Just finished
Fortress Rabaul, the second book in Bruce Gamble's Rabaul Trilogy. Bit of a slow start, as the first few chapters are a quick review of what occurred in the first book, but after that it really gets going. Gamble is a good writer in that his style is narrative; I would usually forget within just a few minutes that I was reading a historical account of the events described.
Something I really appreciated about this book--and about the first book, Invasion Rabaul--is that he provides detailed accounts from both sides of the conflict. Apparently bomber and fighter pilots on both sides exaggerated their claims of targets destroyed and aircraft shot down (sometimes wildly so); Gamble presents not only what was claimed, but what actually occurred, according to war logs and official documents from both American and Japanese archives.
He also covers the Battle of the Bismarck Sea near the end of Fortress Rabaul, which was more of a one-sided slaughter than it was a battle. This was either the first or one of the earliest times that the B-25 Mitchell and A-20 Havoc were used as gunships, and the effect they had on lightly-armored Japanese ships was fairly gruesome.
I still need to read the final book in the trilogy, Target: Rabaul, but if it's anything like the first two, I'm sure it will be a great read. Highly recommend these books to anyone who wants an introduction to combat in the southwest portion of the Pacific Theater.
