Guam

In this sequel to his epic Saipan, James Hallas tells the dramatic story of the battle for Guam in World War II, the next stage of the United States’ pivotal campaign for the Mariana Islands—and the beginning of the end for the Japanese Empire.

In December 1941, Japan captured Guam, the largest island of the Marianas archipelago and an American territory since 1898, and turned it into a naval and air base, a supply dump, and a massive prison for the native Chamorros. After a long, bloody drive back across the Pacific, the United States was ready to retake Guam in the summer of 1944, not only to liberate the island, but to secure its harbor and airstrip, both vitally important for mounting an aggressive attack against the Japanese home islands.

Saipan came first in Operation Forager, the campaign to take the Marianas, and as that battle bogged down in vicious combat, the invasion of Guam was delayed—until July 21, 1944, when, after one of the Pacific War’s longest and most devastating bombardments, U.S. Marines and Army soldiers trudged ashore, spearheaded by frogmen who pierced Japanese defenses. Guam was a hellish place for a war, and for two and a half weeks, American fighting men battled a tenacious enemy on sandy beaches, in jungles, mountains, ravines, caves, and swamps, in sweltering humidity and frequent downpours. The Japanese fought to the last man, at first mounting well-organized attacks and in the end relying on suicidal charges—in places inflicting up to 50 percent casualties on American units. Major operations ended on August 10, but mopping up continued until the end of the war, and the last Japanese holdout did not surrender until 1972.

James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of the Battle of Guam. In its comprehensiveness, attention to detail, scope of research, and intimate focus on the men who fought and won the battle, this will stand as the definitive history of the battle for years to come.