Implacable Foes: War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

by Waldo Heinrichs, John P. Newell

Overview

On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day-shortened to "V.E. Day"-brought with it the demise of Nazi Germany. But for the Allies, the war was only half-won. Exhausted but exuberant American soldiers, ready to return home, were sent to join the fighting in the Pacific, which by the spring and summer of 1945 had turned into a gruelling campaign of bloody attrition against an enemy determined to fight to the last man. Germany had surrendered unconditionally. The Japanese would clearly make the conditions of victory extraordinarily high.

In the United States, Americans clamored for their troops to come home and for a return to a peacetime economy. Politics intruded upon military policy while a new and untested president struggled to strategize among a military command that was often mired in rivalry. The task of defeating the Japanese seemed nearly unsurmountable, even while plans to invade the home islands were being drawn. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall warned of the toll that "the agony of enduring battle" would likely take. General Douglas MacArthur clashed with Marshall and Admiral Nimitz over the most effective way to defeat the increasingly resilient Japanese combatants. In the midst of this division, the Army began a program of partial demobilization of troops in Europe, which depleted units at a time when they most needed experienced soldiers. In this context of military emergency, the fearsome projections of the human cost of invading the Japanese homeland, and weakening social and political will, victory was salvaged by means of a horrific new weapon. As one Army staff officer admitted, "The capitulation of Hirohito saved our necks."

In Implacable Foes, award-winning historians Waldo Heinrichs (a veteran of both theatres of war in World War II) and Marc Gallicchio bring to life the final year of World War Two in the Pacific right up to the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, evoking not only Japanese policies of desperate defense, but the sometimes rancorous debates on the home front. They deliver a gripping and provocative narrative that challenges the decision-making of U.S. leaders and delineates the consequences of prioritizing the European front. The result is a masterly work of military history that evaluates the nearly insurmountable trials associated with waging global war and the sacrifices necessary to succeed.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190616755
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	06/02/2017
Pages:	728
Sales rank:	121,712
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 2.20(d)

About the Author

Waldo Heinrichs is Dwight E. Stanford Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University. He is the author of American Ambassador: Joseph C. Grew and the Development of the United States Diplomatic Tradition, which won the Allan Nevins Prize. Marc Gallicchio is a Professor of History at Villanova University and was a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer in Japan, 1998-1999 and 2004-2005. He is the author of The African American Encounter with Japan and China: Black Internationalism in Asia, 1895-1945, which won the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations Robert H. Ferrell book prize.

Table of Contents

1. Gaining Power and Momentum Against Japan
2. The New Guinea Campaign
3. The Marianas Campaign
4. Leyte: Setting the End Game
5. The Philippines Campaign
6. Beyond Human Endurance
7. Iwo Jima
8. Okinawa
9. Two Down and One to Go
10. "My Hardest Decision to Date."
11. The Meaning of Victory
12. Conclusion: "The Capitulation of Hirohito Saved Our Necks"

Editorial Reviews

"Two great historians have produced this stellar and extremely important book, adding critical new layers to the decision-making process of American leaders approaching the controversial end of the Asia-Pacific War. This is a thoroughly researched, judicious, and very sobering reminder of the complexity and uncertainty of events surrounding the final acts of World War II." - Richard Frank, author of Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire and Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle

"A masterful history destined to be the definitive account of the final two years of America's war with Japan. The authors' comprehensive, original, and highly readable narrative sets new standards for understanding the political, military, and social pressures on U.S. leaders as they simultaneously fought a determined foe, demobilized American armed forces, and prepared for the complex transition to America's postwar domestic economy." - Edward Drea, author of Japan's Imperial Army

"Implacable Foes is a superbly researched work of both original scholarship and synthesis on the last two years of the Pacific War by two eminent and award-winning historians. Their detailed analysis and conclusions will challenge some long-held beliefs about U.S. strategic planning and operations in this conflict while reinforcing others." - Mark A. Stoler, Editor, George C. Marshall Papers, Professor Emeritus of History University of Vermont

"In their detailed and insightful analysis of the last year of the Pacific War, Waldo Heinrichs and Marc Gallicchio tie military operations closely with the political, strategic, logistical, and even cultural context to provide a thorough assessment of the war, and they do so without losing any of the inherent drama of events." - Craig Symonds, author of Midway and Operation Neptune: The D-Day Landings and the Allied Invasion of Europe

"A valuable and revealing study...For readers familiar with the military campaigns, the book is essential reading for its lucid treatment of the pressures that imperiled critical operations in a truly global war...the contribution of this vital book is its portrait of history as lived desperately in the moment; of the varied troubles that beset planners and commanders in the war's horrific last year; and of the mettle and vision of an American president whom history should underrate no longer. "Implacable Foes" shows war operations as a human ordeal even at the highest level, fueled by the exhaustible human spirit." - Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

2017-04-23
An in-depth account of the denouement of the Pacific phase of World War II.WWII veteran and historian Heinrichs (Emeritus, History/San Diego State Univ.; Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II, 1988, etc.) and Gallicchio (History/Villanova Univ.; The Scramble for Asia: U.S. Military Power in the Aftermath of the Pacific War, 2008, etc.) begin in early 1944, as American forces began to shift from containment of Japanese advance to a sustained offensive. The goals were twofold: recovering territory lost in the initial Japanese expansion and forcing a Japanese capitulation. Several factors complicated the process: the determination of the Japanese to fight to the last man; the continuing war on the European front; rivalries between the Army and Navy; and the political situation at home. The authors give each due consideration. Descriptions of the battles make it clear how high the cost of the Japanese strategy was. In most of the battles, the Americans faced well-sited defensive positions designed to extract as many casualties as possible. Only toward the end of the war did significant numbers of Japanese troops surrender, but at the same time, the kamikaze attacks were causing enormous damage to the American fleet. Meanwhile, the European war's demands for personnel and supplies limited the resources available to the U.S. commanders in the Pacific, who were already at odds over how best to prepare for the apparently inevitable invasion of Japan. Back in the U.S., much energy was being expended on the questions of how to quickly return to a peacetime economy and how to return the veterans of Europe's war to their civilian lives. Harry Truman and his new administration wrestled with these issues, which were exacerbated by a sense that the population would not support a drawn-out siege of Japan. The authors' handling of these questions, which ultimately led to the atomic bombing of Japan, is more interesting than their sometimes-ponderous coverage of the battles. Substantial documentation, much of it from Japanese sources, adds value. A useful resource for serious students of World War II.

Kirkus Reviews