Wyman, and Roth are dragging behind the rest of the squad. Roth begins to fall every hundred feet or so, to the increasing irritation of the rest of the platoon. Roth falls again and tells them to leave him behind. Gallagher hits him and yells, “Get up, you Jew bastard!” The comment angers Roth enough to motivate him to stand and continue.
The mountain terrain is becoming increasingly dangerous, and they come to a narrow ledge in front of a gap of about four feet. Croft sees no way over it but to jump, and everyone in the platoon achieves the jump with relative ease. Roth knows he cannot make the jump, but as he stands on the ledge, he hears Gallagher goading him. He jumps but comes up short and falls to his death.
Goldstein and Ridges continue to struggle with Wilson. Ridges can no longer remember why Wilson should not be allowed to have water and gives him some. Ridges comes to the realization that no matter what they do, Wilson is going to die. Both Ridges and Goldstein consider leaving Wilson, but they both decide that they cannot for religious reasons. Ridges asks Wilson to repent before he dies, and Wilson, who is no longer lucid, agrees. As they rest in preparation to cross a river, Wilson dies. Ridges and Goldstein continue to carry his body, but as they cross the river, they lose it. Ridges and Goldstein make it back to the beach and realize they have nothing to do but sit and wait for the rest of the squad.
The platoon is shaken after Roth’s death. They move a little bit farther and decide to camp for the night. Gallagher realizes the responsibility he has for Roth’s death. The next morning, Gallagher and Martinez turn on Croft and demand that they turn back. However, Croft will not waver and orders the men to continue on. Red declares that he will not continue either, and Croft threatens to shoot him. Red eventually backs down, bringing the lengthy power struggle between the two to a conclusion. Red admits to himself that the army “has him licked.”
Croft turns around a bend only to directly upset a hornets’ nest. The men run back to evade the hornets, and in their hurry, toss away their packs and rifles. Within fifteen minutes, they’ve made it back farther than the place they started that morning. Croft accepts defeat and wearily gives the order that they will go back to the beach and wait for the boat to bring them back to the American lines.
All the surviving members of the platoon meet back up on the beach. Stanley and Brown arrive only a few hours before Croft’s group. Once the boat picks them up, the men learn that the campaign is essentially over. They share laughter for a while, which is slowly replaced by a silent sadness, mixed with uncertainty and frustration that the entire patrol was for naught.
Part Four - Wake.
In the process of “mopping up,” Cummings discovers that a Japanese supply depot had been destroyed by artillery fire weeks before. The Japanese lines had been falling apart for months, and a week before the final attack, the Japanese had run out of ammo. Cummings looks back at his intelligence reports and sees that they gave no indication of Japanese weaknesses. “For a moment [Cummings] almost admitted that he had had very little or perhaps nothing at all to do with this victory, or indeed any victory -- it had been accomplished by a random play of vulgar good luck larded into a causal net of factors too large, too vague, for him to comprehend. He allowed himself this thought...but it caused him a deep depression.” The novel ends with Major Dalleson thinking of a new way to implement map training exercises, indicating that despite the lessons each character in the novel learned about the meaninglessness of war, the structures will remain unchanged.
Themes.
Throughout the novel, Mailer dwells on many themes. These themes are recurring throughout his works and reappear in several of his later essays and novels.
Dehumanization of soldiers Commenting on the dehumanization of soldiers in "The Naked and the Dead," Mailer said, "The book finds man corrupted, confused to the point of helplessness, but it also find that there are limits beyond which he cannot be pushed."
The narrator illustrates the exhaustion and humiliation of the soldiers' life: “When a man was harnessed into a pack and web belt and carried a rifle and two bandoliers and several grenades, a bayonet and a helmet, he felt as if he had a tourniquet over both shoulders and across his chest. It was hard to breathe and his limbs kept falling asleep.” Dehumanization of the soldier is also seen in Chapter 5 when the platoon had to carry antitank guns between 1st Battalion and A Company, which was about a mile of muddy trail. The men became numb and only went through the motions of carrying the guns and the generals disregarded the soldiers' exhaustion. The soldiers generally believed the army didn't see them as people and that "they don't care if you live or die here [the infirmary]. All they want is to get you back where you can stop a bullet".
Mailer described "The Naked and the Dead" as "'an odyssey of fear, exhaustion, and death,'" and presents the natural world as "uncaring, unyielding, implacable, and occasionally, beautiful." He adds insights into soldiers, like Martinez, in this context. Mailer writes that on his scouting mission, "Martinez was functioning more like an animal than a human." Mailer also distills how dehumanizing the enemy was an essential aspect to the structure of war. Mailer writes, "Martinez had a sense of unreality . . . They were men. The entire structure of war wavered in his brain for a moment."
Mailer concludes the platoon's climb of Mount Anaka, reinforcing the loss of the individual within war, writing that "[the soldiers] did not think of themselves as individual men any longer. They were merely envelopes of suffering. They had forgotten about the patrol, about the war, their past, they had even forgotten the earth they had just climbed."
Loneliness: Loneliness acted as an equalizer among soldiers and officers during the Second World War. Despite divisions of rank, economic, political, sexuality, or class, loneliness was a unilateral phenomenon among soldiers and officers during the Second World War. Furthermore, this factored into the construction of brotherhood in wartime. In "The Naked and the Dead," Goldstein feels a connection and a sort of alliance with Roth in their Jewish heritage. Although the men in the platoon do have a sense of brotherhood with one another, they still feel alone during their deployment.
Throughout the novel, the men long for women and deeper friendships. Roth, for example, wishes to have someone whom he “could talk to seriously.” He realizes that he doesn’t know his own comrades very well, since everyone he met when he initially entered the Army was either killed or reassigned somewhere else. The men degrade women through the narrative; however, the absence of women factors into their reaction to disparage women, whose presence on the front lines was limited.
Death: The men are faced with unexpected deaths, such as Hennessey's, Wilson, Hearn, Roth, and Gallagher’s wife who dies during childbirth. It is clear death surrounds them and their lives could be taken away in any moment. Cummings, having been surrounded by Army deaths the majority of his career, still never warms to the smell of rotting corpses. Red, like the other soldiers, realizes he or one of his comrades could be killed any minute. Even when they grew used to death and saw it as "large and devastating and meaningless. Men who were killed were nearly men no longer around", a comrade's death would cause "the idea of death [to be] fresh and terrifying again". This fear of death also had a negative impact on the mental health and sanity of the men. For instance, Red states, "Goddam Army gets you so you're afraid to turn around". The men began to have a pessimistic view of life believing "All dead things... everything lives to die" This was especially so since "that's all [soldiers] can ever do in the Army, sit and think" which caused the thoughts and fears of death to be constant and prevalent.
The first death in the novel introduces this theme into the narrative. Red observes Hennessey's death. The narrator reveals that "[u]ntil Hennessy had been killed, Red had accepted all the deaths of the men he knew as something large and devastating and meaningless . . . Hennessey's death had opened a secret fear." Croft is also surprisingly moved by Hennessey's death. The narrator declares that "Hennessey's death had opened to Croft vistas of such omnipotence that he was afraid to consider it directly. All day the fact hovered about his head, tantalizing him with odd dreams and portents of power." Gallagher's wife, Mary dies in childbirth in America. When Gallagher learns of her death, he continues to receive letters she sent before her death. Because of the disparity of time and space between men and women and their families during wartime, Gallagher considers that Mary "lived for him only at the exact time when he read her letters."
On the mission across Mount Anaka, Roth discovers a baby bird, and the platoon, with the exception of Croft, are fascinated by the bird. The bird symbolizes innocence and the futility of death during war, as Roth cares for the baby bird and Croft is then enraged by it and crushes the bird in his hand. Moreover, the contrast between Hearn and Roth's deaths reflects both the bonds of brotherhood made among soldiers during war and the division between rank. Lieutenant Hearn's death is immediate and has little recovery time, with the platoon mourning for ten or twenty seconds. Croft is even relieved by Hearn's death, as he is now in charge of the platoon again. In contrast, Roth's death "shatter[s] the platoon." Instead of choosing to face Croft, Roth chose to risk falling to his death. Not only is the platoon shattered, but Mailer underlines the division between the empowered and powerless, the narrator declares, "It was Croft's fault that Roth had been killed."
Power: Mailer's predominant theme throughout "The Naked and the Dead" is illustrated through the power relations among the men, especially the relationships between commanding officers and subordinates. Power is distilled in General Cummings's character. Cummings compares himself to the “chief monk” and God throughout the book. He also openly supports the class system within the military, and states Hearn must accept the “emotional prejudices of his class”, especially since he is an officer. People of higher ranks like Hearn and Cummings, after all, enjoy a better quality of life than the other foot soldiers. They sleep in larger staterooms while the soldiers share small rooms and are jammed into cots. This power system and power relations is reinforced within the missions. After Hearn dies, Croft is "relieved" that there is no longer a rival to his power and takes over leading the platoon up the mountain. While the other soldiers clearly want to stop and give up, they continue hiking the mountain simply because Croft commands them to. Chickenshit, as termed by Paul Fussell in "Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War", was a major aspect of the theme of power in the novel. This is shown in how Cummings makes Hearn do humiliating tasks and in the end sends him on a mission knowing he will die, which is the ultimate chickenshit since he sent him to die solely to demonstrate his power. This is another instance where the undemocratic nature of the Army is apparent. Analogous to the replacement of "fuck" with "fug," Fussell commented on the obscenity in war, arguing that explicit language in wartime became precious as a way for millions of conscripts to note, in a licensed way, their bitterness and anger.
During his service in World War II, Mailer did not yet have a plan for his war novel, but knew that he wanted to write a combat novel specifically set in the Philippines where "the American hunger for power was palpable." Mailer told his sister that he wrote to his wife, Bea, about his plans for a novella with "'a ridge or a peak as a symbol' of 'the higher aspirations of man, the craving for the secret, the core of life,'" and the Faustian need for power. In another letter to his wife, Mailer recounted an encounter with the top mess sergeant, who called him "'a chickenshit son of a bitch.'" This real life incident inspired Mailer to construct the pivotal confrontation between General Cummings and Lieutenant Hearn which leads indirectly to Hearn's death. Initially, Cummings burdens Hearn with small, chickenshit tasks, and later Hearn retaliates within restricted power dynamics by dropping a match on the General's floor and grounds it into the floor with his heel. According to General Cummings, "what Hearn had done was equivalent to a soldier's laying hands on his person." Thus, Cummings transfers Hearn to the platoon with Croft.
During World War II, General Patton was considered one of the most fastidious perpetuators of chickenshit, constantly enforcing the Army's dress code on his soldiers. Similarly, in "The Naked and the Dead," Dalleson harps on pride in the outfit of the Army.
J. Michael Lennon, Mailer's definitive biographer, claims that "Mailer's landscape descriptions crackle and pulse with energy and must be ranked among the best of postwar American writers.". Diana Trilling Diana Trilling observed, "'The most dramatic moments in "The Naked and the Dead" are precipitated by intensities in nature.'" While writing his combat novel, Mailer stated that "[t]here are going to be troubling terrifying glimpses of order in disorder, of a horror which may or may not lurk beneath the surface of things.'" Hennessey's death as well as Croft, Reed, and Martinez's "primitive glimpses of a structure behind things" is Mailer's depiction of '"the old business of man constructing little tag-ends of a Gd for himself in his moral wilderness.'" Mailer argued that everything is more direct in war and this dramatically impacts the senses and one's perception of realism. Mailer depicts this theme of power in nature and man's subjection to that in Cummings and Croft's reflection on Mount Anaka.
Homosexuality: The theme of homosexuality is most evident through Cummings. In his "Time Machine", Mailer illustrates Cummings growing up experiencing gender-role confusion. Although his mother supports Cummings' identity, his father refuses to have a son who is homosexual and thus sends him to military school. This portages the notion of the Army being only for "real men". However, there were a lot of homosexual men who were soldiers during WWII and as Allan Bérubé illustrates in "Coming Out Under Fire: History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two", they were often seen as trusted and respected soldiers and medics. While in the Army, it is clear Cummings developed romantic feelings towards Hearn and sexually desired him. Through Cummings, Mailer illustrates his beliefs of homosexuality. Although Mailer believes being homosexual is evil, it is interesting he had the general be the homosexual character in the novel, especially since he depicts the general as being a powerful figure who is a good leader. Mailer also includes homosexual characters in his other works as well, such as in "The Deer Park." Mailer directly addresses this theme and his beliefs of homosexuality in "The Homosexual Villain" stating he saw homosexuals as evil and always depicted them as the villain in his works but realized they were humans. Mailer utilizes the trope than men coded as homosexual are villains, repressed, and effeminate.
Brotherhood: "The Naked and the Dead" depicts the bonds of brotherhood during World War II, particularly examining the relationships among platoons. During World War II, soldiers developed strong friendships to which civilians could not relate. Croft expresses his feelings of brotherhood and tells his comrades, “You’re all good guys. You’re all chicken, and you’re all yellow, but you’re good guys. They ain’t a goddam thing wrong with you.” Mailer's use of Croft in this scene emphasizes the unilateral sentiment and necessity of brotherhood during wartime. The theme recurs in Part III when Brown, Goldstein, Ridges, and Stanley attempt to carry the wounded Wilson back to camp. Despite the physical strains, the men persisted in order to save Wilson. The brotherhood of the platoon is also illustrated by the group's reactions to the deaths of Hearn and Roth. New to the platoon, Hearn, when he was killed by Japanese soldiers, the platoon stood shocked for a couple of seconds but quickly moved on under the continued leadership of Croft. However, when in the wake of Roth's death, "the platoon was shattered. For ten minutes they huddled together on the shelf, too stricken, too terrified, to move on." The gravity of Roth's death demonstrates the deep bond of brotherhood, pervasive not only during World War II but more specifically among the platoon.
Masculinity: "The Naked and the Dead" acts as Mailer's introduction into the literary pantheon, and like his later works, Mailer portrays women as sexual objects. Many men, especially Brown, fear their wives are cheating on them while they are at war. This causes them to have more hatred towards women and a deep distrust towards them. Brown tells Stanley that if he finds out his wife cheated on him, he will beat her then throw her out. Later, in the Chorus “Women,” Polack insists that “there ain’t a fuggin woman is any good” and Brown agrees. Women are especially emphasized within "Time Machine" segments. In these segments, the men’s romantic relationships and sexual experiences are described in detail. In many of the "Time Machines", such as Martinez's, women are portrayed as simply sexual objects. In Croft's "Time Machine", we learn was cheated on by the women he loved which resulted in him being cold and having a hatred towards women. The men seem to disregard the fact that they have cheated several times on their partners but show extreme hatred in the thought of their wives cheating on them. The only character that seems to positively view his wife is Gallagher, who becomes miserable and lost after she dies. This deep hatred for women, however, is a way to mask how strongly these men miss and desire women; they desperately need women for a variety of different reasons.
Mailer exemplifies the construction of the masculine identity, and analyzes masculinity as socially constructed, context-specific and culture-bound. Male studies enforces "The Naked and the Dead" as part of American literature which reflects American society's conception of masculinity based on the representation of masculinity in American fiction. The construction of American masculinity predicated off of violence and adventure narratives is particularly distilled in Croft as the typified combat soldier.
Development.
Writing development: Before he left for basic training, Mailer was certain that he could write "THE war novel" based on his experiences as a cook and the experiences of soldiers in World War II. After returning home from the war, he moved to France with his first wife, Beatrice, where he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Here, in just 15 months, Mailer wrote his war novel as noted in his introduction to its Fiftieth Anniversary Edition.
Mailer states his writing inspiration came from the great Russian novelists like Leo Tolstoy. While writing, Mailer often read "from "Anna Karenina" most mornings before he commenced his own work." Mailer believed Tolstoy enabled him to bring compassion to his pages; Tolstoy taught him that "compassion is valueless without severity." Mailer was convinced he brought this compassion to "The Naked and the Dead", and it is what enabled a 25-year-old to write an incredible war novel.
Throughout his writing process, Mailer explained, he "used to write twenty-five pages of first draft a week," which allowed his novel to flow from page to page. Mailer felt this novel was the easiest for him to write, as he finished it quickly and passionately. He later stated, "Part of me thought it was possibly the greatest book written since "War and Peace"."
Despite the author’s self-praise, he acknowledged his writing immaturity within the novel. Mailer insisted "it was sloppily written in many parts (the words came too quickly and too easily) and there was hardly a noun in any sentence that was not holding hands with the nearest and most commonly available adjective." However, despite this criticism, Mailer believed the book deserved to be a best seller. It was written with vigor and contained acute descriptiveness which enabled readers to imagine what World War II was really like. Mailer admitted that he still returned to "The Naked and the Dead" occasionally and reread passages because they gave him hope “for all of us.”
Character that represents Mailer: Mailer stated he did not portray himself as one of the characters. However, he mentions the character of Roth is the most similar to himself. He states Roth's experiences within the novel closely resembled his own experiences in WWII, especially in comparison to the other characters. This similarity is also evident in how they are both Jewish but don't necessarily strongly declare being Jewish.
"Fug".
The publishers of "The Naked and the Dead" prevented Mailer from using the word "fuck" in his novel and had to use the euphemism "fug" instead. Mailer's version of a subsequent incident follows:
The word has been a source of great embarrassment to me over the years because, you know, Tallulah Bankhead's press agent, many years ago, got a story in the papers which went..."Oh, hello, you're Norman Mailer," said Tallulah Bankhead allegedly, "You're the young man that doesn't know how to spell..." You know, the four-letter word was indicated with all sorts of asterisks.
The incident is mentioned in John Green's "An Abundance of Katherines". Colin Singleton tells Lindsey Lee Wells he likes to read literary criticism after reading a book. Colin says the publisher indicated that no one in 1948 would buy "The Naked and the Dead" "'because it contains even more F-bombs than it does Regular Bombs.' So Norman Mailer, as a kind of fug-you to the publisher, went through his 872-page book and changed every last F-word to 'fug.'"
The rock band the Fugs took their name from this word.
Reception.
In 1948, at the age of twenty-five, Mailer published "The Naked and the Dead," which was extremely successful. The book sold 200,000 copies in its first three months and remained on the "New York Times" best seller list for 62 weeks. Later, Modern Library named "The Naked and the Dead" one of the top hundred novels in the English language.
Publisher Bennett Cerf declared in 1948 "only three novels published since the first of the year that were worth reading ... "Cry, the Beloved Country", "The Ides of March", and "The Naked and the Dead"."
Hartley Shawcross as Attorney General for England and Wales explained why he would not prosecute the book under the Obscene Publications Acts: "Whilst there is much in this most tedious and lengthy book which is foul, lewd and revolting, looking at it as a whole I do not think that its intent is to corrupt or deprave or that it is likely to lead to any result other than disgust at its contents." Tom Driberg welcomed the decision. In its initial review the "Times Literary Supplement" complained that the novel "grows increasingly unreadable" due to Mailer's tendency to "leave nothing out". The "Daily Telegraph" described the novel as "dull" for the same reason.
Later, Gore Vidal would write:
My first reaction to "The Naked and the Dead" was: it’s a fake. A clever, talented, admirably executed fake. I have not changed my opinion of the book since… I do recall a fine description of men carrying a dying man down a mountain… Yet every time I got going in the narrative I would find myself stopped cold by a set of made-up, predictable characters taken not from life, but from the same novels all of us had read, and informed by a naïveté which was at its worst when Mailer went into his Time-Machine and wrote those passages which resemble nothing so much as smudged carbons of a Dos Passos work.