Product Description

Although most people associate the term D-Day with the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, it is military code for the beginning of any offensive operation. In the Pacific theater during World War II there were more than one hundred D-Days. The largest -- and last -- was the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, which brought together the biggest invasion fleet ever assembled, far larger than that engaged in the Normandy invasion.

D-Days in the Pacific tells the epic story of the campaign waged by American forces to win back the Pacific islands from Japan. Based on eyewitness accounts by the combatants, it covers the entire Pacific struggle from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Pacific war was largely a seaborne offensive fought over immense distances. Many of the amphibious assaults on Japanese-held islands were among the most savagely fought battles in American history: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, New Guinea, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa.

Generously illustrated with photographs and maps, D-Days in the Pacific is the finest one-volume account of this titanic struggle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262981 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A distinguished historian who revised and updated Henry Steele Commager's History of World War II now focuses on the Pacific War. The theatre emerges as a series of amphibious landings, for which the U.S. had prepared before the war and which almost certainly shortened the war. But as the U.S. fought its way from Guadalcanal to Okinawa and prepared to invade the Japanese home islands, its troops faced skilled and tenacious resistance by the Japanese. Survivors on both sides (Americans include Eugene Sledge, William Manchester and James Jones) emphasize the brutality and the stress of the close-quarters combat that often arose from an amphibious landing. The author also emphasizes the strained relations between MacArthur and Nimitz, which led to a two-front campaign that pushed even American resources to the limit. As he concludes, Miller notes with unusual balance the role that the casualties of Iwo Jima and Okinawa played in the decision to drop the A-bomb, by creating expectations of even bloodier battles in the course of an invasion. The book also includes annotation and a bibliography valuable for further reading and a good selection of 80 b&w illustrations and 10 maps. It lacks only enough background on prewar diplomacy and the Japanese campaign in China to be the perfect introduction to the Pacific War. Agent, Lou Reda.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Miller's very readable account of the offensives in the Pacific, from the turning of the tide at Guadalcanal to VJ-day, portrays a series of amphibious landings, many of them bloodily and tenaciously contested. He skillfully uses official records and the remembrances of frontline survivors to depict the savagery and stresses of the close-quarters combat usually encountered in amphibious warfare. He also discusses the strained relationship between General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, respectively the army and navy commanders in the Pacific, provoking one to wonder whether both sometimes forgot whom they were supposed to be fighting. Accounts of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, with their high casualty rates, introduce Miller's consideration of the decision to drop the atomic bomb. After those island campaigns, everyone from the president to the private believed something big should shorten the war and reduce American casualties. Excellent narrative history and first-class illustrations eventuate in superior historiography. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Astonishing Inaccuracies
Sixty-nine pages into this book I have been astonished at the number of outrageous factual inaccuracies.

In describing the attack on Pearl Harbour at p.13 he describes each anchored battleship as "a small city with upward of 15,000 crew". According to "Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946" at pp. 91 & 92, their actual complement was between 1,050 and 2,375.A Nimitz class aircraft carrier has a crew of less than 6,000!

At p.15 the author goes on to assert that the battleship Arizona was hit by bomb "igniting more than one million tons of ammunition". A remarkable load for a ship which Conway's states had a displacement of 31,400 tons! And since the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima was considered to be the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT, Professor Miller's explosion should have vaporized Oahu!

The absurdities continue into the Author's account of the Battle of Midway, where at p.43 he tells us that the Japanese carrier Soryu "was hit by 3,000 bombs". Since the three American carriers at Midway had a maximum total compliment of about 108 single-engine dive-bombers (plus about 48 torpedo carrying aircraft), the assertion is preposterous.

This book contains interesting first-hand accounts of combat by people who were involved, but one is soon left to wonder about the accuracy of any of the author's own statements about the events being described.

Very good general history of Pacific War
Published to coincide with the History Channel broadcast of the same title, and based on The Story of World War II, which was in turn Miller's revision and update of Henry Steele Commager's book of the same name. Miller is a much-published history professor and PBS host. Although the title refers to the 127 separate over-the-beach operations that occurred in the Pacific theater, he spends most of his effort on a relatively small number of familiar names-Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Peleliu, Okinawa. Good section on the B-29 raids, with many quotes from General Curtis LeMay. Miller's discussion of the decision to use the atomic bomb, with the war aims, fears, and political intentions surrounding it, concentrates on the soldiers in the theater who expected a bloody and suicidal struggle on the home islands, and were eager to do anything to avoid it. The author has a remarkable narrative flair and a fine eye for the detail that makes history come alive. Effective use of first-person accounts. Nothing new here, but a fine introduction to the war in the Pacific. Extensive bibliography. Well worth the purchase as a reasonably short and accessible history.

Best account of the human side of the war in the Pacific
D-days in the Pacific is the most accurate account of the war in the Pacific. I particularly enjoyed the personal accounts of the soldiers and the effects of the war that could only be told by the men who fought it. Donald Miller does a wonderful job of blending the human aspect along with the historical facts to make D-Days in the Pacific a great story for anyone who's interested in history.