Military Model Scene

Title: Guadalcanal
Author: Jon Diamond
Publisher: Pen & Sword
ISBN: 978-1-03613-096-1

The Essential Victory, a new Images of War title from Pen & Sword, another by author Jon Diamond. A 248-page soft-cover book in the usual style for this series.
This recent addition to the Images of War series is a welcome addition to the story of Guadalcanal in WW2. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese forces continued to advance southwards, along the series of island chains, getting closer to mainland Australia. The US, recovering from the attack on their fleet in Hawaii, resolved to stop that advance. Despite significant naval battles at the Battle of the Coral Sea and then at Midway, Japanese forces landed near Lunga Point on Guadalcanal, with the aim of constructing a new airfield. To counter this, US forces landed on the island, captured the new airfield, completed it and faced Japanese units who tried to take it back. The story, with that of the 'Cactus Air Force', which operated from the renamed Henderson Field, is also well covered in other books. The 5 chapters, which include some helpful maps, tell the detail of the story of Guadalcanal thanks to this large collection of archive photos. Relatively little text to introduce each chapter, the story of told through the large number of images, and each one has an extensive caption which tell the story. There are pictures of the commanders of both sides, the men who fought there, the equipment they used, and the conditions they lived and fought in. With such a large collection of images as this then it is difficult to choose what to tell you to look out for, but as well as the wide open spaces of the beaches and the airfield itself, the dense jungle is a clear feature. A couple of Japanese artillery pieces, camouflaged in foliage, look like you'd trip over them before you saw them! Then there are a number of pictures of Japanese dead, as a result of their Banzai charges against the US Marines defenders. Sad to see and perhaps still one of the most difficult things about the war in the Pacific for most Westerners to understand. The final chapter also includes more on the naval war, and the sinking of the USS Hornet.
While my main interests remain on the equipment used by both sides, I felt that this is particularly of note for the focus on the troops who fought there. The faces of the men who not only faced combat, but also the terrain conditions they lived and fought in, the weather, and the illnesses caused by hunger and the malaria brought by mosquitos, which were another major cause of casualties for both sides. There is a lot published on the fighting on Guadalcanal, but this large collection of archive photos adds a lot to all that other material I feel. The extensive captions to each picture adds a lot to the book as a whole.
Thanks to Pen & Sword for the review copy.

Robin