General Kenney Reports

February 28, 2017

General Kenney Reports is a classic account of a combat commander in action. General George Churchill Kenney arrived in the South- west Pacific theater in August 1942 to find that his command, if not in a shambles, was in dire straits. The theater commander, General Douglas MacArthur, had no confidence in his air element. Kenney quickly changed this situation. He organized and energized the Fifth Air Force, bringing in operational commanders like Whitehead and Wurtsmith who knew how to run combat air forces. He fixed the logistical swamp, making supply and maintenance supportive of air operations, and encouraging mavericks such as Pappy Gunn to make new and innovative weapons and to explore new tactics in airpower application.

The result was a disaster for the Japanese. Kenney’s airmen used air power-particularly heavily armed B-25 Mitchell bombers used as com- merce destroyers-to savage Japanese supply lines, destroying numerous ships and effectively isolating Japanese garrisons. The classic example of Kenney in action was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, which marked the attainment of complete Allied air dominance and supremacy over Japa- nese naval forces operating around New Guinea.

http://media.defense.gov/2010/May/26/2001330291/-1/-1/0/AFD-100526-032.pdf

600 pages. Kenney Composed this just after the end of hostilities.