Midnight in the Pacific Audiobook By Joseph Wheelan cover art

Midnight in the Pacific

Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War

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Midnight in the Pacific

By: Joseph Wheelan
Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
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A sweeping narrative history -- the first in over twenty years -- of America's first major offensive of World War II, the brutal, no-quarter-given campaign to take Japanese-occupied Guadalcanal

From early August until mid-November of 1942, US Marines, sailors, and pilots struggled for dominance against an implacable enemy: Japanese soldiers, inculcated with the bushido tradition of death before dishonor, avatars of bayonet combat -- close-up, personal, and gruesome. The glittering prize was Henderson Airfield. Japanese planners knew that if they neutralized the airfield, the battle was won. So did the Marines who stubbornly defended it.

The outcome of the long slugfest remained in doubt under the pressure of repeated Japanese air, land, and sea operations. And losses were heavy. At sea, in a half-dozen fiery combats, the US Navy fought the Imperial Japanese Navy to a draw, but at a cost of more than 4,500 sailors. More American sailors died in these battles off Guadalcanal than in all previous US wars, and each side lost 24 warships. On land, more than 1,500 soldiers and Marines died, and the air war claimed more than 500 US planes. Japan's losses on the island were equally devastating -- starving Japanese soldiers called it "the island of death."

But when the attritional struggle ended, American Marines, sailors, and airmen had halted the Japanese juggernaut that for five years had whirled through Asia and the Pacific. Guadalcanal was America's first major ground victory against Japan and, most importantly, the Pacific War's turning point.

Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with Marine Corps and Army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual Marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history. World War II Armed Forces Imperial Japan Wars & Conflicts Naval Forces Inspiring Military Japan Asia Americas
Detailed Historical Analysis • Comprehensive Battle Coverage • Exceptional Narration • Personal Perspectives

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This could have been one of the greats, but it needs fact-checking. There are enough factual errors that I caught to be irritating, but I did like the format.

Good, but not great

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This was a great performance but I really don’t like audible forcing you to write a comment. I wanted to just give stars and be done with it

Yes

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Excellent story and very enjoyable. The reader did an exceptional job and I looked forward the each chapter.

Well written!

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The subtitle tells you the main point of this book, “Guadalcanal, The World War II Battle that Turned the Tide of War.” The author argues that the turning point was not Midway, but Guadalcanal, much earlier. Midway was the climax, but Guadalcanal set the stage for the rest of the Pacific side of the war. Wheelan does an excellent and detailed analysis of the “battle,” which I will put in quotes because we often think of a battle as one skirmish that may last a day or even several, but this one was a brutal, ongoing conflict that lasted for 6 months, from August 7, 1942 through February 1943. At times there seemed to be too much detail that could have been condensed, but after reading, the effect was a greater understanding not just of what happened, but how and why, as well as the brutality of the conflict and the great suffering of the combatants on both sides. You feel for the sacrifice of the soldiers, not just of their lives or the risk of losing their lives, but the starvation, the feeling of having been forgotten and abandoned, the suffering of the ravages of the jungle, the disease, the jungle rot that destroyed everything, the daily fear of the night raids by the Japanese. And, for the Japanese, it was no better, and probably worse. The Allied war strategy was originally to first focus on defeating Hitler while holding Japan back as much as possible and later turning to Japan. However, when news came that the Japanese had started construction of an airport on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon islands (a chain of islands just northeast of Australia and close to (east of) Indonesia. The fear was that this would cut off the supply lines between Hawaii and Australia / New Zealand. And, the rumor was that there were plans to then build one on Guam which would directly threaten Hawaii. A plan was hastily drawn up to invade Guadalcanal, which at that time mainly had construction workers on it. When the Marines landed, the construction workers and the few Japanese soldiers fled. The Japanese began landing more soldiers and started regular assaults, however they underestimated the number of Marines on the island, and did not appreciate their fighting ability or discipline. The Japanese held naval and air superiority at that time and their Zero fighters were far superior to what was then available in the US Pacific force. The US fighters were limited to 12,000 feet and were slower at climbing. Their pilots were less well-trained as well. At first the US Navy held back, unwilling to risk the loss of important ships, but eventually became more aggressive. The Japanese, responding by landing more troops and increasing bombardments. They especially liked to attack at night, giving the Marines no rest. Because they had underestimated the US forces and had not committed enough forces to retake the island early on, it became harder to do so as time went on and the US dug in more. In addition, though they held superiority in the beginning, the industrial might of the US meant that they were able to replace planes and ships faster than Japan could destroy them, but Japan could not do so. In addition, the Japanese tendency to choose to die than surrender (many pilots ejected but did not open their parachutes and even those whom the US tried to rescue would try to drown themselves or otherwise take their lives) meant that they were losing the best trained pilots and replacing them with newer recruits with less training. By the end of November, the Japanese superiority was gone and the battle began to sway toward the Americans. On both sides there was a tendency to take a conservative strategy and avoid risk at times. Both sides underestimated the other. Both misunderstood each other, but especially on the Japanese side. The Japanese doubted the courage of the Americans. One Japanese commander wrote that the Americans lacked discipline because they tried a strategy and if it didn’t work, they would give up and try something else, something that the Americans saw as just practical thinking. The book describes the naval, air, and land battles in great detail and made it interesting. When the Japanese finally evacuated in February 1943, they were forced to go on the defensive and were not able to have the tactical dominance they had once enjoyed. In that sense, Guadalcanal was truly the turning point. The book also talks about some things that are less well known, such as the “coast watchers,” many of them Australian, who hid near the coastline and radioed ship and plane sightings back to the Allies, as well as the native Melanesians who knew the island and the jungle and did a great deal to help the Americans. Some were honored by the Marines or by the British government (the Solomon Islands were a British colony at the time) and at least one was knighted and later attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The sacrifice of the soldiers on the ground, in the air, and on the sea is moving. The description of their suffering, the battles, the strategic decisions, and the quotations from many written sources from both sides makes this a book well worth reading. 

Excellent research, interesting exposition

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the author hits a homerun chronologically describing the events in minut and in detail that the reader can easily absorb and understand the ebb and flow from the beginning to the end of the campaign and its impact on the entire Pacific War Kevin Stillwell in my mind a legend gives the performance of his life narrating. this audiobook is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Simply Amazing I've listened to this book five times and I still can't get enough of it

bar none finest historical document on Guadalcana

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