South Pacific Cauldron: World War II's Great Forgotten Battlegrounds

by Alan Rems

While the Pacific War has been widely studied by military historians and venerated in popular culture through movies and other media, the fighting in the South Pacific theater has, with few exceptions, been remarkably neglected. Worthy of remembrance no less than Wake Island, Leyte Gulf, and Tarawa are the great unsung battlefields of Buna, Shaggy Ridge, and the Driniumor River on New Guinea, as well as the torpedo-infested waters off New Georgia; and the deadly skies over Rabaul and Wewak.
Authoritative, yet written in a highly readable narrative style, South Pacific Cauldron is the first complete history embracing all land, sea and air operations in this critically important sector of that oceanic war. Unlike most other World War II accounts, this work covers the South Pacific operations in detail, including the little-known final Australian campaigns that continued until the Japanese surrender.
Author Alan Rems breathes life into the major figures of the South Pacific campaigns, including brilliant and imperious General Douglas MacArthur, audacious and profane Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, and bibulous and indelicate Australian General Thomas Blamey. No less interesting are others that will be mostly new to readers, including many from the Japanese side, like the indomitable generals Noboru Sasaki and Hatazo Adachi. As for the fighting men, many of their stories are captured in accounts of the actions for which some were awarded the Medal of Honor, Victoria Cross, and other decorations for valor.
South Pacific Cauldron 's story is enhanced with 16 maps and 40 photographs, many rarely seen, that were carefully chosen from official American and Australian sources. The book includes a detailed chronology to put the widely separated operations in context and a detailed bibliography for additional reading on the subject.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, Military History, Audiobook

312 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2014

Reviews

[Robin Case · Rating 1 out of 5]

I used the audio version and thus review applies to that version only. Very poorly done.

[Richard Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 from a naval historian, and provides insights into the conflicts among commanders of naval, ground and air forces, as well as allied commanders--primarily Australian. Having praised the book and recommending it to readers, I must point out where I was disappointed. I hoped to find more about the pilots in the cockpits of the Cactus Air Force and the army and marine grunts in the most adverse conditions. I hoped to see more of the order of battle for US forces. And most of all I wanted to read the details of the end of the South Pacific Campaign with the battles for the Philippines. Mostly, the Philippines received only lip service, completely ignoring the guerrilla forces that fought to hang on for four years until MacArthur's return. To me that is the most glaring deficiency.

[Mike Kershaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 by the Japanese in this period during the so-called "Period of Balance" that HP Wilmott describes can be better understood -- as well as their decisions during this period. However, there is almost nothing presented that isn't already available in the various official histories, awards citations and more well known secondary sources. Therefore, I'd recommend this to someone who is examining this area for the first time or without much previous reading.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 drama described seemed to involve interpersonal squabbles between the high command rather than descriptions of actual conditions on the ground, etc.

Yes, it's a good resource if you're looking for casualty counts on a day-to-day basis on Pacific islands that rarely get mentioned, if at all, but keep looking if you're hoping for personal reports from the battlefields.

[Robert Clancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 Soloman Islands. The most revealing aspects to this history was the politics and ego of MacArthur, Halsey, Nimitz, Blamey and other top generals and admirals, both American, Australian and Japanese, as they vied for glory and control -- generally at the unnecessary cost of foot soldier's lives.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 fought there. It is certainly a fair broad brush, and does tell us something of the personalities involved. Certainly worth a look if you've never investigated the conflict there, before.

[Kay Mercuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stories of the wars fought in the South Pacific and the brave men who served our country after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. It was a long and brutal battle and interestingly told by Mr. Rems.