BOOTS ON THE GROUND
ISLAND INFERNOS The U.S. Army’s Pacific War Odyssey, 1944
By John C. McManus. 656 pp. Dutton Caliber, 2021. $35.
is one of those rare books where the hype on the book jacket is understated. Author John C. McManus continues his trilogy of the U.S. Army (2019), spanning 1941-43. This second installment covers the tumultuous year of 1944, focusing on battles in New Guinea, Burma, the Marianas, the Philippines, and numerous other islands. McManus notes that while Pacific War coverage tends to be dominated by the exploits of the Marines, who fielded six divisions and mounted 15 amphibious combat assaults, it was the army that furnished more than 20 divisions and conducted many dozens more such landings. McManus’s well-written and superbly researched account does much to restore the historical balance.
