South Pacific Cauldron
World War II's Great Forgotten Battlegrounds

Alan Rems has added a significant contribution to the recorded history of World War II with this study of the joint and combined campaigns in a region mostly ignored by military history. His work is extensively researched and well written. It focuses heavily on the naval aspects as one might expect......more

The best aspect of this book is the perspective of considering the various campaigns fought by the Allies against the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific holistically -- vice their normal treatment by either service, nation or geographic perspective. Thus the interrelationship of the challenges faced......more

This has to be one of the driest books I've ever attempted to read (listen to) in many years. More often than not, it was just a reading off of statistics for each skirmish (and many of them were, really, only that). There was almost a complete lack of first-person accounts, and most of the human dr......more

Very detailed account of WWII Pacific theatre showing progress of war against the Japanese. This book deals with the island hopping strategy of the Allies (American, Australian & New Zealanders) and how it evolved after costly, unnecessary battles on a variety of islands in New Britain and the Solom......more

I'm not entirely sure that the subtitle (World War II's Great Forgotten Battlegrounds) is entirely deserved. The description of the South Pacific battleground as a cauldron makes some sense, and the author has put together a series of stories that gives one a fair overview of the battles that were f......more