7517

7517 Synopsis

The USA has been embroiled in the ongoing insurgency in Iraq since Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off on 23 March 2003. "Marines on the Ground: Operation Iraqi Freedom 1" covered the important role played by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in the initial invasion. The second volume in this two-part series has now been released, and it carries on the story of I MEF's return to Iraq in March 2004 through to the end of March 2005 when responsibility was handed over to II MEF. As in the earlier volume, this book utilizes official photos taken by USMC photographers. This ensures a wide variety of photos covering different locations, units and vehicles are included. Operation Al Fajr, the violent Battle of Fallujah, is extremely well covered in a detailed chapter that offers a day-by-day action of the fighting. Understanding of this operation is boosted by a personal battle account from Andreas Elesky , MSgt USMC (Ret.), who participated in the fighting before being wounded in action. Other chapters cover such events as the Najaf Crisis and Iraq's first free national elections. Vehicles much in evidence in this photographic record include Humvees, MTVRs, LAVs, AAVs, and M1A1 Abrams tanks. The book contains four color plates by Hubert Cance, two profile line drawings, along with one 1/35 scale plans. This is a concise record of major actions that U.S. Marines were involved in during this period, and readers wanting to learn more about the Battle of Falljah, or simply looking for a collection of Marine photos, will find much of interest here.