Reviews

Most books about Guadalcanal concentrate on the gallant stand of the 1st Marine Division. Hammel has written the first comprehensive study of the overall campaign, demonstrating that Guadalcanal was as much a matter of air and surface action as it was a land battle. In the concluding volume of his Guadalcanal trilogy, he maintains that the inability of the Japanese to overcome the Marines' ``Cactus Air Force'' was the ultimate cause of their defeat; nevertheless, most of the narrative concerns the victory of the U.S. Navy at sea and the awesome confrontations between battleships, cruisers, and destroyers during the climactic three-day battle. Until that turning point in the Pacific war, surface warships of the Navy had lost every engagement with their Japanese counterparts. The victory prevented the Japanese from reinforcing their garrison ashore and at the same time enabled the Americans to augment the precarious foothold established by the Marines. Hammel's description of surface tactics, naval gunnery, and what happens when the order to abandon ship is given is vivid and memorable. Illustrations. (October)

Guadalcanal was a vicious six-month land-air-sea battle in which both sides suffered appalling losses. Having previously described the air and land battles in the first two parts of his trilogy, Hammel devotes the third volume to an analysis of the events that led to the desperate sea battles of November 13th-15th and the almost miraculous victory of the U.S. Navy. He demonstrates how Japanese tactics and equipment were superior and their troops emotionally prepared for total war, in contrast to American officers. Yet the United States gained a hard-won victory, which determined the future course of the Pacific War. An eminently readable work; for most academic and public libraries. Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y.