OSPREY CAMPAIGN 110: PELELIU 1944 

By Jim Moran & Gordon L. Rottman

Osprey Publishing 2002 - ISBN 1 84176 512 0

96pp - Paperback - numerous b/w illustrations, numerous colour plates and maps.

£12.99

The Osprey Campaign series is a well known and established bench-mark in studying the battles and campaigns of military history. The books are high quality, with well produced and clear illustrations, fine colour plates and maps, and always well researched.

The island of Peleliu saw some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific campaign in September 1944. The American 1st Marine Division landed here against stiff Japanese opposition, and while veterans of the action felt it easily rivaled the ferocity of the more famous Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, it became a 'forgotten battle' of WW2. The author has clearly redressed the balance, in this excellent account of what it was like to fight one of these costly island battles - the Marines alone suffered nearly 7,000 casualties and the Japanese more than 10,000.

Backed up with a good selection of relevant photographs, excellent maps and 3D computer images of the battlefield, there is also a useful section on seeing what is left of the battlefield today - which includes some of the tanks and vehicles still lying where they were nearly sixty years ago!

A worthy inclusion in the Campaign series, and a book that highlights America's leading role in the fighting in a neglected theatre of war during World War 2.

Copies can be ordered from Osprey Publishing at:

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/