Whether air power has been truly decisive in any war is always a hotly debated issue. However, for the conflict that raged in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945 there can be no such dispute. The employment of land or carrier-based airpower was key to the strategic operations of all adversaries. These are pictorial studies of the Allied air offensive that defeated Japanese air forces in the vast Pacific Ocean region, destroyed Japan's navy and its supply lines, and finally devastated the war making potential of the Japanese homeland. The photos come from official archives as well as from the private collections of veterans. The captions reflect painstaking research to supply date, place, and units engaged. Volume Two presents the early 1945 liberation of the Philippines and Burma; devastating Allied carrier task force strikes from Indo China to Japan; and the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, on the doorstep of the Japanese home islands. Final suicidal tactics by Japanese air and naval forces are also depicted. 200 b/w photographs
