FROM THE HALLS OF MONTEZUMA to the shores of Tripoli, as the Marine Corps Hymn relates, and more recently in the epic battle of the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and the siege of Hue City in Vietnam, America's "soldiers of the sea" have fought their country's baffles around the world for more than two centuries. From Belleau Wood in the Great War to the killing fields of Iraq, the fighting Leathernecks have been known for their valorous spirit--their ability to persevere in the face of nearly any odds.

The U.S. Marines earned their reputation of being the "First to Fight" on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal, when on August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division stormed ashore to begin one of the most difficult and brutal campaigns of recent military history. This was just the first of an unbroken string of a dozen island victories across the Pacific: up the Solomons from Guadalcanal, on westward in 1943 from Tarawa in the central Pacific, and the climactic Western Pacific campaigns of 1945 on Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

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Pacific Warriors "covers all of the legendary Marine battles of the Pacific War in a tribute to the men who led the way against Japan. It also provides the reader with a look at the prewar Marine Corps and its remarkable base force to a full six divisions along with a modern Marine Corps air force. The rise and development of modern amphibious doctrine and training going back to the end of the nineteenth century are an important part of the story and receive detailed coverage.

Combined with nearly three hundred photographs--many never before published--and detailed captions, plus seventeen maps commissioned especially for this volume, the expert text by critically acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel will serve as a lasting tribute to the United States Marines of World War II.