In February 1942, Lieutenant General Thomas Holcomb, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered the creation of a new unit designated the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. This elite force, and its three sister battalions, went on to gain considerable fame for fighting prowess in World War II. There is more to the story of these units, however, than a simple tale of combat heroics. The inception, growth, and sudden end of the raiders reveals a great deal about the development and conduct of amphibious operations during the war, and about the challenges the Corps faced in expanding from 19,000 men to nearly a half million. The raiders also attracted more than their share of strong leaders. The resulting combination of courage, doctrine, organization, and personalities makes this one of the most interesting chapters in Marine Corps history. This author examines the history of the Marine Raiders in the Pacific War.

The lightning campaign that toppled the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in the spring of 2003 at first seemed to herald the arrival of a new way of war, as Germany's blitzkrieg had done at the beginning of World War II. But the initial victory in Iraq soon devolved into a persistent counterinsurgency conflict reminiscent of the long U.S. effort to pacify the Philippines after the quick defeat of Spain in 1898. In Iraq, American soldiers and their Coalition partners had merely traded one fairly weak and generally conventional opponent for a much more durable, diverse, and determined foe relying on the tactics of the guerilla and the terrorist. This volume focuses on that second and longer campaign of the war in Iraq, but it is not a narrative of the overall course of the conflict. Instead, it provides a soldier's-eye view of the war in the form of detailed accounts of a handful of battles. Each one illustrates the everyday challenges that America's soldiers face in a difficult struggle against an inventive and often elusive enemy. Weapons, doctrine, and procedures developed to fight a conventional campaign against a similar opposing force had to be adapted to fit a different type of conflict. The U.S. Army's combat and support forces have shown both resourcefulness and resilience, while leaders and soldiers in the field have demonstrated the same courage as previous generations called upon to sacrifice in the name of freedom.

The U.S. Army has a long record of fielding innovations that not only have enhanced its effectiveness on the battlefield but also sometimes had an impact far beyond warfare. General Editor Jon T. Hoffman has brought together eleven authors who cover the gamut from the invention of the M1 Garand rifle between the world wars through the development of the National Training Center in the 1980s. While many books lay out theories about the process of innovation or detail the history of a large-scale modernization, the collection of fourteen essays in A History of Innovation: U.S. Army Adaptation in War and Peace fills a different niche in the literature. This work is neither a historical account of how the Army has adapted over time nor a theoretical look at models that purport to show how innovation is best achieved. Instead, it captures a representative slice of stories of soldiers and Army civilians who have demonstrated repeatedly that determination and a good idea often carry the day in peace and war. Despite the perception of bureaucratic inertia, the institution's long history of benefiting from the inventiveness of its people indicates that it is an incubator of innovation after all.

This book is part of the Marines in World War II Commemorative Series. This author examines the history of the Marine Raiders in the Pacific War.

Silk Chutes and Hard Fighting: US. Marine Corps Parachute Units in World War II is a brief narrative of the development, deployment, and eventual demise of Marine parachute units during World War II. It is published to honor the veterans of these special units and for the information of those interested in Marine parachutists and the events in which they participated. This covers the Marine Corps' flirtation with airborne operations during World War II. The various offices of the Marine Corps Historical Center yielded additional primary materials. The Reference Section holds biographical data on most key individuals, as well as files on specific units. The Oral History Section has a number of pertinent interviews, the most significant being Lieutenant General Joseph C. Burger, Major General Marion L. Dawson, General Gerald C. Thomas, and Brigadier General Robert H. Williams. The Personal Papers Section has several collections pertaining to the parachute program. Among the most useful were the papers of Eldon C.Anderson, Eric Hammel, Nolen Marbrey, John C. McQueen, Peter Ortiz, and George R. Stallings. A number of secondary sources proved helpful. Marine Corps publications include Charles L. Updegraph, Jr's. U.S. Marine Corps Special Units of World War II, Major John L. Zimmerman's The Guadalcanal Campaign, Major John N. Rentz's Bougainville and the Northern Solomons, and Isolation of Rabaul by Henry I.Shaw, Jr. and Major DouglasT. Kane. A valuable work on the overall American parachute program during the war is William B. Breuer's Geronimo The Marine Corps Gazette and Leatherneck contain a number of articles describing the parachute units and their campaigns. Ken Haney's An Annotated Bibliography of USMC Paratroopers in World War II provides a detailed listing of sources, to include Haney's own extensive list of publications on the subject. Many Marine parachutists graciously provided interviews, news clippings, photographs, and other sources for this work. Colonel Dave E. Severance, secretary/treasurer of the Association of Survivors, was especially obliging in culling material from his extensive files.

The lightning campaign that toppled the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq in the spring of 2003 seemed to herald the arrival of a new way of war, as Germany's blitzkrieg had done at the beginning of World War II. But the initial victory soon devolved into a persistent counterinsurgency conflict reminiscent of the long U.S. effort to pacify the Philippines after the rapid defeat of Spain in 1898. In Iraq, American soldiers and their Coalition partners had merely traded one fairly weak and generally conventional opponent for a more deadly, diverse, and determined foe relying on the tactics of the guerrilla and the terrorist. This volume focuses on that second and longer campaign. But rather than a narrative of the overall course of the conflict, it provides a soldier's-eye view of the war by focusing on detailed accounts of selected engagements. Each illustrates the everyday challenges that America's soldiers faced in a difficult struggle against an inventive and often elusive enemy. Weapons, doctrine, and procedures developed to fight a conventional campaign against a similar opposing force had to be adapted to fit a different type of conflict. The U.S. Army's combat and support forces brought both resourcefulness and resilience to this task while continuing to demonstrate the same courage shown by previous generations fighting the nation's battles. These stories not only symbolize the tip of the spear formed by units in contact, but they also represent the contributions of all American men and women who have served their country in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Taken together, these accounts will provide our deploying leaders and soldiers a better understanding of the environment that they will encounter and prepare them for the work that must be done.

United States Army Center of Military History publication, CMH Pub 70-113-1. United States Army in Iraq and Afghanistan Series. Edited by Jon T. Hoffman. Provides a soldier's-eye view of the Iraq war.

CMH 40-6-1. Edited by Jon T. Hoffman. Contains stories of soldiers and Army civilians who have demonstrated repeatedly that determination and a good idea often carry the day in peace and war. Despite the perception of bureaucratic inertia, the institution's long history of benefiting from the inventiveness of its people indicates that it is an incubator of innovation after all.