The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point, Vol. II (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) [Paperback]

William L. McGee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2002

THE SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS is the second volume in William L. McGee s acclaimed Pacific war trilogy, AMPHIBIOUS OPERATIONS IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC IN WORLD WAR II.

From the Back Cover
The U.S. halted the Japanese advance at Midway and the Coral Sea. But in the Solomons, the U.S. not only stopped them, they began pushing them back!

All the Solomons Campaigns from Guadalcanal to Bougainville are described in this book. The author also continues to follow the new landing craft crews featured in Volume I, THE AMPHIBIANS ARE COMING!,  as they move up the Slot with each new campaign.

• Part I, THE SOUTHERN SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS covers the bloody six-month struggle for Guadalcanal. The relationship between ground fighting, naval warfare and air combat is described in considerable detail as first one side and then the other gains the advantage. Seven major naval engagements are recounted.
• Part II, THE CENTRAL SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS chronicles the amphibious operations in the New Georgia Islands group including the five separate landings at Rendova, Segi Point, Viru Harbor, Wickham Anchorage, and Rice Anchorage, plus three more significant naval battles and the occupation of Vella Lavella.
• Part III, THE NORTHERN SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS recounts the seizure of the Treasuries, the Choiseul Diversion and the Bougainville campaign, plus two more significant naval battles.
• LESSONS LEARNED - Finally, the many valuable lessons learned during the Solomons Campaigns are summarized, ranging from logistic support and force requirements to offshore toeholds and leapfrogging. Most became doctrine in later Pacific campaigns.

Other books in the series
Vol. I, THE AMPHIBIANS ARE COMING! Emergence of the Gator Navy and its Revolutionary Landing Craft
Vol. III, PACIFIC EXPRESS: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A World War II navy veteran and prolific author, McGee has written the second of a three-volume set that will form a definitive account of naval, sea, and land operations in the South Pacific, where America's response to Pearl Harbor began. McGee's narrative coverage in this second volume is encyclopedic, providing concise details of operations, often on a daily basis. His introductory essay is an informative summary of events from 1931 to 1941 that illustrates how these events led up to World War II. An exhaustive list of sources and notes creates a solid background for a detailed but readable text. In addition to battle history, the book discusses logistics, tactics, and the deployment of forces. Most useful is the author's analysis of the campaigns ("Lessons Learned in the Solomons"). Numerous interviews and recollections of veterans bring in the war's human side, and a long list of military abbreviations and designations aids the reader, as do photos, maps, and charts. This work is a thoroughgoing historical record and analysis that historians and scholars will find invaluable. Recommended for academic and large public libraries and for specialized collections. David M. Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, N.Y.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

Marine Corps League Magazine
One real-life incident during World War II was the inspiration for the box office success Saving Private Ryan ....However, there is enough gripping drama, heroism, and heartbreak in McGee's almost encyclopedic The Solomons Campaigns to supply Hollywood with material for a century.... It is difficult to select what to excerpt from McGee s narrative, because his spare but effective style is as precise and economical as a Mickey Spillane novel....His narrative is copiously supplemented with photographs, tables, stats, command lists, and even official critiques of operations and lessons learned. He drew extensively on a variety of sources to tell the whole tale: records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Navy, Marine, Army and Army Air Corps archives, Japanese records, veterans accounts, memoirs, and other histories of the campaigns. And, as with a good Spillane novel, his tale bears repeated readings.--Edward Cline

Midwest Book Review
Amphibians Are Coming! is a deeply engaging biographical history of World War II ship-to-shore landing craft and their crews....A welcome and informative addition to personal, academic, and community library World War II history and reference collections.

Leatherneck, Magazine of the Marines
Author William L. McGee's work is intended to accomplish a mighty task: to encompass the entire Solomons campaigns in a single, detailed study. The result is a masterpiece. The indexes and appendices are the book's crown jewels. A great read worthy of any Marine s time and efforts.--Capt. Scott E. Ukeiley

WWII History Magazine
The Solomons Campaigns is a broad-ranging and informative study, a masterwork of extensive research, brisk prose, and convincing analysis.

Sea Classics Magazine
William L. McGee is no novice when it comes to writing. Nor is he an armchair historian. He has lived much of what he writes. Volume I focuses on the landing craft themselves. McGee offers immense detail on these unique flat-bottomed vessels the LCTs, LCIs, LSTs and LSMs. This same penchant for authentic detail is evident in McGee s second volume. Certainly one of the longest of the hard-fought Pacific battles, the six month campaign to secure these islands fills Volume II with enough dynamic action, derring-do, brutal horror and conflict to keep one on the edge of his chair for days on end.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 688 pages
• Publisher: BMC Publications (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970167873
• ISBN-13: 978-0970167873
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William L. McGee (1925- ) was born and raised on a ranch in Montana. At age 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Naval Armed Guard from 1942-1946 in the Pacific. After the war, he worked as a dude wrangler on an exclusive Nevada divorce ranch 20 miles south of Reno that catered to wealthy divorce seekers who came for a six-week divorce. In 1950, Mr. McGee left cowboying and made a successful transition to the film, radio and TV industry where he enjoyed a 32-year career in broadcast sales. Mr. McGee is the author of numerous books and is a member of Broadcast Legends and Western Writers of America. He and his co-author wife, Sandra, are currently consulting on a feature-length documentary, "Reno and the Romance of Divorce" (anticipated completion: 2012/2013). Visit the author's web site at www.williammcgeebooks.com.

Sandra McGee is a former publicist for the performing arts and currently VP/Director of Marketing for BMC Publications. Sandra is a member of Western Writers of America.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "In a League of its Own", February 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point, Vol. II (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) (Paperback)

Author, WWII Navy veteran and military historian William L. McGee has done it again! His Volume I, "The Amphibians Are Coming!" was a fabulous work, but Volume II, "The Solomons Campaigns" is in a league of its own.

Readers get a firsthand account of the way it was done with LCIs, LCTs and LSTs as they hauled the Marines, Army and Air Force and their tools of war in the Pacific Theater.

Navy and coast guardsmen can more fully appreciate the role they played in those flat-bottomed, hard-riding sand and coral scrappers.

This volume covers Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Gavutu, Savo Island, Cape Esperance, Santa Cruz, Tassafaronga, Rennell Island and the Russells from the beginning to the bitter end.

The part most readers will be enlightened by is Chapter 9, "Lessons Learned in the Solomons" by the Army, Navy and Marines. These lessons were beneficial to later Pacific campaigns.

This is a great source book for abbreviations, acronyms, ship and aircraft designations, code words, map symbols and listings of amphibious ship and craft. The book also provides the best possible use of maps and charts to illustrate the action. Most pages include photos of the event written about--some shown for the first time.

I highly recommend "The Solomons Campaigns" by William L. McGee to those who served in the South Pacific or to those who have a special interest in the Pacific Theater of WWII.

Get your copy now!

--R. McNeill, LSM-342

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READERS' PRAISE for THE SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS, 1942-1943, April 15, 2010

By 

William L. McGee, Author (San Francisco, Calif.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point, Vol. II (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) (Paperback)

"If your children or grandchildren have ever asked, `What did you do in the war?' point them to McGee's books. Throughout you will find yourself saying, `Yup, that was us,' and I guarantee you'll have renewed respect for the guy you see in the mirror every morning."
--Howard Clarkson, USS LCI National Association

"SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS will become the definitive work on the campaigns."
--John Cummer, President, USS LCI National Association

"Your books brought tears to my eyes. A `must read' for all sea services veterans and their descendants."
--Charles C. Espy, Lt (jg), USNR, SS Thomas Nelson, Armed Guard C.O.

"As a Marine who landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942, SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS is the most comprehensive book that I've read on the war in the Solomons. It brought back memories of those very dark days. Semper Fi."
--William J. Carroll, President, Guadalcanal Campaign Veterans

"To say Bill McGee is a serious naval historian is an understatement. As they say in the Navy, well done!"
--W. C. Hilderbrand, Capt, CEC, USN (Ret), CEC/Seabee Historical Foundation

"SOLOMONS CAMPAIGNS is perfectly balanced between riveting history, personal narratives, and pleasing layout packed with photos, maps, and illustrations. As the son of a Flotilla Five veteran of the Pacific, McGee's books are a fine tribute to all who served in that theater."
--Ron Swanson, Editor, The Flotilla, LCT Flotillas of WWII

"Having experienced a full measure of life at sea during WWII, I find your military histories detailed, vivid, accurate. They capture the essence of that war."
--Anthony P. Tesori, USNR, Gunnery Officer, LST-340

12 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative,but..., November 6, 2002

By 

Robin Dalziell "spurius-albinus" (West leederville, Western Australia Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point, Vol. II (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in WWII series) (Paperback)

William L Magee's account of these pivotal and complex series of battles in the Solomon Islands during the Pacific War,is both detailed and informative. His research has obviously been indepth and displays accuracy. I was disappointed, however, at the degree of 'redneck' language. Terms like 'Japs', 'Nipponese', 'sent to their ancestors',and others cheapened the quality of the rest of the text. US dead and injured were treated with respect in the book, why not the Japanese? Surely an historical account written in 2001 doesn't have to sound like the script of a John Wayne movie of the 1950's!