Under The Southern Cross Paperback

Description

vivid narrative history of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns of World War II,which represented key turning points in the U.S. Navy's campaign against theJapanese in the Pacific.DescriptionFrom August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the most difficultcampaign in its history. Between the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanaland the final withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific baseat Rabaul, the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it refused topublicly release total casualty figures.The Solomons campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use ofthose ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other units ofthe pre-war navy that had been hastily transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after theAmerican victory at Midway, USS Enterprise was the only pre-war carrier left in the SouthPacific and the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the face of Japanese navalpower had there been a third major fleet action. At the same time, another underresourcedcampaign had broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japaneseattempt to reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral Sea in May andthrough to the end of the year, American and Australian armed forces were only just ableto prevent a Japanese conquest of New Guinea.The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in both the Solomons and New Guinea, butit would take another 18 hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from theSouth Pacific. Under the Southern Cross draws on extensive first-hand accounts andnew analysis to examine the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns which laid thegroundwork for Allied victory in the Pacific War.Sales and Marketing HighlightsThe Solomons and New Guinea campaigns of World War II were pivotal, withJapanese and American forces fighting hard to gain supremacy through 18months on land, at sea and in the air.This book builds upon Osprey’s recent titles on the naval war in the Pacific,which has included the strong-selling Rising Sun, Falling Skies (2014) andMorning Star, Midnight Sun (2018), as well as the author's other titles PacificThunder (2017) and Tidal Wave (2018).The Pacific Theatre of World War II is one of the most successful subjectareas of popular military history, and this engaging narrative will appeal to thismarket.