Esteemed Pacific War historian Jeffrey Cox has produced a fast-paced
and absorbing read of the crucial New Georgia phase of the
Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign during the Pacific War.
Thousands of miles from friendly ports, the US Navy had finally managed
to complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese in early 1943.
Now the Allies sought to keep the offensive momentum won at such a high
cost. This is the central plotline running through this page-turning
history beginning with the Japanese Operation I-Go and the American
ambush of Admiral Yamamoto and continuing on to the Allied invasion of
New Georgia, northwest of Guadalcanal in the middle of the Solomon
Islands and the location of a major Japanese base. Determined not to
repeat their mistakes at Guadalcanal, the Allies nonetheless faltered in
their continuing efforts to roll back the Japanese land, air and naval
forces.
Using first-hand accounts from both sides, this book vividly recreates
all the terror and drama of the nighttime naval battles during this
phase of the Solomons campaign and the ferocious firestorm many Marines
faced as they disembarked from their landing craft. The reader is
transported to the bridge to stand alongside Admiral Walden Ainsworth as
he sails to stop another Japanese reinforcement convoy for New Georgia,
and vividly feels the fear of an 18-year-old Marine as he fights for
survival against a weakened but still determined enemy.
Dark Waters, Starry Skies is an engrossing history which weaves
together strategy and tactics with a blow-by-blow account of every
battle at a vital point in the Pacific War that has not been analyzed in
this level of detail before.
