Siege Pacific: Book 7 of the Pacific Alternate Series - Paperback

by Stephen Sokol (Editor), Max Lamirande (Author)

The year is 1943.

The Japanese offensive in the South Seas is underway, and the Allies are getting desperate. Yamamoto's forces have already re-occupied New Georgia and landed back in Guadalcanal, pushing General Vandermeer's Allied forces into the mountainous Kavo Range in the middle of the island.

In New Guinea, the Imperial Army continues to push forward into the Kokoda Track and has reached the village of Menari, while in Milne Bay, the fighting had morphed into a stalemate. A big naval battle looms large for the control of Guadalcanal's sea lanes. Admiral Chester Nimitz has no choice but to sail supplies to the beleaguered forces on the island, or they will have to surrender. Yamamoto and his dreaded Imperial Navy awaits to give battle.

Things are gloomy for the cause of liberty, and the situation has completely reverted back in Japan's favor. Yamamoto holds the initiative and seems to have all the best cards in his hands. And yet, all is not as good as it seems for Japan. The SE and RO offensives have been executed with a supply surge that will be hard to maintain for the Empire, and the rest of the realm is suffering greatly from the priority given to the South Seas.

In South East Asia and Southern China, the Imperial Army can only retreat in disarray facing the Nationalist Chinese. They lack in everything, from food to ammunition to oil. In the Indian Ocean, things are much the same. The Imperial Navy has the ships to oppose British Admiral Summerville but not the fuel. A desperate retreat to Singapour is planned by the newly-named admiral after Kondo's death, Kishi Hata.

Japan has no more ships to defend its islands in the Central Pacific. The Grand Admiral has gambled everything away to the South Seas. American Admiral Marc Mitscher is under orders to raid deep into the enemy realm to force Yamamoto to transfer ships back to the area to relieve the pressure on the South Seas. His fleet glides silently toward the Marshall Islands.

Climatic land battles are about to happen in Guadalcanal, in the Kokoda Track, and in Milne Bay, while at sea, the showdown is imminent between Nimitz's U.S. Pacific Fleet and the Combined Fleet.

This is the story of the Pacific War.