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Fortress Rabaul: The Battle For The Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943 (2010)

by Bruce Gamble(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0760345597 (ISBN13: 9780760345597)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Zenith Press

review 1: A fascination of mine for some time has been the air war in the South West Pacific; the Japanese having overwhelming force, the Allies holding on by a thread, and then watching both sides stumble forward; got to love it. In this case, Mr. Gamble tackles the capture of Rabaul by the Japanese and the early Allied air missions against it (thru the Battle of the Bismarck Sea). Because of the impact of New Guinea and the Solomon’s to Rabaul, Mr. Gamble also describes the air war over New Guinea and the Solomon’s. In reading this book two books were immediately brought to mind, Fire in the Sky (Eric M. Bergerud) and Into the Dragon’s Jaws (by Lex McAulay). Fire in the Sky is my gold standard for the air war in the South Pacific and Into the Dragon’s deals with the ... morelater raids on Rabaul. Fortress Rabaul is a good description of what happened in the early part of the war to Rabaul but doesn’t rise to the level Fire in the Sky did. While Mr. Gamble does a good job presenting his story of the air war over Rabaul, I wasn’t totally a part of it. Parts of his work were very nicely done (his section on the capture of Rabaul and the actions of the USS Lexington around Rabaul and in the Coral Sea) while others went from complete works to nicely done (I’m sorry, I was underwhelmed with the attention paid to the war in New Guinea. No attention was paid to Milne Bay or Buna, both of which contributed to the air war over Rabaul. His description of the Battle of the Bismarck Sea was only ok). This is complicated by not talking about the Japanese restructuring their forces so that their Army Air Force was responsible for New Guinea and the Navy had New Britain. This became very important during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea). Descriptions are usually very good, accuracy aligns with other sources in general (more on that later). The pictures are nice and there’s a nice map of the Rabaul area. With all of this in mind, I’m calling this one a 4 star book that’s good for the war at Rabaul but weaker as you go away from Rabaul. Having said that, I’ll be looking forward to Mr. Gamble’s next work to see how it compares to Into the Dragon’s Jaws.
review 2: Rabaul has always been a discussed but overlooked aspect of the Pacific campaign. Gamble's Fortress Rabaul is the first in a two volume set of Rabaul. Fortress Rabaul is a highly engaging book that brings in many aspects of the air war in the Southwest Pacific. Gamble's book looks at the air siege of Rabaul from the perspectives of the different nationalities which gives the reader a seemingly complete or at least thorough look at the battle for Rabaul. less

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