A  3rd Marine Division unit heads off the front lines at Cape Torokino. The Marines here bear little resemblance to the Infantry soldiers in the next photo that have just landed to relieve them. The U.S. Army fielded a more complex logistical organization capable of supporting sustained combat over a long period and long distances. Soldiers were also trained for long periods of sustained fighting. The Marines on the other hand were expert at violently projecting power- establishing and defending an amphibious toehold, but not at undertaking prolonged combat. They didn't have the logistics for it. Get in, Get it Done, and Get Out. (scanned by HOS Bandit)

The Job of a Marine

On November 21, 1943, on the Island of Bougainville, the unsupported vanguard company of 2/21 Marines blundered into a Japanese blocking position at the junction of Numa Numa and East-West trails as it sought to occupy the same position. Outnumbered 3 to 1, as the rest of their battalion rushed to their defence, all units were able to consolidate behind a screen of artillery, fired by this and other 105mm Howitzers. (scanned by HOS Bandit)

105mm Howitzer of 2/21 Marines

Company I/3/7s 75mm Pack Howitzers are set in on dry ground behind Beach Yellow, Cape Gloucester. Designed for expeditionary warfare and from small boats, the pack howitzers could be broken into four component assemblies that often were loaded aboard AMTRACS to be landed on invasion beaches or ported across swampy ground and other terrain that was inaccessible to wheeled vehicles. (scanned by HOS Bandit)