From Makin to Bougainville: Marine Raiders in the Pacific War

In February 1942, with Pearl Harbor still smoldering, the Marine Corps made a bet that seemed almost reckless: create elite light infantry units capable of landing behind enemy lines, striking fast, and vanishing into the jungle. This is the story of that gamble and the men who made it work. Jon T. Hoffman traces the Marine Raiders from their controversial birth, through the legendary commanders like Merritt A. Edson and Evans F. Carlson who shaped their doctrine, to their baptism of fire at Makin and the brutal bush fighting on Bougainville. What emerges is more than a combat chronicle. The Raiders became a crucible for the Marine Corps itself, testing new approaches to amphibious warfare while the Corps exploded from 19,000 men to nearly half a million. Their story reveals how an institution traditionally built for small wars reinvented itself for global conflict. Hoffman balances operational detail with vivid portraits of the personalities who drove the raider concept forward, showing why these units still cast a long shadow over modern special operations.