when he found out about Richardson, and "knew General MacArthur well enough to know that he was going to be difficult to get along with". Eichelberger departed for Australia on 20 August with 22 members of his staff in a B-24 Liberator. I Corps controlled the two American divisions in Australia: Major General Forrest Harding's 32nd Infantry Division, based at Camp Cable near Brisbane; and Major General Horace Fuller's 41st Infantry Division at Rockhampton, Queensland, where Eichelberger, who was promoted to lieutenant general on 21 October, decided to establish his I Corps headquarters. His I Corps came under the command of Lieutenant General Sir John Lavarack's Australian First Army. On meeting Australian commanders, Eichelberger noted that many of them "had already been in combat with the British in North Africa, and, though they were usually too polite to say so, considered the Americans to be—at best—inexperienced theorists." He was disturbed at the level of training received by the two American divisions. Instead of training for jungle warfare, they were following the same syllabus used in the United States. He warned MacArthur and MacArthur's chief of staff, Major General Richard K. Sutherland, that the divisions could not be expected to meet veteran Japanese troops on equal terms. He decided in September that the 32nd Infantry Division should proceed to New Guinea first, as Camp Cable was inferior to the 41st Infantry Division's camp at Rockhampton. Eichelberger's fears were realized when the overconfident 32nd Infantry Division suffered a serious reverse in the Battle of Buna-Gona. Harding was confident that he could capture Buna "without too much difficulty", but poor staff work, inaccurate intelligence, inadequate training and, above all, Japanese resistance, frustrated the American efforts. The Americans found themselves confronted by a network of well-sited and expertly prepared Japanese positions, accessible only through a swamp. The Americans' failure damaged their relationship with the Australians and threatened to derail MacArthur's entire campaign. Eichelberger and a small party from I Corps headquarters were hurriedly flown up to Port Moresby in a pair of C-47 Dakotas on 30 November. MacArthur ordered Eichelberger to assume control of the battle at Buna. According to Byers and Eichelberger, MacArthur told him "in a grim voice": The next day, Eichelberger's party was flown to Dobodura, where he assumed command of US troops in the Buna area. He relieved Harding, and replaced him with the division's artillery commander, Brigadier General Albert