Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa

Estate of Joseph H Alexander

Sep 2008 · Naval Institute Press

About this ebook

Marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph Alexander takes a fresh look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. His gripping narrative, first published in 1995, has won him many prizes, with critics lauding his use of Japanese documents and his interpretation of the significance of what happened. The first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, the violent three-day attack on Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress of barely three hundred acres, left six thousand men dead. This book offers an authoritative account of the tactics, innovations, leadership, and weapons employed by both antagonists. Alexander convincingly argues that without the vital lessons of Tarawa the larger amphibious victories to come at Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa might not have been possible.

Ratings and reviews

I read this actual book years ago and it was great, the author goes into great detail of the individual squad sized actions by hodge-podge groups of those survivors that made it to the beach (red beach), then the later landings on green beach. I have been looking for years and have been unable to find my copy of the book so I look forward to listening to the audio version. Great book

The definitive guide to one of the bloodiest battles of WWII

About the author

Joseph Alexander was a retired colonel of the U.S. Marine Corps, with 29 years’ service as an assault amphibian officer. He commanded a company in Vietnam, served five years at sea with amphibious task forces, and graduated with distinction from the Naval War College. Prior to retirement he served as chief of staff of the 3d Marine Division in the western Pacific. Alexander wrote six books, including Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa; The Battle History of the U.S. Marines; and Edson’s Raiders: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion in World War II. He was Naval Institute Author of the Year in 1996 and Naval History Author of the Year in 2010. He served as scriptwriter and on-screen authority for 28 military documentaries for cable television networks. He was the principal historian and writer on the exhibit design team for the construction and expansion of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.