Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II

by Stephen Taaffe

Overview

The Marine Corps covered itself in glory in World War II with victories over the Japanese in hard-fought battles such as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. While these battles are well known, those who led the Marines into them have remained obscure until now. In Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, Stephen R. Taaffe analyzes the fifteen high-level Marine generals who led the Corps' six combat divisions and two corps in the conflict. He concludes that these leaders played an indispensable and unheralded role in organizing, training, and leading their men to victory. Taaffe insists there was nothing inevitable about the Marine Corps' success in World War II. The small pre-war size of the Corps meant that its commandant had to draw his combat leaders from a small pool of officers who often lacked the education of their Army and Navy counterparts. Indeed, there were fewer than one hundred Marine officers with the necessary rank, background, character, and skills for its high-level combat assignments. Moreover, the Army and Navy froze the Marines out of high-level strategic decisions and frequently impinged on Marine prerogatives. There were no Marines in the Joint Chiefs of Staff or at the head of the Pacific War's geographic theaters, so the Marines usually had little influence over the island targets selected for them. In addition to bureaucratic obstacles, constricted geography and vicious Japanese opposition limited opportunities for Marine generals to earn the kind of renown that Army and Navy commanders achieved elsewhere. In most of its battles on small Pacific War islands, Marine generals had neither the option nor inclination to engage in sophisticated tactics, but they instead relied in direct frontal assaults that resulted in heavy casualties. Such losses against targets of often questionable strategic value sometimes called into question the Marine Corps' doctrine, mission, and the quality of its combat generals. Despite these difficulties, Marine combat commanders repeatedly overcame challenges and fulfilled their missions. Their ability to do so does credit to the Corps and demonstrates that these generals deserve more attention from historians than they have so far received.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682477083
Publisher:	Naval Institute Press
Publication date:	09/15/2021
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Stephen R. Taaffe is a professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University, where he specializes in U.S. military history. He received his bachelor's degree from Grove City College and his graduate degrees from Ohio University.

Table of Contents

List of Maps ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 Semper Fi: An Anomalous Organization in Search of a Mission 7

2 Waging War in the Most Remote Place on Earth: The Pacific Theater 19

3 Central Pacific Offensive 69

4 Closing in on Japan 143

Conclusion: Gaining and losing Combat Command 180

Notes 195

Bibliography 215

Index 221

Editorial Reviews

Taaffe’s descriptions of strategy and operations are succinct.... Any reader of military history will enjoy this valuable treatise on character and command.” —The Journal of America’s Military Past

“History is often generous to victorious generals, focusing on their strengths and ignoring their faults. Commanding the Pacific gives you both, revealing the officers who led the Marine Corps through some of its most famous battles and campaigns in a balanced fashion. The author withholds personal judgments to lay out the facts in a neutral fashion, allowing the reader to evaluate them. This book effectively presents its subjects as human beings, with all the good and bad that implies, serving in difficult circumstances.” —WWII History

“Readers familiar with the accounts of the Marine Corps’ Island campaigns of World War II will find this book enlightening on a higher level.” —Seapower

“Taaffe has written a superb book on leaders of Marines—both in war and peacetime—that show these leaders embracing what Puryear called ‘the ‘whole Marine Concept’ of employing and orchestrating ground, aviation, and combat service support assets, as well as understanding the service infrastructure dedicated to recruiting, training, and equipping Marines. Herein lies the key to Marine leadership and the main strength of this book. The author shows how Marine leaders … understood these precepts and successfully employed them in battle and in peacetime assignments.” —Naval Historical Foundation

“In Commanding the Pacific, Stephen R. Taaffe puts on a writing clinic as he blends biographical sketches and personality studies with a historical narrative of the strategic and operational levels of the Pacific War. He also effortlessly weaves analysis into this mix. Readers can also glean lessons and habits of mind about leadership and teamwork.” —David J. Ulbrich, author of Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Marine Corps, 1939–1943

“Much of our understanding of the Marine Corps in World War II has been shaped by the perspectives of the fighting men. Dutifully researched and exceptionally written, Commanding in the Pacific provides a much-needed analysis of USMC leadership to allow a fuller comprehension and appreciation of the Marine experience.” —Bradford A. Wineman, professor of military history, U.S. Marine Corps Command & Staff College

“Stephen R. Taaffe’s Commanding the Pacific is an instant classic. Readers interested in the Marine Corps, combat leadership, and World War II will find it invaluable. In combination with his previous works, this outstanding volume highlights Taaffe as the preeminent scholar on senior command in the U.S. military during America’s wars.” —William A. Taylor, author of Military Service and American Democracy; Lee Drain Endowed UniversityProfessorship, Angelo State University

“Stephen R. Taafe has written a long-overdue history of the commanding generals of the six large combat divisions fielded by the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. Because of the far-flung nature of combat in the Pacific,1941-1945, the performance of many of these crucial division commanders has been overlooked by historians. Thankfully, this is no longer the case. While the author does not hesitate to criticize some of these division commanders, most of whom had never commanded formations larger than a single regiment, his excellent history highlights the tremendous difficulty the entire Navy-Marine Corps team faced, especially toward the end of the war, when the Japanese decided that fanatical last-stand defensive efforts, like the ones conducted on Iwo Jima and Okinawa, were the best way to convince the Americans to not even contemplate an invasion of their home islands.” —Charles P. Neimeyer, Ph.D., professor, Naval War College, Fleet Support Program

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