Book Review

Utmost Savagery, The Three Days of Tarawa, by Col. Joseph H. Alexander, USMC (Ret.), Naval Institute Press, 352 pp. $29.96, 1995

While researching Tarawa for No Sailor But a Fool, I E-mailed Ben Frank, Historian of the Marine Corps, asking for his opinion of the newest book on Tarawa, Utmost Savagery. He replied:

"Larry, I read the book three times, in galley form, and I indexed the book. Joe Alexander's Naval Institute book is an outgrowth of the WW II 50th anniversary commemorative pamphlet he wrote for the Marine Corps History and Museums Division. It is the BEST book on the landing and the battle. It is more, for it is a fine tribute to the very brave Marines and their Navy Hospital Corpsmen who fought on Tarawa, and it is also a tribute to the small boat boys who carried the Marines to the reef where they went over the side, because the LCVP couldn't negotiate the reef because of the low tide. Joe deals with the tide question in full in the book.... After a full career as a Marine officer, Joe has taken to writing with a vengeance and each book gets better. Take my word for it. Cheers, Ben Frank"

Well, with that kind of endorsement I had to pick it up. It is excellent - readable, paced like a novel. I'd already read several books on the invasion, but this one was the best for giving me a picture of the overall battle, and perspective on several issues, including naval gunfire support and the infamous reef. It also debunks several myths, like the B-24s that were supposed to have broken through a runway and thus never shown up. He also gives the clearest description of anyone I've read of the Japanese rikusentai - the Special Naval Landing Forces.

Alexander captures the sense of this desperate battle, its place in Pacific strategy, and its massive influence on the US Marine Corps, and its amphibious doctrine. Get it.

BT