Storm Landings: Epic Amphibious Battles in the Central Pacific"The Pacific War changed abruptly in November 1943 when Adm. Chester W. Nimitz unleashed his Central Pacific drive, spearheaded by U.S. Marines. The sudden American proclivity for bold amphibious assaults into the teeth of prepared defenses astonished Japanese commanders, who called them "storm landings" because they differed sharply from earlier campaigns." "This is the story of seven now-epic long-range assaults executed against murderous enemy fire at Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa - and a potential eighth, Kyushu. The author describes each clash as demonstrating a growing U.S. ability to concentrate an overwhelming naval force against a distant strategic objective and literally kick down the front door." "The battles were violent, thoroughly decisive, and always bloody, with the landing force never relinquishing the offensive. The cost of storming these seven fortified islands was great: 74,805 combat casualties for the Marines and their Navy comrades. Losses among participating Army and offshore Navy units spiked the total to 100,000 dead and wounded." "Award-winning historian Joseph Alexander relates this extraordinary story with an easy narrative style bolstered by years of research in original battle accounts, new Japanese translations, and fresh interviews with survivors. Richly illustrated and abounding with human-interest anecdotes about colorful "web-footed amphibians," Storm Landings vividly portrays the sheer drama of these three-dimensional battles whose magnitude and ferocity may never again be seen in this world."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Contents
Rags to Riches | 1 |
Chapter One Cracking a Tough Nut | 9 |
Chapter Two Pacific Proving Ground | 23 |
Copyright | |
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Storm Landings: Epic Amphibious Battles in the Central Pacific Joseph H. Alexander No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
1st Marine Division 2d Marine Division 4th Marine Division Admiral airfields American Amphibians amphibious assault amphibious forces amphibious operations amphibious warfare artillery ashore attack aviation Battalion battle battleship beachhead Betio boats bombardment bombers bombing Buckner campaign carriers casualties Central Pacific combat command coral D-Day defense doctrine DUKWs enemy Fifth Fleet fighters fighting fire fortified garrison Gavutu Geiger Gilberts Guadalcanal Guam guns Holland Smith hundred IGHQ Imperial Imperial General Headquarters infantry invasion island Iwo Jima Japan Japanese defenders kamikaze Kelly Turner Klatt Kuribayashi Kyūshū landing beaches landing craft landing force logistics LSTs LVTs MacArthur's Marianas Marine Corps Marshalls MCHC MCOHC naval gunfire night Nimitz officers Okinawa Old Breed Olympic oral memoir Pacific War Peleliu reef regiment Saipan SeaBees ship-to-shore ships Spruance staff storm landings strategic tactical tanks Tarawa task force Tenth Army thousand Tinian transports troops U.S. Marine units USMC USMC Operations veterans warfare weapons