Customer Reviews

The Struggle for Guadalcanal: August 1942-February 1943 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II)

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Morison's entire "History" is an amazingly complete account of the US Navy's operations in WW II, but this volume, the story of the six month Guadalcanal campaign, is simply outstanding.

Like Midway before it, Guadalcanal provided ample material for an engrossing story: the ease of the initial landings, the shock of Savo Island, the desperate land battles, the brutal naval engagements. Maybe because it is one of the earlier volumes in the set, maybe because the story is so compelling: whatever the reason, the writing in Volume 5 is the best of the entire series. It is engaging and informative and written with noticeably more "color" than some of the later volumes.

As with any work of history, there are a few conclusions here that haven't aged well: e.g., Morison's assessment of Frank "Jack" Fletcher's withdrawal of the carriers after the initial landings. But anyone reading this book will come away with a very servicable understanding of the campaign, and will be well-prepared to evaluate other accounts fairly.

If you want to pick and choose from the set, "The Struggle For Guadalcanal" should be your first choice.

The volumes in this entire series are all highly readable and present a picture of our nation starting from a dismal reality in the Pacific to ultimate victory by virtue of the courage and sacrifice of men of the US Navy, as well as of the British and Dutch. The Naval battles of Coral Sea and Midway and the subsequent invasion of Guadalcanal and establishment of the "Cactus Air Force" made up of whatever American planes that were available to fly on any given day turned the tide in the Pacific, though with 3 more years of fighting to come. The loss of the Astoria, Quincy, and Vincennes on the night following the invasion hastened departure of much of the supply train and of the carrier covering group which left 2 days earlier than planned due to the loss of Cruiser protection, those 3 of the Northern Group as well as the Australian Navy Canberra of the Southern group. Our 2 radar pickett destroyers, Talbot and Blue, were positioned in their cross channel watch so as to miss seeing the Japanese Cruiser fleet enter the harbor and surprise was complete. The IJN suffered no losses during the action, but I believe they subsequently lost the Furutaka on their return to Rabaul. This bears historical checking for accuracy.

The remaining 6 month struggle for Guadalcanal is inspiring and very tragic for the conditions and imminent threat of death endured by those brave men. I was deeply moved by the courage and sacrifices of the US Navy and US Marines. 59 years after the fact I also feel (grudging) admiration for the men and weapons of the IJN.

The "Arsenal of Democracy" had agreed with the European allies that European victory was the priority issue, and that men and materiels for the Pacific war were scant for the first year or so and in many instances outmoded.

The entire series is excellent reading for those interested in history and their American heritage. I have had the entire series for about 50 years. The current pricing scheme at Amazon is a true bargain, and I recommend the series without reservation. The sadness is that such an event ever occured to generate this excellent historical writing.

The Guadalcanal campaign was the most dramatic and at times the most desparate naval campaign of the war. In addition, Morison spent considerable time on board ships in the area, participating in some of the actions he describes. The result, in this volume, is the most personal, the most vivid, and the best of Morison's 15 volume history.

The naval battles in the waters surrounding Guadalcanal were some of the bloodiest and hardest fought actions in World War II. Both sides entered the campaign with strengths and deficits, which were ultimately exploited by the other. The Japanese entered the campaign with superiority in surface craft, torpedoes, and night fighting technique. The Americans had more carriers, better submarines, and air superiority derived from control of Henderson field. During the campaign, American and Japanese naval forces suffered nearly equivalent and horrific losses, which by virtue of its superior resources, the United States was better able overcome and proceed to victory.

The waters around Guadalcanal saw many of the most significant -- and decisive -- surface actions of the war, which resulted in many ships of both combatants giving meaning to the name of "Iron Bottom Sound" which attended the approaching waters to Guadalcanal. The volume begins with the battle of Savo Island, and the resulting disintegration of Allied plans, and proceeds through each of the hard-fought battles which followed. With such epic material, as gifted a historian and writer as Morison absolutely cannot fail, nor does he disappoint.

Among Morison's history, this volume contains the most vivid descriptions of the island terrain, the tropical seascape, and the violent actions to which they were witness. Charts and pictures compliment Morison's descriptions of salvo chasing, and shells slamming into wildly manuevering warships. No other history of the battles surrounding these waters has both the perspective and immediacy which render Morison's history so compelling.

Each of the volumes of Morison's history is well worth reading; this particular volume is worth reading over and over.

Morison' works are priceless.

The maps are Very good. This is a wonderfull lead in to Frank's work, "Guadalcanal".

Morison's books are perfect for entrees into more specific books regarding the landings and land action of the island campaigns.

Highly recommended.

In August of 1942, The Americans discovered that the Japanese were building an airstrip on the island of Guadalcanal. If completed, the Japanese would have access to vital American supply lines, as well as Australia and New Guinea. In response to this threat, the United States launched thier first major offensive of the Pacific war. Samuel Eliot Morison was commissioned by President Roosevelt to write the official naval history of World War II, and he does an excellent job of telling the story of Guadalcanal, where, according to the author, "the navy saw more fighting than in any three previous wars". From the opening shots of the debacle of Savo Island, where the Allies lost four heavy cruisers, to the Japanese withdrawl in February of 1943, Morison covers every major battle of the Guadalcanal campaign. Notable engagements covered include The Battle of the Eastern Solomons, The Battle of Cape Esperance, The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal. He also includes a breakdown of forces involved in each battle, as well as numerous maps and photographs which I found very helpful as a reader. This battle was deemed the turning point of the Pacific war, and Morison does a good job of covering the major aspects of the battle. For further reading, I would also recommend "Guadalcanal" by Richard B. Frank.

We now rightly have difficulty conceiving the life or death struggle fought almost 70 years ago by men mostly now gone, near far-off and obscure Pacific islands, and against the once powerful Imperial Japanese Navy. Morison's description of that struggle --- the naval equivalent of hand-to-hand fighting --- inspires and awes all at once. This is a story not many Americans know --- there were more sailors than marines lost during the Guadalcanal campaign, and their sacrifice has almost been forgotten.

This volume, "The Struggle For Guadalcanal," is unquestionably the best of the entire collection. I first read the complete series when I was a teenager, living at home with my late father, who had been a naval officer "for the duration" in World War II. I remember he would at times "tear up" during his nightly reading. I gave him the entire set a few years before he passed away, and he was able to read them a second time. Now they are mine and I have made still a third passage through them, savoring and rediscovering them. I plan on at least one more journey through them in the coming years.

Morison often masterfully combines classical allusions and modern warfare; he does does his best work in this volume because he clearly intends to. It is difficult not to be moved by his description of the great naval action on the night of November 12-13, 1942. Two Admirals, Scott and Callaghan, were killed the same wild night in a naval battle in which, to paraphrase Morison, "both sides knew that no quarter would be given." The picture Morison paints of the next morning, when battered sailors in sinking ships stood by their guns and continued to fire on the enemy, is one that will always endure for me. Highly, highly recommended.

Morison is the place to start for learning what happened on and around Guadalcanal. The atmosphere of inevitable Japanese defeat is not present, unlike the later volumes that describe island garrisons, cut off from any air and sea resupply, who simply await annihilation by U.S. forces.

The eventual logistical, technological, air and naval supremacy of the United States, combined with the excellent strategy of the pincer movements of Macarthur on one hand, and Nimitz on the other, led to the inexorable rolling up of the Japanese Empire. What makes studying the campaign for Guadalcanal so interesting is that it occurred before this supremacy was achieved, where U.S. and Japanese forces were on more or less equal footing. The Japanese garrison on Guadalcanal, unlike their later island garrisons were not cut off from air and sea support and were able throughout much of the campaign to bring in reinforcements via the "Tokyo Express."

What started out quite incidentally, after Japanese troops were observed building an airstrip, grew into a six month ordeal where Marines and Japanese troops squared off on the island, while U.S. air power ruled the day and the Japanese navy ruled the night. The most poignant of Morison's accounts are of the nighttime surface engagements in and around Savo Island and Iron Bottom Sound.

This is the 5th book of a 15 book series and is the best one so far. Any serious student of WWII should read this series as a primer to prepare him or her for further readings from newer sources as it becomes notable on how light in detail these books are but then again consider that they were first written in 1948 and many of the sources were still classified or unknown then. One case in point is the chapter on the Battle of the Eastern Solomon's where Mr. Morris describes the attack on the American carriers and states that Shokaku sent some torpedo bombers along with a foot note saying that the numbers sent was not yet available yet I obtained the number along with the name of the lead pilot from John Lundstrom' s "The First Team and the Guadalcanal campaign"book which made for some fun research. Now that I have read this book I will take a break from the series in order to learn more details of the Guadalcanal campaign and read "Guadalcanal: The definitive account of the landmark battle." by Richard B. Frank.

I haven't read the other books in this series, but was recommended this volume by a friend who is a WWII Navel battle fan. I wanted a good overview of the battle, why it was important and just what the heck went on here. So to start I'm aghast at my poor knowledge of this battle. It was nearly as critical to the history of the USA as Gettysburg. Two giant navies met here, neither really wanting this island but both unwilling to let the other side have it. Yet again it shows what crap the USA had for torpedoes. I can't tell you the number of fish fired vs how many actually found their target and did any damage. It was pitiful. The Japanese navy had superior tactics, better torpedoes but didn't fully grasp the significance of the island to the USA and so let the Marines dig in and own the place. Granted holding it was incredibly tough but it was possible and the imperial army was stretched to it's limits to keep it supplied thanks to the US navy. But it came at a huge cost in ships and sailors.

If you don't know anything about Guadalcanal this book is a great place to start.