Army vs Marines in the Pacific, 1944

McManus, John C.  Island Infernos: The U.S. Army's Pacific War Odyssey, 1944.  New York: 

           Caliber, 2021.  ISBN: 9780451475060

1944 would be a milestone year in both the Pacific and European theaters for the U.S. Army.  In Europe wold be invasions of Italy and France.  In the Pacific the U.S. Army was still struggling in New Guinea.  It had made progress among the Gilbert Islands, cleared the Aleutian Islands, and established a force in India aimed at Burma.  It was the opening John McManus had set for Island Infernos, the second volume of his series on the U.S. Army in the Pacific War.

John McManus lays out the situation at the beginning of 19955 in the Prologue of Island Infernos.  He then takes the reader though all the operations and activities of the U.S. Army in 1944 over the course of the next ten chapters.  Operation Flintlock - the invasion of the Marshall Islands.  The invasion of the Admiralty Islands of Los Megros and Manus.  Fighting and more fighting in New Guinea and on Bougainville.  Galahad Force left India and trekked though Burma.  The Marine/Army invasions of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian that brought plenty of casualties and almost ruptured relationships between the two services.  Finally came the longed for return to the Philippines by McArthur and the U.S. Army assisted by the U.S. Navy.  McManus also provided a brief update on POWs and their treatment.  

John McManus has continued his 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.  In one volume he managed to cover the wide range of activities undertaken by the U.S. Army over the course of 1944 for the reader to peruse and absorb.