With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

“This book is captured in the TV series The Pacific. Eugene Sledge was a young U.S. Marine who doesn’t even enter the fighting until September 1944, but he’s then in some of the most vicious combat as American naval forces ‘island hop’ through the South and Central Pacific to establish bases close enough to bomb Japanese cities and ultimately invade the country. Equally, Japan knows that they must not allow this to happen or it will be unconditional surrender. That’s where the ferocity of their defence turns suicidal and casualties mount on both sides. American forces lost more men in the final year of the war than in the previous three years combined. That’s where Sledge’s memoir begins…What I found emotive and why I chose it is that this book—above most other World War Two memoirs—is just incredible for capturing the psychological damage of being on the front line. It’s visceral.” Read more...

The best books on Battles

Iain MacGregor, Military Historians & Veteran