Nonfiction R&R: Fire and Fortitude

This book Review and Recommendation is on "Fire and Fortitude, The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943" by John C. McManus.

If you are like me, when you think of World War II in the Pacific, you immediately think of the Marine Corps. Maybe it’s all those old war movies like “Sands of Iwo Jima,” or the marine narratives by Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie? But I must admit my ignorance. I was shocked when I read in “Fire and Fortitude” about the contribution of the Army versus the Marines.

This in no way detracts from the amazing accomplishments of the USMC during the Second World War. That being said, the Army presence in the Pacific dwarfed the marines. In the Pacific Theater during WWII, the Marine Corps fielded six combat divisions. The United States Army, on the other hand, deployed twenty-one combat divisions, along with several regimental combat teams and separate battalions. Not to mention massive numbers of logistics, medical, intelligence, and transportation personnel. With so many army personnel fighting against Japan, why aren’t some of the battles and campaigns that were predominantly army operations more well-known?

In “Fire and Fortitude," the author cites historian and writer Cole Kingseed for five reasons the Army is not known for its contribution to the war in the Pacific Theater: The “Germany first” strategy that prioritized the European Theater, a maritime nature of the war in the Pacific that led to a naval-dominated narrative, MacArthur’s PR campaign that failed to credit the accomplishments of subordinate units, press coverage weighted to the European Theater because correspondents found it a more pleasant environment over remote Pacific islands, and the racial aspect of fighting Japan and their approach to war.

I'm glad to see that we’re starting to take a long-overdue look at the Army in the Pacific. There seem to have been a number of books that focus on an aspect of this huge subject area published over the last couple of years. “Fire and Fortitude” (2019) is the first volume in a trilogy chronicling the US Army in the Pacific. McManus begins this book with a look at the pre-war army. He then provides a review of Pearl Harbor from an army perspective that I found unique. He, of course, covers Bataan and Corregidor, but I found the chapter on the struggle to take Buna during the Papuan Campaign in New Guinea to be the most interesting. Probably because it is one of the least highlighted battles in the media and popular history.

The second volume of the trilogy is already out in hardback. I’m looking forward to the release of the third. I’ve read a couple of other works by McManus, like “The Dead and Those About to Die.” “Fire and Fortitude” has the same level of readability combined with historical detail. What Ian Toll has written about the Navy in the Pacific, and Rick Atkinson accomplished for the European Theater, John McManus has tackled for the Army in the Pacific. Definitely a must read.