Review by Martin Koenigsberg
I was delighted when I saw this book at a local thrift store (Charity Shop) a few months ago- I love these books for travel and am running out of titles at home. Published in 1971, this is a fine example of the Ballantine’s Illustrated History of the Violent Century series, as its Campaign Book Number 14. Guadalcanal was the Americans first amphibious attack in the Pacific, a counterattack to take an airfield the Japanese were building to cement their outer defensive ring. The Americans jumbled together an expedition- throwing a Marine Division onto the island and rushing as much air support as possible there to try and turn it into a thorn in the Japanese Imperial hide. Even with the intense restrictions on resources imposed by the early days of the Allied “Europe First” policy, the US would prove to be a difficult enemy for the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy to dislodge. In the air over Guadalcanal, the Japanese tried to bomb the runway(s) and destroy the Americans- the American used the base to disrupt shipping all over and Japanese ground attacks on the island itself. On the ground Japanese Soldiers and Marines faced off in constant patrolling and occasional massed battles. At sea the Japanese enjoyed early success, but wilted under the growing air assault. The first few months of the campaign the US hold was very tenuous – but American logistical support at 10% of the Europe level was still stronger than the Japanese Navy could maintain. US victories began to turn the tide. The story is a WWII Classic well told in brief by Graeme Kent an educator and prolific history author. In the classic Ballantine’s format the prose is well supported by photos, graphs, maps and line drawings of pertinent material . There are few adult themes and no graphic injury passages but there are photos of cadavers, so this might be best for the Junior Reader over 13/14 years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, I think these books are always helpful if not exhaustive. The gamer gets a great book to hand the 40K or RPG player who wants to understand Flames of War/Bolt Action/CoC/Battlegroup- at least the background to the game. For the Modeler, these have good pics, and are great for getting into a period/era/technology- but do not have colour pics. The Military Enthusiast gets a fairly complex and lengthy campaign explained well in under 160 pages. It’s a fun package on a pivotal campaign in WWII and the general reader may like its sharp brevity. #WhatAreYouReading #BookReviews #20thCenturyHistory #MilitaryHistory #AmericanHistory #ImperialJapaneseHistory #BritishImperialHistory #PacificWar #SolomonIslands #WWIIHistory #SWWHistory #WWII #SWW #WargameResearch #Guadalcanal #IslandOrdeal #GraemeKent #CampaignBookNo14 #BallantinesIllustratedHistoryOfTheViolentCentury #HendersonField #CactusAirForce #TheSlot #IJN #IJA #USMC #USN #FlamesOfWar #BloodRedSkies #VictoryAtSea #WorldWarIIWargaming
