Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943

War in the Far East, Book 2

By: Peter Harmsen

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

In early 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating Allied forces throughout the Pacific. In a matter of months, Japan had conquered an area larger than Hitler's empire at its apex. Hawaiians and Australians feared a future under Hirohito. The fate of half of mankind was hanging in the balance.

But by the end of 1943, the tables had turned entirely. The American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the Japanese were fighting a defensive battle along a frontline that crossed thousands of miles of land and sea. In Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943, historian Peter Harmsen details the astonishing transformation that took place in that period, setting the Allies on a path to ultimate victory over Japan.

The second installment of Peter Harmsen's three-part history, Japan Runs Wild, 1942-1943 continues his comprehensive chronicle of the Pacific Theater during the Second World War. Giving due emphasis to the Japanese-American struggle, Harmsen also sheds light on the other peoples involved, including the British, Australians, Soviets, Filipinos, Indians, and Koreans. Above all, the central importance of China is highlighted in a way that no previous general history of the war against Japan has achieved.

©2020 Peter Harmsen (P)2021 Tantor

Solid short history with some great tidbits

Harmsen takes a diet soda approach to his survey of the Pacific War and in this middle volume of the trilogy he stays true to form with summations of the well known set piece battles and campaigns while giving us plenty of small stories and little known tidbits we may not have run across before to set his histories apart from the massive trilogies like Ian Toll's and John McManus'. I did think he bungled Coral Sea and Midway, though, two of the best known and most written of battles in the war but aside from those blemishes, it's very good.