Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls

Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls Synopsis

The Naval Institute Press has published Samuel Eliot Morison's monumental History of United States Naval Operations in World War II in updated paperback editions with new introductions by noted military historians. Morison, an eminent Harvard professor, was appointed by his close friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to write the history of US naval operations after convincing the president that too many wartime histories were written after the fact or from a distance. Morison called his classic work a ""shooting history"" of World War II, because it was documented by historical observation during each specific naval operation in the Atlantic and Pacific. Critically hailed for its accuracy, narrative pace, and detail, the series presents a complete record of the U.S. Navy's war at sea.

Volume 7 picks up operations in the Aleutians after the Battle of Midway and carries through to the capture of Attu and Kiska, including the Battle of the Komandorski Islands. Morison, who took part in Operation Galvanic, describes in detail the planning, preparation, and execution of the great amphibious operations on the Gilbert Islands and the conquest of the Marshalls, offering frank discussions of mistakes made and some amusing anecdotes, including how the Japanese fooled U.S. troops in the evacuation of Kiska.