Marshall Islands Books

Tarawa and the Marshalls: A Pictorial Tribute (U.S. Marines in World War II)

Eric Hammel

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Some of the biggest battles fought by the Marines during World War II took place on tiny islands scattered throughout the western Pacific. Among these, the battles for Tarawa and the Marshalls were some of the fiercest and most decisive of the Pacific campaign--critical engagements that this pictorial history brings vividly to life. In hundreds of rare photographs, many never-before-published, the historic drama unfolds beginning with the 2d Marine Division’s landing on Betio Island in the Tarawa Atoll on November 20, 1943. Assured that the island’s defenses had been “pounded into coral dust” by naval and air bombardment, the Marines in fact found themselves in the thick of the first modern amphibious assault on a well-defended beachhead. Three days of intense fighting secured the island for the Allies, at the cost of 1,000 Marines dead and more than 2,000 wounded.

The book then turns to the Marshall Islands where, early in World War II, the Japanese had built airfields on the Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls. Dramatic photographs document the taking of Kwajalein by U.S. Marines and Army troops after the most massive bombardment of the war. We then witness the landing of the 22d Marines on the five islands of Eniwetok on February 18, followed by the intense fighting that brought the entire atoll under Allied control within four days--securing crucial landing fields and operational support for the Allies’ island-hopping campaign to ultimate victory in the Pacific. A tribute to the rare courage and heroism that, for the Marines in WWII, were merely a matter of course, this illustrated history keeps their spectacular sacrifices and feats of valor forever before us.

Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

Joseph H. Alexander

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"The first complete and definitive account of the Battle of Tarawa."

--Maj. Gen. Mike Ryan, USMC (Ret.)

Navy Cross recipient

Green Beach, Tarawa



On November 20, l943, in the first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, five thousand men stormed the beaches of Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress barely the size of the Pentagon parking lots (three-hundred acres!). Before the first day ended, one third of the Marines who had crossed Tarawa's deadly reef under murderous fire were killed, wounded, or missing. In three days of fighting, four Americans would win the Medal of Honor. And six-thousand combatants would die.



Now, Col. Joseph Alexander, a combat Marine himself, presents the full story of Tarawa in all its horror and glory: the extreme risks, the horrific combat, and the heroic breakthroughs. Based on exhaustive research, never-before-published accounts from Marine survivors, and new evidence from Japanese sources, Colonel Alexander captures the grit, guts, and relentless courage of United States Marines overcoming outrageous odds to deliver victory for their country.



"Without a doubt the best narrative of the struggle ever produced."

--Richard B. Frank, Author of Guadalcanal



A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB



Winner of the 1995 General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award, awarded to the year's best nonfiction book pertinent to Marine Corps History



Winner of the Alfred Thayer Mahan Award for Outstanding Writer of the Year, presented by the Navy League of the United States



Winner of the Roosevelt Naval History Prize, awarded by the Naval War College

The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines

Melton A. McLaurin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Inspirational, Motivating and Enlightening 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

As a retired Marine First Sergeant (white) who was very familiar with the history of the Montford Point Marines, my eyes were opened to a more telling story that needed to be told. Although most books, articles and movies focus on the confrontational pressure cooker of black vs. white in a few dramatic examples, this book was the first one that allowed me to actually feel the emotions of oppression during their routine daily life. I have read many books, articles and seen several movies on the subject of racism but I have never been enthralled like I have during my reading of this book.

What I found very commendable was the neutrality of the writer. The mixture of good stories of genuine helpful whites was balanced with an equal number of examples of racism. Because the book is 90 percent actual stories from Montford Point Marines and 10 percent framing the content for each chapter, you feel as though you are visiting with these special Marines on their front porch as they tell their story.

I commend the writer on his method of creating chapters in the book. Each Chapter has a unique focus that is very specific for that chapter. This will make for an excellent method of research when seeking specific information for public speaking or citation in future articles to be written.

Semper Fi!

First Sergeant John E. Crouch (ret)

Editorial Review:

With an executive order from President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, the United States Marine Corps--the last all-white branch of the U.S. military--was forced to begin recruiting and enlisting African Americans. The first black recruits received basic training at the segregated Camp Montford Point, adjacent to Camp Lejeune, near Jacksonville, North Carolina.

The Consequential Damages of Nuclear War: The Rongelap Report

Barbara Rose Johnston, Holly M. Barker

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Editorial Review:

The hydrogen test-bomb Bravo, dropped on the Marshall Islands in 1954, had enormous consequences for the Rongelap people. Anthropologists Barbara Rose Johnston and Holly Barker provide incontrovertible evidence of physical and financial damages to individuals and cultural and psycho-social damages to the community through use of declassified government documents, oral histories and ethnographic research, conducted with the Marshallese community within a unique collaborative framework. Their work helped produce a $1 billion award by the Nuclear Claims Tribunal and raises issues of bioethics, government secrecy, human rights, military testing, and academic activism. The report, reproduced here with accompanying materials, should be read by everyone concerned with the effects of nuclear war and is an essential text for courses in history, environmental studies, bioethics, human rights, and related subjects.

Children of the Atomic Bomb: An American Physicians Memoir of Nagasaki, Hiroshima, and the Marshall Islands (Asia-Pacific : Culture, Politics, and)

James Yamazaki, Louis Fleming

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Despite familiar images of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan and the controversy over its fiftieth anniversary, the human impact of those horrific events often seems lost to view. In this uncommon memoir, Dr. James N. Yamazaki tells us in personal and moving terms of the human toll of nuclear warfare and the specific vulnerability of children to the effects of these weapons. Giving voice to the brutal ironies of racial and cultural conflict, of war and sacrifice, his story creates an inspiring and humbling portrait of events whose lessons remain difficult and troubling fifty years later.
Children of the Atomic Bomb is Dr. Yamazaki’s account of a lifelong effort to understand and document the impact of nuclear explosions on children, particularly the children conceived but not yet born at the time of the explosions. Assigned in 1949 as Physician-in-Charge of the United States Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in Nagasaki, Yamazaki had served as a combat surgeon at the Battle of the Bulge where he had been captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Germans. In Japan he was confronted with violence of another dimension—the devastating impact of a nuclear blast and the particularly insidious effects of radiation on children.
Yamazaki’s story is also one of striking juxtapositions, an account of a Japanese-American’s encounter with racism, the story of a man who fought for his country while his parents were interned in a concentration camp in Arkansas. Once the object of discrimination at home, Yamazaki paradoxically found himself in Japan for the first time as an American, part of the Allied occupation forces, and again an outsider. This experience resonates through his work with the children of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and with the Marshallese people who bore the brunt of America’s postwar testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific.
Recalling a career that has spanned five decades, Dr. Yamazaki chronicles the discoveries that helped chart the dangers of nuclear radiation and presents powerful observations of both the medical and social effects of the bomb. He offers an indelible picture of human tragedy, a tale of unimaginable suffering, and a dedication to healing that is ultimately an unwavering, impassioned plea for peace.

The Marshall Islands 1944: "Operation Flintlock, the capture of Kwajalein and Eniwetok" (Campaign)

Gordon Rottman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Fills in the Details on Forgotten Operations 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 12 people found this review helpful.

In Osprey's Campaign series #146, The Marshall Islands 1944, Gordon L. Rottman continues his painstaking effort to detail US Marine operations in the Pacific in the Second World War. As usual, Rottman provides ample information on unit movements, casualties and orders of battle, while avoiding any effort to put the campaign in a human perspective by including first-person accounts or mentioning Medal of Honor recipients. Nevertheless, the Marshall Island campaign of 1944 has faded from sight due to all the attention on D-Day and bigger Pacific actions like Okinawa, so Rottman's effort is not without its merit. By including this operation and all the others that Rottman has written about, Osprey has established a common framework for looking at these largely forgotten campaigns of 1943-1944.

Rottman provides more strategic background to this campaign than he has in other volumes. In his section on opposing plans, Rottman notes that the Japanese misjudged American intentions in the central Pacific and deployed only "odds and ends" forces into the Marshall Islands and the leadership in Tokyo viewed the islands as beyond their main defensive sphere. Given the Japanese refusal to commit additional air or naval forces to the defense of the Marshalls, the Japanese effort in the islands was doomed from the start and the 28,000 troops deployed on the numerous islands in the chain were merely intended to delay the inevitable American victory. Thus, studying the campaign in the Marshalls has its limitations, since one side never intended to win and the question of superior generalship is a moot point under such circumstances. The author also details the opposing commanders and opposing forces in some detail, including a very detailed order of battle. There are more 2-D maps in this volume than a usual Osprey; there are 9 2-D maps, including ones on the strategic situation, and each of the main islands. The three 3-D maps are: Roi-Namur, Kwajalein and Engebi islands. The three battle scenes are: tank support on Roi island; clearing spider holes on Kwajalein and Japanese defense of a bomb crater on Engebi island.

As usual, Rottman gives the details of military operations without much analysis and he tends to favor the US Marines. For example, he provides details on the 4th Marine Division's effort to clear all the minor islands around Roi-Namur on D-1 (31 January 1944). However, Rottman fails to connect the dots in these preliminary operations, since it is clear that the Marines used over 3,000 men to eliminate fewer than 100 Japanese defenders. While these preliminary operations were useful - they gave the Marines positions to land their artillery to support the main landings on the next day - they also disrupted the landing craft availability on D-Day (almost half the amphibious tractors were not back in time to land the main force). By the laws of war, the 4th Marine Division violated economy of force by using an entire regiment to take out essentially a dispersed company and this impacted the performance of the division for the main operation. Once the Marines did land on Roi-Namur, Rottman notes that there was an unusual breakdown in controlling the troops given the lighter-than-expected resistance. A large amount of the casualties on Roi-Namur were inflicted by a careless detonation of a Japanese torpedo bunker (this happens to just about everybody in war, e.g. the Germans in 1916 lost hundreds of troops to carelessness in an explosion in Fort Douamont at Verdun) and readers should note the very high number of MIAs in this operation (more than KIAs).

Another factor that makes these campaigns somewhat unusual is that the Japanese defenders had not had much time to construct strong bunkers and they had very little in the way of indirect fire support. Consequently, the American preliminary bombardments of these islands was more effective than usual and the Japanese had much less ability to contest the beachheads. Readers should note that US Army units tended to suffer less casualties than US Marine units, a discrepancy left unexamined by Rottman. In the end, these operations were foregone conclusions, although at the price of 3,200 US American casualties (including over 600 dead) and that cost should not soon be forgotten.

Editorial Review:

Following the capture of Tarawa in November 1943, American eyes turned to the Marshall Islands. These were the next vital stepping-stone across the Pacific towards Japan, and would bring the islands of Guam and Saipan within the reach of US forces. In their first amphibious attack, the new 4th Marine Division landed on Roi and Namur islands on 1 February 1944, while US 7th Division landed on Kwajalein. At the time this was the longest shore-to-shore amphibious assault in history. The lessons of the bloody fighting on Tarawa had been well learned and the successful attack on the Marshalls set the pattern for future amphibious operations in the Pacific War.

For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini and their Islands (Second Edition)

Jack Niedenthal

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

quite a story 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I found my teenaged daughter reading this book one day, so when she was finished I picked it up...

This is a story so worth reading. The author's life at first seemed hopelessly entangled with his subject's to a point that I thought the book would eventually read like a one-sided diatribe. I was very, very pleased with how he presented the Bikinian's story, however, and would highly recommend this small but important piece of Pacific history to anyone who wants to know how an indigenous people can be so horribly abused by a super power.

Astounding material.

a breath of very fresh air 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This book was an eye opener. It makes you wonder why this event that happened so many years ago in the middle of the Pacific has been buried for so long. This is not a cut and dry history, this book is a very readable journey through a culture that is unique. The author lets us know who he is, so it enables the reader to understand the person who is doing the interviews. That was a nice and unexpected touch. I found the book to be thought provoking and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in studying the history of the Pacific.

Editorial Review:

The story of the people of Bikini Atoll and their islands in the words of the people. This oral history takes the reader from ancient to modern times.

Day of Two Suns: U.S. Nuclear Testing and the Pacific Islanders

Jane Dibblin

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Good Look at the Nuclear testing in the Pacific 4 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book is an interesting look at the nuclear testing the U.S. did in the Pacific Islands. It is a great book when you must write a paper on the subject, because of its understandability. I would recommend that anybody who wants to know about the horrors that the Islanders went through during the testing and the aftermath of testing should take a look at this book.

WARNING! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book several years ago. Excellent, but extremely thought provoking. Be warned, it is very upfront and to the point, in regards to what the U.S. government did to the people in the Marshall Islands.

WARNING! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book several years ago. Excellent, but extremely thought provoking. Be warned, it is very upfront and to the point, in regards to what the U.S. government did to the people in the Marshall Islands.

Human Radiation Experiment Victims 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The native population on Rongelap were in close proximity and downwind of a 15-megaton H-bomb test. Jane Dibblin provides an investigative reporter's account of the devestating impact on the islanders.

Editorial Review:

...a most disturbing portrait of the effects of nuclear weapons testing on the people of Micronesia...--Library Journal

War is Hell - WWII Pacific

Milton A. Rhea

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Written from the heart by a dear friend 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I've known the author for years. It is a pleasure and an honor to call this WWII vet a very dear friend. This book is written straight from the heart from someone who saw more things in his tenure in the service than most of us would see in 10 lifetimes.
Thanks Milt
Dean Waters

Editorial Review:

The life of a sailor experiencing the horrors and exciting times that accompany life aboard ship during WWII in the Pacific.

Island Victory: The Battle of Kwajalein Atoll (World War II)

S. L. A. Marshall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

An on-the-spot history of a fight in the Pacific during World War II, Island Victory was the first battle history written by then–Lieutenant Colonel S. L. A. Marshall, a veteran of World War I who would serve in Korea and Vietnam and become a brigadier general in the process. After the Seventh Infantry Division drove across Kwajalein Atoll in the first days of February 1944, successfully wresting control of the strategic southern tip from the Japanese, Marshall was charged with producing an accurate and comprehensive account of the fight. His solution: bring the front-line soldiers together at once and interview them as a group, tapping the collective memory of a platoon fresh from battle.

In this book, readers get a rare, firsthand sense of all the emotions that soldiers in combat experience. Numerous maps and photographs help us visualize precisely what took place. A compelling work of military history, and the first book of its kind, Island Victory is itself an important chapter in the history of how military exploits are described and recorded.