The 27th Infantry Division in World War II
The 27th Infantry Division was a New York National Guard division that played a key role in the advance across the Central Pacific, fighting actions in several campaigns including Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Saipan in the Mariana Islands, and Okinawa.
After the battle of Saipan there were unfounded public allegations of incompetence and cowardice leveled against the 27th Infantry Division as whole. These allegations strained the relations between the Marines and the Army and left a stain on the division that followed it throughout the rest of the war. These incidents and accusations were of such significance that they are still debated by armchair generals today, over 70 years after the events.
The author, Edmund G. Love, was an official Army historian (co-author and contributor to “The Green Books,” the official histories of the US Army in World War II) who covered and observed the 27th Infantry Division throughout these campaigns. He wrote this volume to set the record straight.
I was somewhat expecting a tit-for-tat refutation of the division’s critics, but found instead a straightforward, factual recounting of their exploits during the war based on exhaustive research, including eye witness accounts (sometimes that of the author himself), and thorough after action investigations. The book is well documented with army records and statistics, including those of the Japanese discovered after the battles were concluded. Though the author did maintain his professional detachment throughout, he did take care to add emphasis on details with a bearing on specific assertions against the division. But basically, this is the story of the 27th Infantry Division.
I enjoyed the book very much and recommend it, especially to history buffs.
