Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office

was charged with the training and administration of all U. S. Army
ground and air force troops in the South Pacific. His advent clarified
the supply and administration of the string of island bases and
lessened any possibility of Army units disintegrating organically
under local Navy, Marine, or New Zealand control.
General Harmon had stepped directly from the post of Chief of
the Air Staff. Moreover, the small staff which flew down with him
to Noumea in the last week of July numbered such officers as Brig.
Gen. Nathan F. Twining, future commander of the Thirteenth and
Fifteenth Air Forces; Lt. Col. Dean C. Strother, future commander
of the Thirteenth's fighters; and Col. Frank Everest who was to
command its bombers. If Admiral McCain retained operational control
of Air Corps units, he recognized that the wide dispersion and
dissimilar composition of his air establishment made it impracticable
to exercise his command directly. Training and a certain amount
of tactical discretion remained to COMGENSOPAC and his subordinate
commanders.
In July the Army Air Forces were mainly represented in the forward
area by the iith Bombardment Group (Heavy) and the 67th
Fighter Squadron. The former disposed of 27 B-17's on New Caledonia
and 8 at Nandi in the Fijis. The 67th mustered 38 P-39's and
P-4oo's, all on New Caledonia. The P- 4oo, to quote the men who
flew it, was "a cheap version of the early P-3 9's." Additionally, there
were on New Caledonia io B-26's with a dozen more in the Fijis.
The ilth Group and the Landing
in the Solomons
D ESPITE the fact that a workable basis for Army-Navy cooperation
had been reached at a time when the June victory at
Midway made it possible to mount an initial offensive against
the Japanese, the remainder of 1942' loomed precariously for the
Allies in the South Pacific. The Midway battle had only approximately
restored the balance of fleet power. Shipping was extremely
short. Only the ist Marine Division, reinforced, could be spared for
the assault on Guadalcanal. General Harmon found himself in command
of units originally sent posthaste in early 1942 to garrison the
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