WHAT I’M READING: IMPLACABLE FOES
As I research and write my book, I intend to discuss how the US strategy in the Pacific evolved from 1942 to 1945 and the role Franklin played in it. To learn more about the way the war was being fought, both at the strategic and the operational levels, I’m reading Implacable Foes, by Waldo Heinrichs and Marc Galicchio, published in 2018. Heinrichs is the Dwight E. Stanford Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University; Galicchio is a Professor of History at Villanova University. Both have published numerous works on topics related to Japan during that era. This book covers the war in the Pacific in 1944 and 1945.
I’ve only just started but I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have to remind myself to take notes as I get caught up in their story and narrative.
Three Things About US Strategy
Here is something you may not know: the authors state that there were three principles that were kept in mind by war planners when formulating strategy.
1. President Franklin Roosevelt and the military demanded nothing less than unconditional surrender from Japan.
2. They knew there were limits on the American people’s support of the war.
3. These two above drove the third, which was that victory should be accomplished with all speed. General Marshall (US Army Chief of Staff) opposed major operations in SE Asia or the Mediterranean Theater that did not directly impact the defeat of Germany or Japan. He wanted to see incremental but continual gains. This drove the US Army’s strategy to move closer and closer to Japan and use its land and air force assets to defeat Japan. The Army was prepared to invade Japan if it didn’t unconditionally surrender. This differed from the US Navy’s strategy which was to destroy the Japanese fleet and then blockade Japan until it surrendered. Thus, we started with Guadalcanal in 1942, Tarawa in 1943, and so on. As the noose tightened and we seized islands closer and closer to Japan, the Navy fought and won decisive battles at the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and at Leyte Gulf in October of that year. After Leyte, even though the battleship Yamato and others still lived, the Imperial Japanese Navy was a shell of its former self no longer capable of winning the decisive battle against the US Navy it had planned for decades.
A Surprising Number of US Army Division Fought In The Pacific
The authors write that, despite the “Germany First,” philosophy, it wasn’t until October 1943 that Army divisions in Europe outnumbered those in the Pacific. Eventually, there would be 63 US Army divisions in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) and 27 in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO). Most people, familiar with the Pacific War through movies and TV shows think it was an all Marine show. In reality, the Marines fielded six divisions in the PTO.
I only just started reading this book, but I am looking forward to diving back in. It’s a popular history but well-researched and I recommend it to those interested in learning more about World War II in the Pacific.