Aleutians, Gilberts & Marshalls, June 1942 - April 1944: History of United States Naval Operation during World War II Volume 7 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II) Book

During the last months of 1943, when Allied forces of the South and Southwest Pacific were hammering at islands and airfields in the Bismarcks and Bougainville, Admiral Chester Nimitz organized two massive amphibious operations to capture the strategically vital Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Volume 7 of Samuel Eliot Morison's splendid history describes this mighty sweep of the Pacific Fleet across Micronesia, as well as the warfare in the remote and frigid Aleutian Islands. The campaigns of 1943-44 marked a great advance in the art of war. Fast carrier strikes, new anti-aircraft and airborne weapons, better radar capabilities, and faster fire- and damage-control solutions combined to revolutionize amphibious operations; advances in photographic reconnaissance improved strategic planning; and all-terrain vehicles called amphtracs facilitated beach landings. In addition, the Micronesia campaigns inspired revolutionary innovations in logistics to meet the challenge of supplying and servicing an enormous amphibious force in an area with no large land masses, no labor, and no supplies or facilities of any kind. Similar logistical difficulties characterized operations in the Aleutian Islands, compounded by hazardous conditions including dense fog, almost constant cloud cover, blinding blizzards, and icy seas. Morison tracks the Americans' recovery of Attu and Kiska as well as the gallantly fought Battle of the Komandorski Islands.Read More