Don Bowen
Posts: 8183
Joined: 7/13/2000 From: Georgetown, Texas, USA Status: offline
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For good history of the Pacific War consider History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II by Samuel Eliot Morison. Somewhat dated (has it really been 50 years?) but an excellent history and about the right level of detail. Primarily a naval history, short on army detail. 15 volumes, including those for the Atlantic. Consider: Volume 3 - Rising Sun in the Pacific Volume 4 - Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Operations Volume 5 - Struggle for Guadalcanal Volume 6 - Breaking the Bismark Barrier. Volume 8 - New Guinea and the Marianas For U.S. carrier operations in great detail - The First Team and The First Team and the Guadalcanal Operation, both by John Lundstrom. Focus is on VF squadrons and very, very detailed. For land combat you can't beat the official histories: U.S. Army in World War II - Guadalcanal the First Offensive and Victory in Papua Australia in the War of 1939-1945 - South-West Pacific Area, First Year - Kokoda to Wau. History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II - Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal The Army Air Forces in World War II - Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August, 1942. And, of course, for Guadalcanal, get Richard B Frank's Guadalcanal.
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