Coral and Brass

Coral and Brass PDF

Author: Holland M. Smith

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2017-06-29

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 138706861X

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Coral and Brass is the biography of General Holland McTyeire "Howlin' Mad" Smith, known as the "father" of modern U.S. amphibious warfare. His book is a riveting first-hand account of key battles fought in the Pacific between the U.S. Army and Canadian troops against the Japanese, including assaults on the Gilbert Islands, the Marshall Islands, the island of Saipan, Tinian in the Marianas and Iwo Jimo.

Coral and Brass

Coral and Brass PDF

Author: Holland M. Smith

Publisher:

Published: 2017-06-12

Total Pages: 146

ISBN-13: 9781548048631

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The aim of this book is twofold: first, that due credit be given to a gallant body of men, the United States Marine Corps, who in their path across the Pacific were faithful to their traditions and to their country; second, to point out the errors that were committed in World War II in such a manner that they will not be repeated in World War III - God forbid.This is a personalized account of over forty years in the service of my country, culminating in the greatest war in our history. I never kept a diary. I had no official historian at my elbow recording in detail the battles I fought. I was too busy fighting those battles to set down anything in chronological form. Therefore, I find myself largely relying on my memory to compile the story of those forty years. If I have erred in facts, it is due to the momentous times through which I have lived and served.I bear no malice toward any man or any Service. Any criticism in this book is made only for constructive purposes in the light of national defense needs. I am sure that a grateful country will not forget the magnificent efforts made by the Marines in the Pacific for the successful prosecution of the war against Japan.

Coral And Brass

Coral And Brass PDF

Author: Holland M (Holland McTyeire) Smith

Publisher: Hassell Street Press

Published: 2021-09-10

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 9781015255104

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Coral and Brass

Coral and Brass PDF

Author: M. Holland Smith

Publisher: Bantam Books

Published: 1987-07-01

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 9780553265378

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This story possesses all the explosive vigor and forthrightness that have made "Howlin Mad" Smith famous. He pulls no punches, either in his fighting man's tale of the Pacific War, or in demanding full recognition for his Marines. It is his personal story of the Marine Corps' achievement in the war with Japan.

Commanding the Pacific

Commanding the Pacific PDF

Author: Stephen Taaffe

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2021-09-15

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1682477096

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The Marine Corps covered itself in glory in World War II with victories over the Japanese in hard-fought battles such as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. While these battles are well known, those who led the Marines into them have remained obscure until now. In Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, Stephen R. Taaffe analyzes the fifteen high-level Marine generals who led the Corps' six combat divisions and two corps in the conflict. He concludes that these leaders played an indispensable and unheralded role in organizing, training, and leading their men to victory. Taaffe insists there was nothing inevitable about the Marine Corps' success in World War II. The small pre-war size of the Corps meant that its commandant had to draw his combat leaders from a small pool of officers who often lacked the education of their Army and Navy counterparts. Indeed, there were fewer than one hundred Marine officers with the necessary rank, background, character, and skills for its high-level combat assignments. Moreover, the Army and Navy froze the Marines out of high-level strategic decisions and frequently impinged on Marine prerogatives. There were no Marines in the Joint Chiefs of Staff or at the head of the Pacific War's geographic theaters, so the Marines usually had little influence over the island targets selected for them. In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, constricted geography and vicious Japanese opposition limited opportunities for Marine generals to earn the kind of renown that Army and Navy commanders achieved elsewhere. In most of its battles on small Pacific War islands, Marine generals had neither the option nor inclination to engage in sophisticated tactics, but they instead relied in direct frontal assaults that resulted in heavy casualties. Such losses against targets of often questionable strategic value sometimes called into question the Marine Corps' doctrine, mission, and the quality of its combat generals. Despite these difficulties, Marine combat commanders repeatedly overcame challenges and fulfilled their missions. Their ability to do so does credit to the Corps and demonstrates that these generals deserve more attention from historians than they have so far received.

Twenty-Two on Peleliu

Twenty-Two on Peleliu PDF

Author: George Peto

Publisher: Casemate

Published: 2017-07-19

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1612005284

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A memoir of a tough childhood—and tough combat—by an “adventurous, lively, outspoken, opinionated” WWII Marine veteran (Columbus Dispatch). On September 15, 1944, the US First Marine Division landed on a small island in the Central Pacific called Peleliu as a prelude to the liberation of the Philippines. Among the first wave of Marines that hit the beach that day was twenty-two-year-old George Peto. Growing up on an Ohio farm, George always preferred being outdoors and exploring. This made school a challenge, but his hunting, fishing, and trapping skills helped put food on his family’s table. As a poor teenager living in a rough area, he got into regular brawls, and he found holding down a job hard because of his wanderlust. After working out west with the CCC, he decided that joining the Marines offered him the opportunity for adventure, plus three square meals a day—so he and his brother joined the Corps in 1941, just a few months before Pearl Harbor. Following boot camp and training, he was initially assigned to various guard units until he was shipped out to the Pacific and assigned to the 1st Marines. His first combat experience was the landing at Finschhaven, followed by Cape Gloucester. Then as a Forward Observer, he went ashore in one of the lead amtracs at Peleliu and saw fierce fighting for a week before the regiment was relieved due to massive casualties. Six months later, his division became the immediate reserve for the initial landing on Okinawa. They encountered no resistance when they came ashore, but would go on to fight on Okinawa for over six months. This is the wild and remarkable story of an “Old Breed” Marine—his youth in the Great Depression, his training and combat in the Pacific, and his life after the war, told in his own words.

Nimitz at War

Nimitz at War PDF

Author: Craig L. Symonds

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 0190062363

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From one of our most distinguished naval historians, the first wartime biography in a half-century of the man who guided America to victory in the Pacific in World War Two The most cataclysmic and consequential war in history produced more than its share of fascinating characters and great leaders. Some have hardened into legend, others fallen below the radar. Somewhere in-between sits Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of both the Pacific Fleet and the Pacific Ocean Area from 1941 to 1945. Nimitz demanded and received less attention than his Army counterpart, Douglas MacArthur, whose self-promotion was prodigious. He seemed less colorful than some of his subordinates, such as Admiral Bill "Bull" Halsey and General Holland "Howlin' Mad" Smith. Yet Nimitz's was the guiding hand of Allied forces in the Pacific War, and the central figure in the victory against Japan. Craig L. Symonds's full-length portrait of Nimitz, from the precarious early months following Pearl Harbor, when Nimitz assumed command of the Pacific Fleet, to the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, is the first in more than fifty years. Using Nimitz's headquarters-the eye of the hurricane-as the vantage point, Symonds covers the major campaigns, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. He captures Nimitz's calm, discipline, homespun wisdom, and uncanny sense of when to project authority and when to pull back, illuminating how this helped him direct one of the largest and most complex campaigns in military history, fought against an implacable foe. The pressures Nimitz faced were crushing, involving tactical and strategic decision-making, visualizing success while mindful of the welfare of those who served under him-soldiers, sailors, and Marines. He had to corral assertive subordinates and keep them focused on the larger objectives, and maintain a strong working relationship with his own superiors, including the equally formidable Admiral Ernest J. King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In addition, Nimitz had to deal with the public spectacle of war, managing the expectations of a nation both expecting victory and longing for the carnage to end. In retrospect it seems impossible to imagine anyone else could have accomplished all this. As Symonds' absorbing, dynamic, and authoritative portrait reveals, it took leadership asked of-and exhibited by-few others. Behind Nimitz's unflappable professionalism and reservoirs of charm were a resolve and audacity that became evident when most needed.

Preparing for Victory

Preparing for Victory PDF

Author: David J Ulbrich

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2011-04-15

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 1612514103

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Preparing for Victory explains how and why Commandant Thomas Holcomb successfully supervised the dramatic expansion of the Marine Corps from 18,000 officers and men in 1936 to 385,000 in 1943. Not only did Holcomb leave the Corps much larger, but he also helped establish it as the United States’ premier amphibious assault force and a major contributor to victory over Japan. Despite Holcomb’s successes, he has been ignored or given short shrift in most histories of the Marine Corps. No book-length study of his commandancy exists until now. Drawing on a wide range of printed and archival sources, my book contends that Holcomb expertly guided the Corps’ preparations for war during the last years of the Great Depression and then provided his “Leathernecks” with astute direction during the first harrowing twenty-five months of World War II. When measured with principles of organization theory and leadership studies, Holcomb’s abilities and achievements match those of such outstanding American military managers as Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chester W. Nimitz, and George C. Marshall. Like these unassuming yet efficient officers, Holcomb shied away from the limelight and therefore never garnered the attention that “Chesty” Puller or “Howlin’ Mad” Smith have. This book fills a void and tells the story of one of the key leaders in World War II. More than any other marine, Holcomb molded his Corps into the modern force-in-readiness that would eventually help fight the Cold War and the Global War on Terror.