Book Review – Island Infernos by John C. McManus

In my 2025 Notable books post, I noted that one of the great World War II books I read in 2025 was Fire and Fortitude, an examination of the US Army in the Pacific Theater in World War II.

So many of the popular history books take the war in total, and give short shrift to the actual Army in favour of the Marines.

Not that the Marines didn’t do anything in the Pacific. They were quite dominant.

But John C. McManus looks at the Army in the Pacific in this trilogy (of which I haven’t read the third book yet).

Island Infernos is the second book in the trilogy and it covers the 1944 invasions of various Pacific islands as well as General Douglas MacArthur’s push through New Guinea and into the Philippines, fulfilling his promise to return one day.

However, McManus pulls no punches in his story of the Army units.

This book gripped me as much as the first book did, and while it did take a while to read (almost 2 weeks, which actually is pretty good for me with a large history book!), there is just so much good stuff in here that I enjoyed every minute reading it.

One thing I noted in talking about the first book, and even more so here, is that McManus is very fair to MacArthur in this one.

Usually, you can tell if the writer is a fan or somebody who doesn’t like him.

McManus doesn’t shy away from how arrogant and mistake-ridden MacArthur was.

He was an egomaniac who wanted to make everything about him.

There is a lot of MacArthur criticism here.

But when something happens where MacArthur is actually in the right, McManus highlights that as well.

I found that really refreshing, considering how many books are either completely anti-MacArthur or they are written by essentially fanboys.

In addition to MacArthur’s campaigns, of course, the Army did take part in some of Nimitz’s island invasions, like Saipan and Guam.

All of them are told in exquisite (almost sickening sometimes) detail about the trials and tribulations the troops went through, facing off against a fanatical enemy that placed more of an emphasis on dying to defend territory than in surviving.

McManus has an entire chapter on each island invasion, and goes into great detail about the Army-Marine rivalry in the form of Marine General Holland Smith during the Saipan, Tinian, and Guam invasions, who had such a hatred and disdain of the Army that it ended up affecting the quality of command between him and Army General Ralph Smith.

This antagonism went deep enough that Holland Smith eventually relieved Ralph Smith of command because he “wouldn’t fight” (even though Army troops were taking a large number of casualties while trying to force their way through cave and pillbox defenses).

The body count was horrendous.

This conflict between Marines and the Army (mainly through Holland Smith and other Army officers, but also in other ways) ends up becoming a running theme in the book, as two different offensive philosophies face off.

The Marine philosophy (at least when it’s characterized by Holland Smith) appears to be “advance, and damn the casualties!” while the Army philosophy was still courageous, but trying to force things without undue loss of life.

The island invasion chapters are riveting just for this, not to mention the descriptions of the harsh conditions on the islands.

Disease, tropical heat, tropical pests, all combined to make life a living hell for the soldiers trying to take these islands.

McManus also spends some time on the American POWs in Japanese camps, and how they tried to survive even through extremely harsh treatment.

When MacArthur’s troops landed on the Philippines, the elation felt by the American POWs, then followed by the realization that the Japanese would eventually move them off of the islands, really hits you as a reader.

McManus has a large portion of the end of the book talking about MacArthur’s return to the Philippines, and how badly thought out the actual invasion point was.

The area invaded would end up costing many lives on both sides and for very little gain because the useful portions of the islands (regarding airfields for assaulting Japan and the like) actually were further north.

What I really enjoyed in this book (as well as its predecessor) is that McManus does a good job with what Japanese sources he can access, detailing how these battles looked from the Japanese side.

The realization in some quarters regarding how useless the Banzai charges were because all they did was to sap Japanese strength for so little gain.

They were not going to run the Americans off of their invasion points with a massive charge of troops.

The book also highlights the horrible conditions that many Japanese soldiers faced, as hunger and disease affected them even more so than the Americans (who usually were not facing hunger as an issue, at least, though they sometimes were to a lesser extent).

It also doesn’t give short shrift to the war in Asia, with General “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell, the Chinese, and the British facing off against Japanese forces on the mainland.

McManus details a lot of the tension between the Americans and Chinese warlord Chiang Kai-Shek, who was more worried about Mao’s Communists getting ahead than he was fighting the Japanese.

These are limited to a couple of chapters, though, with the main part of the book about the Pacific.

I think Island Infernos just excels because it puts you in the middle of the situation, feeling what the troops are feeling, and then behind the scenes the in-fighting and inter-service drama that couldn’t help but hinder the American offensives against the Japanese empire.

If you’re a fan of World War II books, especially the Pacific Theater, then Island Infernos is a must-read, though you should read Fire and Fortitude first if you want a complete history.

McManus provides copious notes that are well worth checking out as well.

This trilogy (at least the first two books) is just an amazing read if you’re into the subject.

Give it a try.