Fighting Techniques of a U.S. Marine: 1941-1945: Training, Techniques, and Weapons

By Leo J. Daugherty III

Book Overview

This in-depth analysis examines the training of U.S. Marines during World War II, explains their battlefield tactics on the sands and in the jungles of the South Pacific, and describes the weapons and equipment at their disposal. Archival and period colour photos are nicely complemented by colour drawings that depict personal weapons.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760309302
• ISBN13: 9780760309308
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Motorbooks International
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.7" x 11.5"

Customer Reviews

Brilliant , Concise Summation of WW II Marine Corps Doctrine

I have been a long time student and researcher often concerned with the materiel culture (arms and equipment) of the WW II Marines.As such I have an interest in how and why things were done. If you are a collector or student of these subjects this book is not for you. If you have a general interest in the subject of why the U.S. Marine Corps existed and still exists, its role then, and by extension, its role now, in carrying out the exceedingly difficult transition under fire in combat conditions from a seaborne force to an efficient land and air combat force, then this is for you. The author, now a PhD candidate at Ohio State, has been a serving Marine, including duty as the associate editor of the Marine Corps Gazette, the Corp's professional journal, and now is a reservist. So not only is he an academically trained historian and writer, he is an experienced Marine as well. What he has accomplished in 96 well-written standard magazine size pages is to brilliantly synthesize a heap of myriad publications, official and unofficial, covering the tactics, doctrine and operations of the USMC from the 1880s to 1945, with most emphasis on the combat proving of the theories of amphibious warfare developed in the 1920s and 1930s. These procedures, as published, were adopted verbatim by the Marine's parent organization,the US Navy, and also by the US Army as their Field Manual 21-5, so that not only did the Marines directly physically contribute to the War Against Japan, their thoughts and experiments were directly applied to the success against Italy and Germany. And the landings against the French in North Africa. Thus did the British also adopt and use these techniques. If one were to consult all the sources used herein, ranging from official pamphlets of 48 pages, through official studies long OOP and drawing high collector's prices, to 400 page detailed tomes, it would take many days, and none of them would so concisely summarize all of that information for the general reader. I and other specialists will find this quite useful to look up a quick point or two. All of the sources are listed in the back but because this is neither a text nor a dissertation, there is no footnoting. There are many diagrams and illustrations, some of which I have seen elsewhere and some I have not, but all are to the point and useful. MBI, the publisher, is noted for its quality of presentation and it has kept that high standard with this volume. Except for a couple of captioning errors I found nothing to criticize. All in this is an A plus plus work. Every serious public and academic library should have this on their reference shelf.