Review by Martin Koenigsberg
The American Plan for defeating Japan in the Pacific was simple and complex at the same time. American forces would cross the pacific, in large jumps and small until it was possible to bombard the Japanese Home islands from the Air and reduce their capacity to make war. by the time we got to the Marianas, Saipan, Tinian and Guam, it was go time. The US Marine Corps and the US Army had developed a protocol for taking islands by force from the Japanese Imperial Forces- and the US Army Corps of Engineers and the SeaBees, the Navy’s Construction Battalions had building air and naval bases on them down to a cold science in the hot tropics. John Grehan and Alexander Niccol , writers with lots of experience with military history curate a good collection of photos and tell the story from the landings to the dropping of the Atomic Bomb, missions that took off from the Island. The book is filled with black and white shots from the campaign , the construction, and the actual bombing campaign, along with prose sections that further explain the narrative. By July 1944, when the assault began, the Japanese were in their late war “sell ourselves dearly to prolong the war” mode, so they dug in and tried to outlast the American onslaught. The Americans can be seen using all their firepower advantages to try and reduce their own casualties. The use of technology, old hat now, but new at the time to build the bases and then operate the B-29s over Japan is something dear to me as my father was on this island building these bases or at least transiting through them on his own route to Japan and the Occupation. The added content on the Atomic missions makes this book more relevant to the general reader and the Military Enthusiast both. There are a few adult themes, some photos of cadavers, and the whole concept of city-killing air raids, so this a book for the Junior reader over 15/16 Years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, this is useful but not required reading. The Gamer does get a good understanding of how the campaign was fought- but may not be able to translate that into direct scenario and campaign help. The modeler gets a lot of help with diorama and builds for this period, but will need colour sources as well. For the Military Enthusiast, going on a visual journey through a whole cycle of the American Pacific war effort on one island is very informative. A strong package on a beguiling topic.
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