Pacific Blitzkrieg closely examines the planning, preparation, and execution of ground operations for five major invasions in the Central Pacific (Guadalcanal, Tarawa, the Marshalls, Saipan, and Okinawa). The commanders on the ground had to integrate the US Army and Marine Corps into a single striking force, something that would have been difficult in peacetime, but in the midst of a great global war, it was a monumental task. Yet, ultimate success in the Pacific rested on this crucial, if somewhat strained, partnership and its accomplishments. Despite the thousands of works covering almost every aspect of World War II in the Pacific, until now no one has examined the detailed mechanics behind this transformation at the corps and division level. Sharon Tosi Lacey makes extensive use of previously untapped primary research material to re-examine the development of joint ground operations, the rapid transformation of tactics and equipment, and the evolution of command relationships between army and marine leadership. This joint venture was the result of difficult and patient work by commanders and evolving staffs who acted upon the lessons of each engagement with remarkable speed. For every brilliant strategic and operational decision of the war, there were thousands of minute actions and adaptations that made such brilliance possible. Lacey examines the Smith vs. Smith controversy during the Saipan invasion using newly discovered primary source material. Saipan was not the first time General "Howlin' Mad" Smith had created friction. Lacey reveals how Smith's blatant partisanship and inability to get along with others nearly brought the American march across the Pacific to a halt. Pacific Blitzkrieg explores the combat in each invasion to show how the battles were planned, how raw recruits were turned into efficient combat forces, how battle doctrine was created on the fly, and how every service remade itself as new and more deadly weapons continuously changed the character of the war.
Sharon Tosi Lacey earned her PhD in military history from the University of Leeds, UK and is also a graduate of the United States Military Academy and Long Island University, USA. She has served as a U.S. Army officer for more than twenty-two years and published more than thirty articles on military issues in magazines and journals.
"Heavily researched and meticulously presented, "Pacific Blitzkrieg"'s keen, ground's-eye perspective is a welcome addition to military and world history collections. Highly recommended."--"Midwest Book Review" ""Pacific Blitzkrieg" is an exceptional analysis of U.S. joint amphibious operations against Japan during World War II. Lacey clearly demonstrates that despite the heat of the Smith versus Smith controversy during the invasion of Saipan, in fact U.S. Army and Marine units and commanders cooperated far better than the published historical record to date suggests. A must read for current and future joint force commanders and their staffs."--Peter R. Mansoor, author of "The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945" "Pacific Blitzkrieg is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Pacific War but is also a delight to read. Lacey demolishes the belief, widely held among students of the Pacific War, that a deep gulf lay between the Marine Corps and the Army."--Williamson Murray, coauthor of "A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War" "This is a significantly fresh approach in that it goes beyond the Army-Marine controversies best exemplified by 'Smith versus Smith.'"--Dennis E. Showalter, author of "Hitler's Panzers" and "Patton and Rommel" "Pacific Blitzkrieg is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Pacific War but is also a delight to read. Lacey demolishes the belief, widely held among students of the Pacific War, that a deep gulf lay between the Marine Corps and the Army."--Williamson Murray, coauthor of A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War "This is a significantly fresh approach in that it goes beyond the Army-Marine controversies best exemplified by 'Smith versus Smith.'"--Dennis E. Showalter, author of Hitler's Panzers and Patton and Rommel "Pacific Blitzkrieg is an exceptional analysis of U.S. joint amphibious operations against Japan during World War II. Lacey clearly demonstrates that despite the heat of the Smith versus Smith controversy during the invasion of Saipan, in fact U.S. Army and Marine units and commanders cooperated far better than the published historical record to date suggests. A must read for current and future joint force commanders and their staffs."--Peter R. Mansoor, author of The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945 "Heavily researched and meticulously presented, Pacific Blitzkrieg's keen, ground's-eye perspective is a welcome addition to military and world history collections. Highly recommended."--Midwest Book Review "Her five case studies are thoroughly and persuasively analyzed, and the work is well supported with primary and secondary sources. Although she is an Army officer, her viewpoint on Army-Marine disagreements and the relative accomplishments of the two services is quite objective. The books is also well-written and easy to read. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in joint operations, amphibious warfare, or the history of the Pacific War."--Army History "Lacey has covered this area of Pacific war history with precision, and produced a book that will serve both historians and military officials. The Pacific war marked a watershed moment in the history of joint force operations, during which American armed forces learned to work together on an operationally effective level. Other scholars have explored much of what Lacey includes about the campaigns in question, but this book is the first to synthesize those works (and a litany of new sources) into a comprehensive analysis of the Pacific island war. For this reason it will surely remain the standard volume on the subject for the foreseeable future."--H-WAR "Lacey contributes to existing literature by writing the US Army back into the Pacific War narrative--no reader of her book will fail to understand that men of both services fought, bled, and died on Japanese-held islands. Pacific Blitzkrieg thus stands as a valuable corrective to Marine-centered histories of the war. . . . Pacific Blitzkrieg will appeal especially to military personnel because of its battle analysis methodology. It could also furnish nuanced supplementary reading in courses on the Pacific War if assigned in concert with indispensable earlier chronological and analytical studies."--Michigan War Studies Review "Lacey is the master of her topic. She has done her homework, synthesized the results of her research into a cogent whole and produced a work that could be a model for other operational studies in its thoroughness and succinctness. The text is straightforward and informative and Lacey's conclusions are well reasoned and supported by the narrative of events."--Journal of America's Military Past "Lacey provides excellent insight into five battles crucial to the victory over Japan: Guadalcanal, the Gilberts, the Marshalls, Saipan, and Okinawa. . . . Lacey has written a fine book that adds to our understanding of the Pacific War. She writes clearly and presents an interesting analytical framework that encourages further discussion of inter-service rivalries and cooperation."--Journal of Military History "This book is an important contribution to our understanding of the Pacific War, especially as it relates to the evolving joint doctrine and, in particular, the storied--and, at times, turbulent--relationship between the Army and the Marine Corps. It will be of great interest to most readers of ARMY magazine, but it is definitely a must-read for anyone with interest in World War II's Pacific Theater."--ARMY "You wouldn't necessarily know it from the title, but this fine book is really about the development of joint amphibious and operational doctrine between the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army. . . . For anyone with even passing interest in the topic of amphibious warfare in the Pacific, Pacific Blitzkrieg is highly recommended."--Navy History "Pacific Blitzkrieg is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Pacific War but is also a delight to read. Lacey demolishes the belief, widely held among students of the Pacific War, that a deep gulf lay between the Marine Corps and the Army."--Williamson Murray, coauthor of "A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War" "This is a significantly fresh approach in that it goes beyond the Army-Marine controversies best exemplified by 'Smith versus Smith.'"--Dennis E. Showalter, author of "Hitler's Panzers" and "Patton and Rommel"""Pacific Blitzkrieg" is an exceptional analysis of U.S. joint amphibious operations against Japan during World War II. Lacey clearly demonstrates that despite the heat of the Smith versus Smith controversy during the invasion of Saipan, in fact U.S. Army and Marine units and commanders cooperated far better than the published historical record to date suggests. A must read for current and future joint force commanders and their staffs."--Peter R. Mansoor, author of "The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945" "Pacific Blitzkrieg is not only a major contribution to our understanding of the Pacific War but is also a delight to read. Lacey demolishes the belief, widely held among students of the Pacific War, that a deep gulf lay between the Marine Corps and the Army."--Williamson Murray, coauthor of "A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War" "This is a significantly fresh approach in that it goes beyond the Army-Marine controversies best exemplified by 'Smith versus Smith.'"--Dennis E. Showalter, author of "Hitler's Panzers" and "Patton and Rommel" "This is a significantly fresh approach in that it goes beyond the Army-Marine controversies best exemplified by 'Smith versus Smith.'"--Dennis E. Showalter, author of "Hitler's Panzers" and "Patton and Rommel"
