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Hough, Lieutenant Colonel Frank O., et al. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal. Nashville: The Battery Press, 1993. ISBN 0-89839-186-5. 439 pages, plus maps.

Shaw jr., Henry I. and Major Douglas T. Kane. Isolation of Rabaul. Nashville: The Battery Press, 1993. ISBN 0-89839-188-1. 632 pages, plus maps.

Shaw jr., Henry I., et al. Central Pacific Drive. Nashville: The Battery Press, 1994. ISBN 0-89839-194-6. 685 pages, plus maps.

Garand, George W. and Truman R. Strobridge. Western Pacific Operations. Nashville: The Battery Press

Frank, Benis M. and Henry I. Shaw, Jr. Victory and Occupation. Nashville: The Battery Press.

   Battery's program of quality reprints of important histories of WWII (and other wars) hits a high point with this gorgeous series. With the USMC official histories considerably harder to find (and considerabaly more expensive) than the US Army volumes, these books also make good economic sense for readers, researchers, and collectors who don't require first editions.
   Each title features detailed operational accounts, bibliography, chronology of key events, orders of battle, index, plentiful illustrations and maps, etc. (One minor difference to note is that the original two-color, fold-out maps have been reduced to one-color, two-page spreads in the reprints.)
   While the focus is obviously on the Marines, the narratives carefully describe the overall framework within which the Marine campaigns take place. Volume One includes background and pre-war information, evacuation of China, Wake Island, the Philippines, Midway, and Guadalcanal. Volume Two covers the Solomons and Bismarck Archipelago. Volume Three continues with the Gilberts, the Marshalls, Saipan, Tinian, and the return to Guam. Volume Four deals with the Palaus, Marines in the Philippines, Marine Aviation in the Western Pacific, and Iwo Jima. Volume Five closes out the war and described USMC forces in the occupation of Japan.
   Highly recommended for students of the war in the Pacific.
   Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Battery Press.
   Thanks to Battery for providing these review copies.

Reviewed 18 March 1996

Copyright © 1996 by Bill Stone
May not be reproduced in any form without written permission of Stone & Stone