Campaign
5 primary works • 10 total works
Book 137
The 1944 invasion of Saipan was the first two-division amphibious assault conducted by US forces in World War II. Saipan and Tinian had been under Japanese control since 1914 and, heavily colonized, they were considered virtually part of the Empire. The struggle for Saipan and Tinian was characterized by the same bitter fighting that typified the entire Central Pacific campaign. Fighting side-by-side, Army and Marine units witnessed the largest tank battle of the Pacific War, massed Japanese banzai charges, and the horror of hundreds of Japanese civilians committing suicide to avoid capture. In this book Gordon Rottman details the capture of these vital islands that led to the collapse of Prime Minister Tojo's government.
Book 139
This volume covers the Japanese seizure of the island of Guam in December 1941 and its American recapture by amphibious assault in July-August 1944. Guam was the first Allied territory lost to the Japanese, making its recapture politically and psychologically important. The American invasion in 1944 was the second two-division amphibious assault ever conducted, and this book details the 26-day struggle to recapture the island - one of the most costly battles that the US Marine Corps had so far undertaken.
Book 146
In November 1943 US forces successfully seized Tarawa and Makin in the first major counteroffensive of the Central Pacific; however, US casualties were heavy. By the end of January 1944. Operation 'Flintlock' - the seizure of the Marshall Islands - was launched: the next stepping-stone towards Japan. Following a three-day naval and air bombardment, the 7th US Infantry Division and 4th Marine Division landed on the islands. Since Tarawa, great changes had been made to organisation, tactics and equipment, and the new methods worked well: the 41,000 troops suffered less than 1,400 casualties. This book examines the campaign in detail, showing why it was assessed as the most successful amphibious operation to date and how it took the US forces one step closer to the Japanese heartland.
Book 150
Khe Sanh was a small village in northwest South Vietnam that sat astride key North Vietnamese infiltration routes. In September 1966 a Marine battalion deployed into the area. Action gradually increased as the NVA attempted to destroy Free World Forces bases, and the siege of Khe Sanh proper began in October 1967. The bitter fight lasted into July 1968 when, with the changing strategic and tactical situation, the base was finally closed. This book details the siege and explains how, although the NVA successfully overran a Special Forces camp nearby, it was unable to drive US forces from Khe Sanh.
Book 162
Inch'on was probably the most significant campaign in the Korean theater, as well as being the last major amphibious assault of division-size conducted in the history of warfare. The odds were stacked against the US troops, with virtually no time for training and many of the divisions unprepared for the conflict. The success of the Inch'on campaign is a testament to the sheer initiative of the officers and NCOs who conducted it. This book details the strategy and tactics that led to the operation's success, as well as narrating the experience of the battle in fascinating detail.
The final preliminary to the invasion of the Japanese mainland was possession of the Ryukyu island group, midway between Formosa and Kyushu, the southernmost island of the Japanese homeland. The target of Operation 'Iceberg' was Okinawa, the largest island in the group. This book details the largest and most complicated amphibious expedition undertaken in the Pacific, when Admiral Spruance's Fifth Fleet lifted Lt. Gen. S.B. Buckner's Tenth Army, the XXIV Corps under Maj. Gen. John R. Hodge and III Marine Amphibious Corps (Maj. Gen R.S. Geiger). Defending Okinawa was the Japanese 32nd army of 130,000 men under Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima.
Equalling Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa in scale and ferocity, the battle for Peleliu has long been regarded as the Pacific war's 'forgotten battle'. Originally planned to secure General MacArthur's eastern flank during his invasion of the Philippine Islands, the assault became superfluous after a massive carrier-based attack on the Palau Islands some weeks earlier destroyed all aircraft and shipping in the area, virtually isolating the Japanese garrison, forcing them into a battle of attrition from carefully prepared positions in the Umurbrogol Hills. This book details the operation that became a close-quarters slog of unprecedented savagery, one that with hindsight should never have been fought at all.
On the same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also launched air attacks on Wake Island, an American marine and naval base in the Pacific. Three days later a Japanese invasion force stormed the island, but were bloodily repulsed by the scratch force of marines, sailors and even service personnel who defended it. Despite US attempts to relieve the island, the Japanese launched a much greater invasion a few weeks later and, despite gallant resistance, eventually caused the US Forces to surrender. This book tells the complete story of the vicious fighting on Wake Island, one of the near-legendary 'last stands' made by US military forces.
