History of United States Naval Operations in World War II: Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944 [ペーパーバック]

This is volume VII of Morison's fifteen volume History of United States Naval Operations in WWII, and the fifth of nine on the Pacific theater. It consists of three parts: the recovery of the Aleutians, the recovery of the Gilbert Islands, and the capture of the Marshall islands.

Part One relates the recovery of the western Aleutian islands of Kiska and Attu, and the little known and bizarre naval battle of the Komandorski islands, between Attu and the Kamchatka peninsula. Komandorski was fought as an old-fashioned surface engagement, where ships of the line slugged it out in broad daylight, and nary an aircraft from either side joined the fray, making it resemble more the Battle of Jutland in WWI than any other WWII naval action.

Part Two tells of Operation Galvanic, where the Gilbert Islands and most prominently Tarawa, were recovered. This is where the navy and marines learned their hardest lessons of the war about amphibious landings--which by the way are Morison's favorite topic, and he spares few details about them in this volume or any other which features a large beach assault. An interesting anecdote of the Gilbert invasion: the size of the Japanese garrison on Betio was analyzed by counting the number of privy holes that could be seen by aerial reconnaissance.

It is important to note here that Operation Galvanic was the first invasion to take place at the extreme range of U.S. land based aircraft--which meant that U.S. air power would consist primarily of carrier based planes. And as Morison relates, there were skeptics aplenty as to the ability of a carrier force to do the job. The success of the carrier based air power in supporting Galvanic represents a turning point in the speed and strategy with which Nimitz's central Pacific pincer would advance.

Part Three tells of Operations Flintlock (Kwajalein) and Catchpole (Eniwetok) in the Marshalls. The amphibious lessons learned at Tarawa are improved upon here, much to Morison's delight, and once again carrier based air support proves its mettle. Now the U.S. has a spot to stage major task forces in order to proceed westward toward Japan.

The old-fashioned surface fight at the Komandorski's in Part One makes a poignant contrast to the emergence of carrier-based air support in Parts Two and Three. I believe that this is a theme Morison wanted to convey in this volume, since the introduction is entitled Fast Carrier Operations and is written by a Commander James C. Shaw, an expert in carrier operations.

Following the defeat of the Japanese at Midway and Guadalcanal, the United States launched a campaign to reclaim the two islands in the Aleutians which were occupied by the Japanese during the Midway operation, while also attacking the Japanese bases in Micronesia (Gilberts and Marshalls). Attu and Kiska were occupied by the Japanese and the thought of them on American soil outraged many Americans back home. Thus, a campaign was launched to retake them. After some hard fighting, the islands were recaptured, but the Japanese managed to evacuate their garrison from Kiska right under our noses, much the same way they did at Guadalcanal.

Operation "Galvanic", the invasion of the Gilbert islands, got underway in November, 1943. The main objective was the island of Tarawa. The island is completely surrounded by a dangerous coral reef, and the tides are very unpredictable as well. It was against these obstacles as well as a dug in enemy that the Americans made their attack. As fate would have it, it happened to be low tide when the Americans attacked, thus exposing the coral reef and forcing the landing craft to unload much further from the shore as was preferred. The Marines had to wade as much as 800 yards to the beach under horrific fire from the Japanese. The bombardment by the Americans did little to the well-fortified Japanese defenses, and they made the landings extremely costly for the Americans. Although Tarawa was secured in less than a week, the Americans suffered terrible losses which shocked the folks back home. However, the Americans now possessed an excellent air base to further their operations.

After the capture of Tarawa, the Americans moved to attack the Marshall islands, with the main objectives being Kwajalein and Eniwetok. The lessons of Tarawa had been well-learned. Both of these islands were subjected to a murderous bombardment by the American fleet and air forces, so the Japanese resistance; although spirited; was less effective here. The Americans managed to capture these islands in under a week and were now a step closer to Tokyo.

As with previous volumes of this excellent series, Mr. Morison has included numerous maps and photographs to expand upon the text. There are some good personal narratives in this volume as well. I recommend this volume along with the others of this series. It gives an excellent first-hand account of one of the early amphibious assaults by the Marines.

This volume is outstanding, and brings the war in the central and north Pacific during the second half of 1942, all of 1943, and the first half of 1944 into clear and exciting focus. Admiral Morison, a distinguished scholar and a true man of the sea has given us the opportunity to live through the horror, fear, and victories of the Navy during our drive to defeat the Japanese. This book is truly a masterpiece, and is almost impossible to put down! I recommend it to all Americans who are living through our current crises.