Commanding the Pacific
Marine Corps Generals in World War II
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Commanding the Pacific
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Narrated by:
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Asa Siegel
About this listen
The Marine Corps covered itself in glory in World War II with victories over the Japanese in hard-fought battles such as Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Iwo Jima. While these battles are well known, those who led the Marines into them have remained obscure until now.
In Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II, Stephen R. Taaffe analyzes the 15 high-level Marine generals who led the Corps' six combat divisions and two corps in the conflict. He concludes that these leaders played an indispensable role in organizing, training, and leading their men to victory.
Taaffe insists there was nothing inevitable about the Marine Corps' success in World War II. In most of its battles on small Pacific War islands, Marine generals had neither the option nor inclination to engage in sophisticated tactics, but they instead relied on direct frontal assaults that resulted in heavy casualties. Such losses against targets of often questionable strategic value sometimes called into question the Marine Corps' doctrine, mission, and the quality of its combat generals. Despite these difficulties, Marine combat commanders repeatedly overcame challenges and fulfilled their missions. Their ability to do so does credit to the Corps and demonstrates that these generals deserve more attention from historians than they have so far received.
©2021 Stephen R. Taaffe (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
- By: Barbara W. Tuchman
- Narrated by: Pam Ward
- Length: 29 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 328
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 323
In this Pulitzer Prize - winning biography, Barbara Tuchman explores American relations with China through the experiences of one of our men on the ground. In the cantankerous but level-headed "Vinegar Joe", Tuchman found a subject who allowed her to perform, in the words of the National Review, "one of the historian's most envied magic acts: conjoining a fine biography of a man with a fascinating epic story."
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4 out of 5 stars
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A period that directly affected our world today
- By Charlotte on 08-29-12
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Generals in the Making
- How Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Their Peers Became the Commanders Who Won World War II
- By: Benjamin Runkle
- Narrated by: Roger Wayne
- Length: 18 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 26
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story5 out of 5 stars 22
Shakespeare famously wrote that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Part military history and part group biography, Generals in the Making tells the true story of how George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and their peers became the greatest generation of senior commanders in military history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great survey of the military upbringing of WWII’s most prominent Army generals.
- By Kristi on 05-20-24
By: Benjamin Runkle
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Eisenhower's Armies
- By: Niall Barr
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 20 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 53
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4 out of 5 stars 48
Eisenhower's Armies is the story of two very different armies learning to live, work, and fight together even in the face of serious strategic disagreements. The Anglo-American relationship from 1941-1945 proved to be the most effective military alliance in history. Yet there were also constant tensions and disagreements that threatened to pull the alliance apart.
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4 out of 5 stars
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One of the unsung efforts during World War II
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-31-16
By: Niall Barr
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Panzer General
- Heinz Guderian and the Blitzkrieg Victories of WWII
- By: Kenneth Macksey
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 12 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 44
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
Kenneth Macksey's highly regarded biography of Generaloberst Heinz Guderian gives clear insight into the mind and motives of the father of modern tank warfare. Panzer General shows Guderian as a man of ideas equipped with the ability to turn inspiration into reality. A master of strategy and tactics, he was the officer most responsible for creating blitzkrieg in World War II.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Terrible narration/pronunciation
- By Amazon Customer on 01-23-22
By: Kenneth Macksey
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The Mighty Endeavor
- American Armed Forces in the European Theater in World War II
- By: Charles B. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 66
From the first landings at Casablanca straight through to the crossing of the Elbe River and V-E Day, this book tells the gripping story of the European theater of operations battles of World War II that American soldiers, sailors, and airmen took part in and of the strategy behind them. The book's core is its account of such famous and dramatic episodes as the landings in North Africa, Kasserine Pass, Salerno and Anzio; D-day; the liberation of Paris; the Battle of the Bulge; the crossing of the Rhine; and the race across Germany.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great background on US Armed Forces in the ETO and MTO
- By Dan McGrew on 05-16-17
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MacArthur at War
- World War II in the Pacific
- By: Walter R. Borneman
- Narrated by: David Baker
- Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 74
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 75
World War II changed the course of history. Douglas MacArthur changed the course of World War II. Macarthur at War goes deeper into this transformative period of his life than previous biographies, drilling into the military strategy that Walter R. Borneman is so skilled at conveying and exploring how personality and ego translate into military successes and failures.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An interesting, but flawed, history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-29-16
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The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today
- By: Thomas E. Ricks
- Narrated by: William Hughes
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 770
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 663
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 656
A widening gulf between performance and accountability has caused history to be kinder to the American generals of World War II than to those of later wars. In The Generals we meet leaders from World War II to the present who rose to the occasion - and those who failed.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Provocative
- By Jean on 04-30-15
By: Thomas E. Ricks
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Instrument of War
- The German Army 1914-18
- By: Dennis E. Showalter
- Narrated by: Julian Elfer
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 82
Drawing on more than a half-century of research and teaching, Dennis Showalter presents a fresh perspective on the German Army during World War I. Showalter surveys an army at the heart of a national identity, driven by - yet also defeated by - warfare in the modern age, that struggled to capitalize on its victories, and ultimately forgot the lessons of its defeat.
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5 out of 5 stars
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German Side Of WW1
- By David A on 06-21-18
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Call Sign Chaos
- Learning to Lead
- By: Jim Mattis, Bing West
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 5,703
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,944
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Story5 out of 5 stars 4,927
Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis’ storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas - and short-sighted thinking - now facing our nation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A pleasant surprise
- By Fountain of Chris on 09-06-19
By: Jim Mattis, and others
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Hell to Pay
- Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan, 1945-1947
- By: D. M. Giangreco
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 16 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 86
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4 out of 5 stars 71
U.S. planning for the invasion and military occupation of Imperial Japan began two years before the dropping of atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hell to Pay brings to light the political and military ramifications of the enormous casualties and loss of material projected by both sides in the climatic struggle to bring the Pacific War to a conclusion through a brutal series of battles on Japanese soil.
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4 out of 5 stars
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This is a good piece of history.
- By David on 08-09-14
By: D. M. Giangreco
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The Second World War: Milestones to Disaster
- By: Winston Churchill
- Narrated by: Christian Rodska
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 3,195
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,375
Churchill's history of the Second World War is, and will remain, the definitive work. Lucid, dramatic, remarkable for its breadth and sweep and for its sense of personal involvement, it is universally acknowledged as a magnificent reconstruction.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant! Only Churchill could have done this.
- By John M on 10-30-08
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 213
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Story5 out of 5 stars 193
On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
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Hitler's Soldiers
- The German Army in the Third Reich
- By: Ben H. Shepherd
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 26 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 262
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 229
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 227
For decades after 1945, it was generally believed that the German army, professional and morally decent, had largely stood apart from the SS, Gestapo, and other corps of the Nazi machine. Ben Shepherd draws on a wealth of primary sources and recent scholarship to convey a much darker, more complex picture. For the first time, the German army is examined throughout the Second World War, across all combat theaters and occupied regions, and from multiple perspectives: its battle performance, social composition, relationship with the Nazi state, and involvement in war crimes and occupation.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Thorough and scholarly
- By Mary A. on 03-23-18
By: Ben H. Shepherd
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Defeat into Victory
- Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945
- By: Field-Marshal Viscount William Slim, David W. Hogan Jr. - introduction
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 23 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story5 out of 5 stars 72
Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) led shattered British forces from Burma to India in one of the lesser-known but more nightmarish retreats of World War II. He then restored his army's fighting capabilities and morale with virtually no support from home and counterattacked. His army's slaughter of Japanese troops ultimately liberated India and Burma.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent account of a theatre of ww2 that many Americans know little about of
- By Thomas W White on 01-06-24
By: Field-Marshal Viscount William Slim, and others
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Chesty
- The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC
- By: Colonel Jon T. Hoffman USMCR
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 23 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 615
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 550
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Story5 out of 5 stars 548
The Marine Corps is known for its heroes, and Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller has long been considered the greatest of them all. His assignments and activities covered an extraordinary spectrum of warfare. With his bulldog face, barrel chest (which earned him the nickname Chesty), gruff voice, and common touch, Puller became - and has remained - the epitome of the marine combat officer. Author Jon Hoffman has been given special access to Puller's personal papers as well as his personnel record. The result will unquestionably stand as the last word about Chesty Puller.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book great man good read
- By Just_Shoppin on 07-10-18