The Army was in the Pacific in WW II?

McManus, John C. Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943.  New York:
           Dutton Caliber, 2019.  ISBN: 9780451475046

When most readers think of World War II in the Pacific Theater, they think of Pearl Harbor, Midway, and Guadalcanal which star the US Navy and Marines.  But the war would not have been won with out the US Army.  Fire and Fortitude tells the story of the US Army in the Pacific from the time of Pearl Harbor to the beginning of the march on Japan.

John McManus divides the book in two sections - Onslaught and Turnabout.  In Onslaught, the reader finds chapters on the Pearl Harbor attack, the invasion and fall of the Philippians, the war in China and Australia, and a chapter on the prisoner of war (POW) camps.  In Turnabout, the reader sees the US Army and its Allies striking back in New Guinea, Guadalcanal (the US Army played a crucial role there), Burma, China, and the invasion of Makin where the Army fared better than the Marines at Tarawa.  There is also another chapter on the changing conditions at the POW camps in  Philippians and Japan.

John McManus has done a credible job of presenting the role of the US Army in the Pacific Theater of WWII.  He works to provide details from both combat and other aspects of Army life.  It is interesting that he provides details on the US Army POWs in the Pacific.  The book breaks off abruptly after the Makin invasion, but that is due to the scope of the book.  In tone Fire and Fortitude reminds the reader of the Official Histories put out by the US Army that are available in US Government Repositories.  But if you are looking for a one volume introduction to the role played by the US Army in the early part of WWII, Fire and Fortitude will work.