When you read books you often go down rabbit holes and I don’t quite remember how I arrived at this rabbit hole but I down loaded it off Kindle for 30 odd dollars because of a vague reference in another book, and I thought to myself ,I don’t know much about the history of the coast watchers, so its time to fix that..
Well, for those of you who don’t know much about WW2 history, or the war in the Pacific, or how close NZ and Australia came to becoming colonies of the Japanese, then read my review and read this highly recommended book.
And by the way, its not a history of the Coastwatchers, it’s a true story about how the Yanks might not have won at Guadalcanal without this organisation, set up as the situation in Asia deteriorated in the late 1940’s and 1941. As most will recall, Japan attacked Pearl Harbour on Dec 7th 1941, and by late June 1942 had rolled up virtually all the Pacific as far as Australia.
In early June 1941 the Japanese had suffered a military defeat at Midway, losing 4 out of 4 carriers but they were by now sniffing around the Solomons, a British Protectorate, hoping to capture it and thus cut off NZ and Australia from America.
Martin Clemens was a young officer in the colonial service who ended up in the Solomons, adapting quickly to the lonely life, and isolation of that area. He describes his life there pre Japanese, the setting up of the Coastwatchers, how he ran it such that the information he supplied back was accurate, and how that was instrumental in forming the credibility of the organisation. His information caused the Americans to panic over the consequences of losing Guadalcanal, as basically there was no other forces available to defend the island chain on the Allied side.
The 1st Marines on the East Coast of America were quickly mobilised with the 5th Marines on the West Coast, and the 7th in Samoa. By 7th August the 1st Marines were landed on the coast by the airstrip that the Japanese had been building, and had just finished, all reported in detail by Martin’s network.
Martins network was instrumental in the defeat of the Japanese because his intel was so accurate, timely and local. He built it up to over 400 natives, eventually all armed, who also took a toll on the enemy, no prisoners were taken except if requested for informational purposes. They also rescued over 250 American airman and returned them to service, while the Japanese lost all theirs due to lack of parachutes, non-sealing fuel tanks on the aircraft, and the native depredations. This was a massive loss to the Japanese as they had suffered huge losses of their pilot elites at Midway as well.
Martin survived, just, behind enemy lines, high in the remote bush highlands with little food, until the Marines landed. He then came in out of the cold and essentially ran the Marines intel section, as well as going on escapades to eliminate pockets of Japanese.
By January 5th 1943 30,000 Japanese had been defeated, 25,000 being killed, but it took many more months to subdue the remnants.
Martin clearly had great interpersonal skills as an Englishman, he rallied the natives, he had their respect, he built trust with them, and with them developed one of the worlds best intel systems. From there he joined the Marines and fought with them, again using his interpersonal skills such that he was personal friends with their General Vandergrift, and trusted by them to run their intel services.
Guadalcanal was, as Wellington said in a previous generation “A near run thing”. Without Martin and the Coastwatcher’s the outcome may have been different, ending in defeat, and re-invasion against a more entrenched enemy.
His book is a fascinating read, well written, militarily interesting and describes well the privations of himself, the natives and the Marines in that grim struggle.. For instance out of 15,000 Marines in November 1942, 2500 were down with malaria, increasing to over 3,000 in December. Martin never got Malaria due to the use of qunine.
It also gives us an insight into the colonial service and how a few white people looked after 15,000 or more natives pre war, bringing justice and structure to what had been a bunch of headhunters.
“The Coastwatcher’s saved Guadalcanal and Guadalcanal saved the South Pacific.” – Admiral William Halsey
“Alone on Guadacanal. A Coastwatcher’s Story” by Martin Clemens
No Minister 
I went down a rabbit hole prompted by your article and my remembering of a band I listed to when I was at Uni, called Guadalcanal Diary, which was named after this book.
Interesting. He doesnt mention the Coast Watchers, and Martin doesnt mention the Press hardly at all except to say most didnt last long and took the first boat or plane out.
Go to Madang in PNG and at the entrance to the harbour is the Coastwatchers Memorial. If caught they were executed by the Japanese.
Read the Trilogy on the Pacific War by Ian W Toll.
When the Solomons were invaded there was v little info on the place, charts out of date, v few Europeans who had been there let alone lived there.
The area off Guadalcanal is known as Iron Bottom Sound owing to the number of ships sunk. In the 1980s steaming past Henderson Field you could still see the craters and there were still wrecks of ships and aircraft all around there and PNG. The first time the Japanese were stopped was at the Battle of the Coral Sea and at Milne Bay in PNG then Kokoda.
Thanks LL. Yes you are quite right about the Solomons and in the book it is quite clear how much local knowledge was provided by his team.
Most of the locals blended in and out of the forced Japanese work parties and hence were able to get accurate numbers on armament and numbers of men and disposition.
I dont think any of Martins coast watchers were caught, and they were able to get around in schooners and small boats they had hidden in creeks etc.
Because everything the Japs supplied came down the “slot” they were able to count ships and planes on the way in, then get accurate losses by counting the ones on the way back!
Vandegrift wrote a foreword to the book in which he quoted James Michener “Return to Paradise” who stated on British run islands not one white man was betrayed to the Japs.
That contrasted with the Australian and German ones where the natives sold and betrayed missionaries, coast watchers and downed pilots.
Very interesting. Proofing would help, however.
Sorry my wife wasnt home, and I posted it without her permission :). Despite my education , it is my weak point.
Taken care of – I hope. Including that it was 4 Jap carriers sunk at Midway, not 3. Funnily enough, back in 2022 I reviewed the 2019 movie about that battle. One of the best war movies ever made.
Cass… No need for the comma after help.
Your review also brings to mind the superb TV mini-series, The Pacific, which was the successor to Band of Brothers.
Critics tend to favour the latter over the former because Band followed one group throughout the war, whereas Pacific has to split between the first and second half of the Pacific war due it being based on two books by US Marines, one of whom was invalided home about a year before the war ended.
But for me it was the better series, and I think the reason is that it captured the way almost all the Marines were slowly brutalised by their combat with the Japanese, whereas the BoB group had only one or two like that after fighting the Nazis.
Yes I agree with you, I enjoyed the Pacific too.
I think the difference was the Japanese culture of the time where the foot soldier was worth nothing in the eyes of the higher echelons of the army, where even officers were prepared to die for the Emperor, no questions asked.
As the Jap foot soldier was lowest of the low, the conquered were even lower in their eyes, hence brutalising the enemy and the conquered was just natural behavior learnt from above.
Alligator Creek battle was a case in point, human waves just like the Russians today. The General ate through his troops in about 4 waves accounting for around 1500 to 2000 troops, and then he committed suicide.
Thanks for the editing too !
You might enjoy reading up on Kiwi Coastwatcher Donald Kennedy, also in the Solomons.
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Captain Donald G. Kennedy, New Zealand, for extraordinary heroism in action against Japanese forces as a Coast Watcher at Sergi Point, New Georgia, in the Solomon Islands. Captain Kennedy he led his men in numerous skirmishes and destroyed or captured many Japanese troops, machine-guns, and barges, with negligible injury to his force. He also rescued many downed American airmen.”
https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/32106/Kennedy-Donald-Gilbert.htm
‘…when the long trick’s over’: Donald Kennedy in the Pacific
https://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/bib/P00000430.htm
https://www.solomonencyclopaedia.net/biogs/E000068b.htm