Although this is a book about war and has a fair
complement of bloody battles and military maps with
menacing arrows, pincer movements and the like it is
not essentially a war book. Rather it deals with the
impact of a modern war on the remote people of the
Solomons, people of great physical sturdiness and
splendid ruggedness of character, themselves with a long
still well remembered (and secretly cherished) tradition
of warlike ways but these last generations treading the
way of peace, or almost so. The underlying theme is
the courage faith and self-sacrifice of the islanders to
which the book is primarily dedicated, and the
"blossoming of their varied talents", which makes this
much more than a slice of history. I would hope that
this is the second book of a trilogy, first the idyllic
backwater of the author's "Happy Isles", then this,
a baptism of fire, and a rough collision with the great
technological world outside, and the third book to
come, I trust, the emergence of a united people with
a new self-confidence and a pride in their history and
achievements.
It is their lot to inhabit the last of the island stepping
stones between the countries of Asia and the great
spaces of the Pacific, and it was precisely this
circumstance which caused the Solomons to become the
cockpit of the Pacific War; the victorious Japanese
seeking to establish a springboard for assault on
Australia and New Zealand to the South, the
Americans and their allies seeking to gain a toe-hold
on the first stepping stone on the long road back to
the enemy mainland. The past history of the Protectorate
was not, on the face of it, such as to command
the co-operation of the islanders. The Protectorate had
been administered on a shoe string with precious little
in the way of social services or economic development,
with no political participation -- the islanders had in
fact nothing much to preserve or protect or to fight for.
Nor could the confusion, the breakdown of services, the
disordered evacuation before the advancing enemy have
encouraged in them great faith. But they stayed
resolute -- for two reasons I think, first a firm belief
in the Crown -- and the concept of kingship however
remote was part of their way of life -- and also, one
likes to think, because of a genuine personal affection
and mutual respect for the administrators, missionaries
and planters who had shared their lives over the years,
and however fallible, as they were now shown to be, had
tried their best. Early misdemeanours by the Japanese
removed any lingering doubts there may have been.
In his first forty pages (and for the last thirty years)
the author is highly critical of the local administration,
of the High Commission in Fiji and indeed of all
officialdom at this time. "It was more important for the
higher echelons of Government to maintain their
status quo vis a vis the Services . . . . than to get on with
the war" . And "No one in Fiji had thought far
enough ahead to consider the retaking of the islands". But, pray, with what? There were places far better
found, far better prepared, far better defended than the
Solomons -- Singapore, Hong Kong, Dutch East
Indies for example -- which went for a Burton but the
Solomons administration stuck it out. Although at the
time I shared the author's irritation and impatience,
reflection impels me to pay tribute to Marchant, the
Resident Commissioner, who kept the show going in
however a rudimentary way, at a time when, after the
disaster of Pearl Harbour, Allied strength in the
Pacific was practically zero. The author is too hard.
The great achievement of the book is the way the
author welds together the story of great strategic
thrusts with that of the silent mission of the
Coastwatcher, the story of massive confrontations
at sea and of bloody battles ashore with the secret
exploits of Clemens, Vouza, Seton, Goratara and their
solitary companions, the famous battle of the Ridge
with the stealthy movement of unarmed islanders
through enemy lines, the story of great enemy air
armadas tracked to their doom by little groups of
watchers deep in enemy territory, a story of the
interdependence of great events and small, of armed
battalions and unarmed irregulars. The author succeeds
wonderfully well in his task of identifying the people
with great events although for the general reader, he
perhaps overloads the detail. It is also perhaps a pity,
in view of the vividness of the report by the already
legendary Sgt. Major Vouza of the events for which he
was awarded the George Medal, and that of the
admirable Saku, that the author did not obtain more
first hand accounts from the islanders, accounts no
doubt by now woven into the folklore. But that
would have meant a much longer book and there are
signs in the text that the author was operating under
strict limits of space (imposed by the publisher?). I
suspect, too, that a lot of descriptive writing has been
blue pencilled -- if so a pity because the author is at his
best in descriptive prose informed by a deep and
abiding love of the Solomons and all that therein is --
"days which told of heaven".
Some faults. The dust-cover is a bit crude, but so was
life in those days. A number of the maps are inadequate
and some badly placed; for example the first map of
Guadalcanal does not appear until page 62 and even
then does not include many place names and features
previously mentioned in the text. There are also some
errors -- see Sangigai (famous place) misplaced on
Choiseul. Finally the conversation pieces introduced
no doubt in the interests of topicality, are somewhat
contrived and seem a little dated.
A book primarily for those who knew the Solomons
in the war but much to be commended to students of
Colonial affairs, aficionados of the Pacific, military
historians and practitioners -- indeed to most people,
and especially to District Officers past and present
should some there still be.
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