US Marine Corps Raider 1942-43

Description

The US Marine Raider was an "elite within an elite." Modeled on British Commandoes, they were the earliest forerunners of the various special operations units of the modern US military. These units would conduct operations with only the equipment they could carry on their backs; their heaviest weapons were light mortars and light machine-guns. Highly trained in close-in fighting, the Raiders were expected to be equally skilled in watercraft, jungle survival, and jungle warfare. This book details the Raiders' experiences through some of the toughest raining ever to be experienced by a Marine and onto combat during the Makin Raid, and through the horrific jungle battles of the Solomon Islands.

Ed Gilbert was a Marine artilleryman and a Battalion Training NCO in the Marine Corps Reserve. He holds a PhD in geology, and is now a geologist and geophysicist involved in petroleum exploration in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South America. He is the author of oral and operational histories of the Marine Corps' armored units in World War II and the Korean War. He is currently at work on a history of the Marine Corps tank battalions in the Vietnam conflict. Howard Gerrard studied at the Wallasey School of Art and has been a freelance designer and illustrator for over 20 years. He has worked for a number of publishers and is an associate member of the Guild of Aviation Artists. He has won both the Society of British Aerospace Companies Award and the Wilkinson Sword Trophy and has illustrated a number of books for Osprey including Campaign 69: Nagashino 1575. Howard lives and works in Kent.