Description

258 pages scanned

This is the official unit history of the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade (2 ESB), an amphibious engineer unit of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that served exclusively in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Known informally as the “Cape Cod Commandos,” the brigade specialized in operating landing craft and establishing beachheads, participating in more amphibious operations than any other U.S. unit in the war — from their earliest landings in New Guinea in 1943 all the way through the liberation of the Philippines in 1945.

Written in a vivid, first-person-plural narrative voice, the book chronicles the brigade’s training, combat operations, hardships, and camaraderie in remarkable detail. It incorporates official commendations from General Douglas MacArthur and General Walter Krueger, personal accounts of individual acts of heroism, and a candid account of the challenges of amphibious warfare in the Pacific — from the mangrove swamps of New Guinea to the shores of Corregidor.

The brigade’s record includes 82 combat amphibious landings, over two million troops landed without a single accidental drowning, 1,530,056 tons of cargo discharged, 48 enemy aircraft shot down, and three Presidential Unit Citations.

Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter I – Early Days on Cape Cod
Chapter II – Last Days in the U.S.
Chapter III – In Sunny Queensland
Chapter IV – Baptism of Fire
Chapter V – Salamaua, Lae, and Finschhafen
Chapter VI – New Britain, Saidor, and the Admiralties
Chapter VII – Hollandia and Tanahmerah
Chapter VIII – Closing Days of the New Guinea Campaign
Chapter IX – The Leyte Landing
Chapter X – Mindoro
Chapter XI – On to Corregidor
Chapter XII – The Victor Operations
Chapter XIII – Intermission: VE-Day and Readjustment
Chapter XIV – Homeward Bound

Appendices
Appendix II – Unit Chronology (June 1942 – August 1945)
Appendix III – Commanders and Staff Officers, All Units Since Activation
Appendix IV – Decorations and Citations
Appendix V – Commendations
Appendix VI – Killed in Action