The book goes into details of the formation, deployment and combat actions of the 2^nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

Das Reich was the first Waffen SS division created and was a major force where ever it fought.

The unit as formed in September 1939 as the war began and fought on most fronts from Poland, France, Balkans, Russia, back to France and then back to the eastern front at the end of the war.

I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of information I have never read before. Das Reich was a formidable division and prove its worth and bravery on all the fronts it fought. It was used as a firefighting group on many occasions and resisted against the odds on many occasions.

There are a lot of pictures and illustrations that make the book even more interesting.

Our friends at BSI sent along a box of current and new releases across their line of CA products. Some of these may be familiar to you, others, like their new Plastic-Cure brush on product, were new to me.

Let’s take a look at the family of BSI products:

BSI-105 Plastic-Cure Adhesive: this new ½ ounce product comes in a bottle with a brush cap. Applied like many solvent based adhesives, it is applied to one of the mating surfaces and cures up in 10-20 seconds. It reacts to the Accelerator product as well, if an instant cure is desired. It won’t fill large gaps but is ideal for joints where the two surfaces make intimate contact (think fuselage seams, upper to lower wing joints, etc.)

This book is the second in a new series covering major air campaigns in history. This book covers the fight against the Japanese held island stronghold of Rabaul. This island fortress was blocking the allied advance to Tokyo, Home to around 100,000 troops and numerous airfields it was felt that even an all-out assault would not lead to the taking of the island. Thus the Allies began a campaign of aerial assault adding in the use of naval and land forces to reduce the ability of Rabaul to play an important part in the war. This campaign became the blueprint for further combat in the Pacific, showing that it was not necessary to occupy the island to control it.

The book is broken down into 9 sections. The introduction discusses in brief the strategic importance of Rabaul and all the reasons it was such a natural and important base for the Japanese in WWII>

This book is a follow up of his successful book Rising Sun, Falling Skies which I have also read and was a great read!

The book goes into details of the US Naval Campaign from Guadalcanal to the Solomon Islands.

It goes into incredible detail and covers some much of what appears to be a small book! The information is well written and draws you in as its rather Novel like in its narrative.

I learned so much from reading this and look forward to another book as a follow up to this one.

I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of facts I have never heard before. The writing style is very factual a little dry at times, This made the book a little heavy going at times but well worth reading to the end.

I recommend this book to everyone with a deep interest in the Pacific war.

Thanks go to Osprey Publishing for providing this book to review and IPMS USA for allowing me to review it for them

Dr. Robert Forczyk is a prolific author with over 27 books published by Osprey and Pen & Sword. He graduated from Notre Dame, the University of Virginia, and the University of Maryland with a PhD PhD in International Relations and National Security. Robert was commissioned from ROTC in 1983 and ended up going to Fort Knox to become an armor officer. He trained in the both the M60A3 and the M-1 but spent his 18 year career in the M60A3 with the US 2nd, 4th, and the 29th Infantry Divisions. Dr. Forcyzk is currently living in the Laurel, Maryland and works as a management consultant at Aviation ISAC. Catch him on LinkedIn.

There are 464 pages of text and two sets of 16 glossy pages containing 60 black and white photographs. There are also ten maps with notes to depict the engagement’s progression.