The Odd Couple: Blamey and MacArthur at War (review)

A veteran of World War II's South West Pacific campaigns, Jack Gallaway has brought both personal perspective and nationalistic aspiration to The Odd Couple: Blamey and MacArthur at War. The results are mixed. The book is an entertaining and pleasurable read, but one that does not entirely fulfill its promise.

Gallaway's central goal is to demonstrate that General Douglas MacArthur's reputation in the South West Pacific was overblown, and built on the unheralded and unrewarded accomplishments of his Australian troops. Throughout 1942 and 1943 Australian units were the dominant component of MacArthur's ground forces, and his victories in New Guinea were due mainly to the sacrifices of these soldiers. That MacArthur never acknowledged this debt is a great affront to Gallaway. Instead, MacArthur's press releases and despatches fed upon his great vanity, and identified himself alone as the source of all success. MacArthur's efforts at self-promotion and media manipulation are already well established, but Gallaway's interpretation is refreshingly direct, and well chronicles the supreme commander's flaws, both personal and military.

For Gallaway, the better military figure in the South West Pacific was MacArthur's Australian subordinate, the eclipsed General Thomas Blamey. Technically, Blamey commanded all ground troops in the theatre, although in reality MacArthur limited this to just Australian units. While admitting Blamey's personal flaws, Gallaway highlights the Australian general's self-effacing personality, and his willingness to visit the front, mingle with the troops and give credit where credit was due. Blamey is unable to reach the high levels to which Gallaway aspires on his behalf, and the contrast in command style that the author had hoped to establish is not sustained. MacArthur so dominates the narrative that even when presented in a negative light the force of his personality overpowers the other man. Blamey remains little more than a shadow, outshone at every opportunity.

Gallaway's work does raise an important historiographical question—how to credit the contribution of a minor ally in a coalition dominated by a major power. For Australia, this is a perennial problem. In this case, Australian soldiers failed to gain their deserved recognition because their leaders were either unable or did not desire to play MacArthur's game. Gallaway raises the issue but does not pose a solution, although he makes it clear that he would have recoiled at employing MacArthur's methods.

Despite its university press credentials, The Odd Couple is aimed squarely at the general reader. Gallaway, an accomplished journalist, writes with a fluid, page-turning style. However, his near total reliance on secondary sources—Blamey's and MacArthur's papers are barely touched upon—limits its utility for the scholarly reader.