Battling for Saipan Paperback – February 4, 2003

My father served on Saipan but never talked about it.

This book is packed with details about the challenges American troops faced at Saipan. This was a gift for my father, and he's enjoyed reading it.

I’ve read a number of books concerning the operations on Saipan during the Pacific War with the Japanese. Some of the books were good, some not so good and some I personally would classify as semi-wretched. One thing all these books, including the one by Francis A. O’Brien being reviewed here is that I learned from each and every one of them.O’Brien’s main premise in this work is the defense of the 27th Infantry Division and the long standing battle of Smith verses Smith. I personally have no dog in this particular fight. I am retired military; retired Air Force and was never a member of the Army or Marine Corps. I simply enjoy reading military history.There were parts of this work I enjoyed and other parts I did not. The first half of the book was bogged down into minute details of which I normally enjoy but felt the details here were not handled all that well from a literary and historian’s point of view.I did find the enter service infighting before and after the battle of some interest though as it is something to consider when reading any military history. Who was right and who was wrong will never, in my opinion, be absolutely decided. Old wounds run deep and even though all or most participants in the battle are no longer with us, we find we still have relatives and various service members who have definite opinions...O’Brian was one of these and the reader must take this into consideration.I will say that the battle itself was quite well covered; better than in some of the other books I have read but most of this material was taken from after action reports and interpreted by the author.Overall all I learned much from this work but have read better accounts. I suppose the one primary thing I took from reading this work is that it reinforced my long held belief that if you study any history at all you should read as many accounts and opinions as possible and make up your own mind.

It was so true to what I was told by my brother who survived. It is hard to believe such atrosities were committed by the Japanese.

SO WELL WRITTEN.

Just received this today to give as a gift. No pictures or text on front or back covers.

Like your Reader from Texas, I am not a marine but I have read many books about the war in the Pacific and the Smith vs. Smith incident.HM Smith was not one of the great captains of WWII. As Professor Harry Gailey points out in "Howlin' Mad Versus the Army", Saipan was the first and only time HM Smith ever had hands on responsibility for troops in battle. He did not conduct a very brilliant campaign. He constantly underestimated the strength of Japanese resistance on the island, made his plans based on his underestimates, and then blamed the Army Division and its Commander, MG Ralph Smith, when his plans did not work.The 27th Infantry Division was the most unfairly maligned unit of WWII, Its commander, MG Ralph Smith was the most unfairly vilified leader of WWII. This happened because the Marine Corps and its advocates needed to create and maintain the legend that HM Smith was a great captain, needed to explain away HM Smith's less than brilliant performance on Saipan.This book, while not a thoroughly researched as Edmund Smith's 27th ID's History or Professor Gailey's "Howlin' Mad Versus the Army", it is an honest attempt to tell the correct history, that the 27th ID fought hard and fought well on Saipan.

A good read from the Army's point of view.

The writer of this book has some family skin in the book. His uncle was a unit commander during the battle and didn't make it. This is a very thoroughly researched book with a lot of grit. Tough reading but explains a lot about this often glossed-over war on the islands.