Japanese G4Ms armed with aerial torpedoes fly through antiaircraft bursts to attack the American fleet off Guadalcanal on August 8, 1942. Note the skilled wave-top approach.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, in late August 1942. This aerial view looks northwest, with the Lunga River and Ironbottom Sound in the background. Bomb and shell craters pockmark the entire area.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Wreckage of a SBD scout bomber on Guadalcanal, still afire after being destroyed on the ground by a Japanese air attack.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Battle of the Eastern Solomons, August 24, 1942. This photograph, taken from the island veranda of the Enterprise (CV-6), recorded the third of three bombs to strike the carrier in a huge Japanese dive-bombing attack.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
South Pacific command conference on USS Argonne at Noumea, New Caledonia, on September 28, 1942. From left to right: Major General Richard K. Sutherland, chief of staff to General MacArthur; Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, CINCPAC; Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, COMSOPAC; and Major General Millard F. Harmon, USAAF.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Battle of Tassafaronga, November 30, 1942. A wounded man is evacuated from the torpedostricken cruiser Minneapolis, flagship of Rear Admiral Carleton H. Wright.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
U.S. amphibious troops transfer into landing craft for the landing at Empress Augusta Bay, Bougainville, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
An LST transports troops of the 1st Marine Division to a landing on Cape Gloucester, the western extremity of New Britain, in December 1943. Note the wealth of supplies and munitions loaded into trucks and jeeps on deck.
U.S. National Archives.
Marines encounter rough surf as they wade ashore unopposed at Cape Gloucester on December 26, 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
The Gato-class submarine Wahoo (SS-238) is launched at Mare Island, California, February 1942.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
The newly commissioned Wahoo gets underway in the Napa River, July 1942.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
Richard O’Kane, executive officer, and Dudley “Mush” Morton, captain of the Wahoo.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
The Japanese destroyer Harusame struck by an audacious “down the throat” torpedo shot in Wewak Harbor, northern New Guinea. Photograph taken through the periscope of the Wahoo, January 24, 1943.
Courtesy of Mare Island Historic Park Foundation.
Preliminary design plan for the Essex-class aircraft carriers.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
USS Essex (CV-9), underway in May 1943. She was the first in a new class of powerful fleet carriers that would spearhead the advance into the western Pacific. A squadron of SBD scout bombers (lacking folding wings) are parked aft on the flight deck. Amidships, with wings folded, are F6F Hellcat fighters and TBF torpedo planes.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Marines advance across a devastated landscape on Betio Island, Tarawa Atoll, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Hangar deck of the Yorktown (CV-10), circa October–December 1943. Ordnancemen are working on bombs among several parked F6F Hellcats. In the background, a movie is being screened for their shipmates.
U.S. National Archives.
A Hellcat prepares to launch from the Yorktown during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A Hellcat crash-lands on the Enterprise during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Combat Information Center (CIC) of the Lexington (CV-16) during a carrier raid on Japanese bases in the central Pacific, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
Lexington Hellcat pilots (VF-16) are briefed by the squadron’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander Paul D. Buie, during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
VF-16 pilots exult after massacring a formation of enemy planes headed for Tarawa, November 23, 1943. Fourth from right is Lieutenant (jg) Ralph Hanks, who has just become an “ace in a day” by shooting down five Zeros in one flight.
U.S. National Archives.
Crewmen catch up on their sleep during a lull in the action. Photo taken on the flight deck of the Lexington during Operation GALVANIC, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
A wounded aviator is lifted from his aircraft after returning to the Saratoga (CV-3) from a raid on Rabaul, November 1943.
U.S. National Archives.
Soldiers of the army’s 7th Infantry Division attack a Japanese blockhouse on Kwajalein Island, February 4, 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Vice Admiral Raymond A. Spruance (center) and Admiral Nimitz (right) tour Kwajalein on February 5, 1944. They are accompanied by a brigadier general (left).
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
“The thousand-yard stare.” A combat-weary marine is hoisted aboard a transport in Eniwetok Lagoon in the Marshall Islands.
U.S. National Archives.
Troops of the 163rd Infantry Regiment storm the beach on Wadke Island, Dutch New Guinea.
U.S. National Archives.
Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, Commander Task Force 58, with his chief of staff, Commodore Arleigh A. Burke. Photo taken in spring 1945.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A basketball game in the forward elevator well of the USS Monterey (CVL-26). The jumper on the left is Lieutenant Gerald R. Ford, an athletics officer and future president of the United States. Circa June–July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19, 1944. A Hellcat recovers aboard the Lexington.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
A Curtiss SB2C Helldiver enters the Yorktown’s landing pattern, circa June–July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Army reinforcements wade ashore on Saipan, June or July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
A marine discovers a Japanese family hiding in a cave on Saipan, June 21, 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
SB2C Helldivers return to the Yorktown after a raid in the Marianas in early July 1944.
U.S. National Archives.
Admiral Spruance and Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith, USMC, at a flag-raising ceremony at Smith’s headquarters on Saipan, marking the end of organized Japanese resistance on the island, July 10, 1944.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph.
INDEX
Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your device’s search function to locate particular terms in the text
Page numbers in italics refer to maps.
Abe, Hiroaki, 69, 77
Abe, Zenji, 450, 482, 483–84
Adachi, Hatazo, 224
Adak Island, U.S. airfield on, 227
Admiralty Islands, 235, 242, 456
King’s proposed Allied offensive in, 223–24, 232
Advance Force, Japanese, 69, 77
African Americans:
and Espiritu Santo base, 15
in San Francisco, 247–48
Afrika Korps, 97
Agano, 413
A-Go battle plan, 447, 449, 451, 459
Aikoku Maru, 407
Ainsworth, Walden Lee “Pug,” 233
Air Command Solomons (AIRSOLS), 222–23, 231, 236, 237, 238, 419, 420
aircraft carriers:
changing tactics of, 387
Combat Information Centers in, 369, 371, 387
conservative deployment of, 373
CVEs, 301
Essex-class, 301–2, 313, 328, 428
in
GALVANIC, 340–42
Japanese night attacks on, 373
in Marshall Islands campaign, 373–74
new methods for resupply of, 387
strategic role of, 59, 60
vulnerability of, 59
see also specific ships and task forces
Aircraft Central Pacific, 333
Air Group Five, 330
Akagi, 9
Akigumo, 153
Alabama, 478
Alameda Naval Air Station, 246
Alamo Force, 240
Albacore (submarine), 484–85
Aleutian Islands:
air war in, 226–27
Japanese forces in, 225–31
Japanese supply convoy for, 228
submarine warfare in, 227, 229
Allied conference (August 1943), 436–37
Allied Naval Forces, Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA), 218
Allies:
Casablanca conference of, 10, 307–11
Germany-first strategy of, xiii, 10–11, 93, 94, 127–29, 307–8, 310–11
London conference of, 95
Quebec conference of, 235
unconditional Japanese surrender demanded by, 537
Washington conference of (1942), 95
Washington conference of (1943), 312
Amatsukaze, 76, 78
Amchitka Island, 227
Americal Division (U.S. Army), 134
amphibious warfare, 17–18
interservice rivalries and, 8–9
marines’ experience in, 17–18, 322
amtracs (LVTs), 347, 348, 351, 364, 390, 391–92, 400
in Tarawa assault, 335
Anderson, George W., 329
Anderson, USS, 153
Annapolis, see Naval Academy, U.S.
antiaircraft fire, radar-directed, 369
antisubmarine warfare (ASW), Japanese inattention to, 259, 282–83
Anzai, Hitoshi, 524
Aoba, 41
Aola, Guadalcanal, xxiv, xxv, xxvii
Apamama, 342
Apra Harbor, 511, 512, 513, 516–17, 518, 519
Arakawa, Hiroyo, 115
Arashio, 225
Arawe, New Britain, 240
Archibald, Katherine, 248, 249
Argenlieu, Georges Thierry d,’ 200
Argonaut, USS, 251
Argonne, USS, 125, 197, 199
Ariyama, Sachi, 532
Arizona, USS, 289, 290, 292
Army, U.S., 500
in interservice rivalries, 5–9, 158
methodical tactics of, 395–96, 499
see also specific units
Army Air Forces, U.S. (USAAF), 6–7, 20, 56, 438
exaggerated claims of, 158
and Germany-first strategy, 127–28
Navy rivalry with, 227, 324
promotions in, 324
Arnold, Henry “Hap,” 56, 125, 223, 324, 434, 438, 441
Germany-first strategy backed by, 127–29, 157–58, 159
King and, 437
Arnold, Jackson D., 490
Asahi Shinbun, 527, 529, 535
Ashford, Bill, 198
Ashizuri, 453
Aslito Airfield, 467, 468, 498
Associated Press, 97
Astoria, USS, 46, 47–48, 51–52, 53
Atago, 147
Atlanta, USS, 155, 162, 165
Atlantic Ocean, German wolf packs in, 278
Attu Island, 417
Japanese forces on, 225–30
U.S. assault on, 229–30, 444
Auckland, New Zealand, 12
Austen, Mount, Guadalcanal, 26, 138, 175
Australia, xxiii, 13
distrust of authority in, 215
MacArthur in, 215–16
sports as obsession in, 212
Australia, U.S. servicemen in, 209–10
in Brisbane riots, 214–15
strained relations between civilians and, 213–15
warm welcome given to, 212
women and, 210–11, 213
Australia, HMAS, 39, 43
B-17 Flying Fortresses, 100, 223
B-24 Liberators, 342
B-29 Superfortresses, 307
Backus, Paul, 478, 495
Badoglio, Pietro, 444
Bagley, 52
Bak, Michael, 364
Baker Island, 342
Baldwin, Hanson, 97, 98
Ballale Island, 157, 203, 205
Ballantine, Robert, 99
Ballentine, John J., 328, 329
Baltimore, 410
banzai charges, 504–6, 510
Barbey, Daniel E., 239
Barton, 163
Bataan Peninsula, Philippines, xxi, 141
“Bat Team” fighters, 374–76, 463
battleships, Iowa-class, 386–87
Beach, Edward L. “Ned,” Jr., 278
Beaurepaire, Frank, 213
Beaver, Floyd, 152, 245
Becker, Adolph E., Jr., 516–17
Belleau Wood, 301, 405, 463, 478, 494, 495–96
Benhaum, 169–70
Betchik, Tony, 141
Betelgeuse, 53
Betio Island, 338, 345, 364, 367
Japanese fortifications on, 320, 321–22, 334, 343, 345–46, 358, 362–63
Japanese troop strength on, 345
naval and air bombardment of, 343–44, 346
rebuilding efforts on, 361
U.S. landings on, 346, 348–49
Biak Island, 456, 462
Japanese determination to hold, 454–55
Bierer, Bion B., 48
Bismarck, Battle of the, 225
Bismarck Archipelago, 11, 235, 242, 418
Blair, Clay, 278
Blanchard, J. W., 484
Blandy, William H. P. “Spike,” 282
“Bless ’Em All,” 212
Bloody Ridge, Battle of, 106, 121, 130
Blue, USS, 43, 45
Bluefish, USS, 453
Bluegill, USS, 453
Board of Information, Japanese, 526, 527, 532
Bode, Howard D., 43, 46, 57
Bogese, George, xxviii
Boise, 135
BOLERO, Operation, 95, 96
Bombing Squadron 10, 404
Bond, Roger, 340, 387
Bonefish, 453
Bonin Islands, 449
Bonis, 235
Bonnell, Lieutenant, 243
Book of Five Spheres (Musashi), 188
Borneo, oil fields on, 282, 285, 416, 448
Bougainville Island, xvii, 13, 30, 37, 76, 99, 157, 184, 203, 205, 224, 232, 233, 238, 262
Buka Airfield on, 62
coastwatchers in, 157
U.S. landings on, 236, 340
Bougainville Strait, 263
Boulier, Kenneth A., 205
Boyington, Gregory “Pappy,” 408
Bradlee, Ben, 501–2
Briggs, Laura, 247
Brisbane:
MacArthur’s headquarters in, 217
New Farm Wharf in, 264–65
1942 riots in, 214, 265
Brisbane Courier-Mail, 214, 215
British Empire, racism in, xx
Brooke, Alan, 10, 95–96
central Pacific offensive opposed by, 307–12
Brown, Julian, 198, 199
Browning, Miles, 198, 200–201
Bryan, Joseph, III, 323
Buell, Harold, 105, 191, 305, 386, 463–64, 490–91, 492, 494, 495
Buin, Bougainville, xxv, 62, 157, 179, 203, 206, 234, 235, 419
Japanese airstrip at, 122
Buka Island, xxvi, 37, 38, 157, 235
Buka Passage, xxv, 37
Buna, 220
Bunker Hill, USS (CV-17), 328, 405, 530
Bureau of Aeronautics, U.S. Navy, 301, 304, 305, 323
Bureau of Ordnance, U.S. Navy, 255–56, 277, 278, 279, 281–82
Burke, Arleigh “31-Knot,” 233, 236, 389, 476–77, 479, 494
appointed Mitscher�
�s chief of staff, 436
Burma, 418
bushido, 186–87, 507
Butaritari Island, 320, 361–62
Cabot, 405, 478
Cactus Air Force, 71, 103, 166, 222, 458
daily missions of, 135–36
in dogfights with Japanese, 100–101
Enterprise and Saratoga squadrons in, 82, 103, 105
Japanese troop transports attacked by, 167–68, 172–73
night missions of, 104
October 13–14 decimation of, 140
reinforcements for, 102–3, 135
see also Marine Aircraft Group 23
Cairo Allied conference (November 1943), 437, 438
Calhoun, C. Raymond, 162
Calhoun, William L., 198, 333, 440
California, USS, 291, 292
Callaghan, Daniel J., 22, 160, 161
in Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, 162, 164
Camp Cable, 209
Canberra, HMAS, 45–46, 51, 53
cannibalism, xviii, 191
Canton Island, 124, 144, 342, 389
Cape Esperance, 164, 178, 184
Cape Esperance, Battle of, 135
Cape Gloucester, New Britain, 240
Cape Moira, Bougainville, 206
Cape St. George, New Ireland, 41
Cape Torokina, Bougainville, 235, 236
Carney, Robert B., 146, 201, 222, 232, 440
Carney Field, 190, 242
Caroline Islands, 116, 312, 449
Carpender, Arthur S., 218
carrier bombers, Japanese, 470
Carrier Division 1, Japanese, 419, 448, 473, 482
aircraft of, 420
Carrier Division 2, Japanese, 486
aircraft losses of, 420–21
aircraft of, 419
Carrier Division 3, Japanese, 473
CARTWHEEL, Operation, 224, 241, 313
air campaign in, 231, 236–39
Bougainville landings in, 236, 340
Emirau Island landings in, 242
Green Islands landings in, 240, 242
leapfrogging strategy in, 232, 240, 242
morale and discipline problems in, 231–32
naval battles in, 233–35, 236–37
New Britain campaign in, 239–40
New Georgia campaign in, 222, 231–32
Rabaul bypassed in, 232, 235, 240
Casablanca conference (1943), 10, 307–11
CATCHPOLE, Operation, see Eniwetok, Battle of