To foreign shores

In 1939 an eminent British strategist concluded that technology had rendered future amphibious assaults "almost impossible." Fortunately, a small group of American military officers rejected this conclusion and devised a doctrine for joint amphibious operations that helped bolster America's military force as it entered the global war in 1941. This is the first single source to cover the entire development of U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps amphibious operations during World War II. Most other books on the subject have been written from the perspective of the landing forces. This account describes the whole spectrum of modern seaborne assaults. It covers ships and landing craft, ship-to-shore movement, command relationships, air and gunfire support, mine countermeasures, salvage, and much more. . John Lorelli shows how the tentative beginnings of these innovative tactics, as played out in the Solomon Islands and North Africa in 1942, were later refined to make possible the massive amphibious landings at Normandy, Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa in 1944 and 1945. Each Allied assault is explored in depth, with the author making full use of his extensive research into oral histories, war diaries, and combat reports. This book is a complete reference that includes planning, tactics, and vivid firsthand accounts, and its informal yet authoritative style will appeal to historians, buffs, and students.