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Although my interests lean almost exclusively toward the European Theater of Operations, I decided to purchase this volume because it offered a concise (under 300 pages including bibliography and index) account of the Central Pacific campaign written by a serving military officer. Of additional interest was the book's emphasis on how the Army and Marines worked (or failed to do so) together in what turned out to be a Navy-controlled and managed theater of war. With Douglas MacArthur's oversized personality placed safely on the periphery, the book also seemed to hold great promise for allowing readers to objectively evaluate the personalities of the Central Pacific Theater. And as the author points out in numerous passages, the relationship between the services in the Central Pacific is "all about personalities."
The coverage of the campaign appears, to this reviewer at least, to be quite even handed. I dont think Marines will be upset with how they are portrayed and how the Army is portrayed, and likewise with regard to readers with an Army or Naval background.
The book is organized with five main chapters, acknowledgments, introduction, conclusion, notes, bibliography, and index. The main chapters are entitled 1.) Guadacanal: The Ad Hoc Operation (45 pages); 2.) The Gilberts: Parallel Operations (45 pages); 3.) The Marshalls: The Perfect Operation (35 pages); 4.) Saipan: Smith Versus Smith (40 pages); 5.) Okinawa: The Final Victory (43 pages).
As you might guess from the above chapter organization, the author does not devote a lot of narrative to interwar development of USMC/USA doctrine, technology, and professional military education. This omission does not, at least in this case, detract materially from the overall account. Also please note that this book does not cover predominately USMC operations, such as Iwo Jima. It is focused on how the Army and Marines fought together as opposed to all of the battles that made up the Central Pacific campaign. The author clearly narrates the successful integration of both services, which has seemed nigh impossible at times in the post-Vietnam defense environment, that was performed under conditions of incredible stress in the midst of a global war against a resolute and fanatical opponent.
The only "error" I could discern was a reference to Japanese "Marines," while I am positive that those organizations consisted of sailors trained as infantry who are actually members of the Japanese Navy.
Editing was above average with a minimum of typos - something which I hope constitutes a trend in the future from a growing number of military history publishers.
If there were one book that I would recommend on this topic, Pacific Blitzkrieg would be it. The book is well-written, with easily flowing prose, and not too heavy on technical details. The author has dug deep to uncover key facts and stories, while only including those pertinent to the narrative. Highly recommended as a primer for someone seeking more information on the Central Pacific campaign or as a worthy additional to your Pacific War library.
- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: University of North Texas Press; Reprint edition (March 2, 2015)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 157441609X
- ISBN-13: 978-1574416091
- Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 1 x 10.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 23 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#1,426,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3536 in Asian Politics
- #74113 in United States History (Books)
- #14246 in World War II History (Books)
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