Edson's Raiders: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion in World War II

by Joseph H. Alexander

Book Overview

Under the fiery leadership of Merritt Red Mike Edson, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion provided the vanguard of a strategic experiment with seaborne commando units in the Pacific. From 1942 to 1943... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1557500207
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

relative of former raider

i found this book to be very informative and well presented. my uncle, william rea was a "plank owner" with the 1st. i wish i had known his military service background prior to his passing. this book gives me great insight on what he experienced and makes me honored to be his nephew. i would like to thank the author for this book. "in memorium gysgt william v. rea, usmc retired"

For research

For research into a Marine Raider's service in WW II this book is a must have.

An enlightening and inspiring story! Great history too!

Col. Alexander's work bring to life one of the Corps less talked about, and somewhat enigmatic, yet truly heroic figures - Red "Mike" Edson. He was a visionary with the good sense to not let his vision be clouded. A focused officer and combat leader without whom the war in the Pacific might have turned out a little different.This man deserves his place in our nation's memory with those of Patton, Bradley, Nimitz, Halsey and a thousand others. Let's hope that Col. Alexander is busy on a book about General O.P. Smith, USMC now!

A fine story of remarkable men and their remarkable leader.

Edson's Raiders, the 1st Marine Raider Battalion, engaged the Japanese in seven battles, five of them on Guadalcanal. This well researched and footnoted work by retired Marine Colonel Joseph Alexander tells the story of this remarkable group of men. Trained and conditioned by the founding commander, Merritt Edson, their baptism of fire was on Tulagi against the Japanese Special Naval Landing Forces, the rikusentai. This landing occurred simultaneous with the invasion of Guadalcanal twenty miles to the south. Completing the removal of enemy forces at Tulagi, Edson and his men were quickly moved to Guadalcanal. Glorious pages of their history were written there along Edson's Ridge, a three day-two night struggle, often hand-to-hand, against an enemy force under General Kawaguchi, which out numbered them by a factor of at least five on the second night. The enemy attacked remnants of the Raiders and the 1st Paratroops, a total of less than eight hundred men, without let up. Forced to fall back to a second line of defense, "...grossly outnumbered, back-to-back, nearly out of ammo...Edson could count less than three hundred men defending Hill 120." Their action in that engagement and subsequent battles along the Matanikau secured their place in the proud history of the Marines. The US Navy named twenty-four ships after raiders in recognition of their valor. The need for highly trained volunteers in special, lightly armed commando units were soon deemed unnecessary with the advent of the fast fleet carriers of the Essex-class along with new fast battleships. But not before the successes of the 1st Raider Battalion carved for themselves a monument in Military history. This is an excellent telling of their too brief story.

Great story of Edson's Marine Raiders in World War II

"Edson's Raiders" by retired Marine Colonel Joseph Alexander is such a fantastic tale of daring and courage, that if it had been submitted as fiction it would probably have been rejected as unbelievable. Alexander, who served two tours in Vietnam, is a Marine historian who has published numerous books on the Marines in the Pacific in World War II. In "Edson's Raiders" Alexander chronicles a truly amazing story of the feats of amazing men, told so well it can rival an adventure story, real or imagined.This book is well researched and full of intricate details, much of it drawn from interviews by Alexander of surviving Edson's Raiders. Alexander provides some of the most minor, but important, details about the exploits of the Raiders while at the same time keeping the big picture in focus for the reader. Pearl Harbor found the United States unprepared for war. The Marines in the Pacific, short of men and weapons, held on against the Japanese onslaught as best they could. It was during this time that the idea of a Marine commando unit -- a specially trained force that could land at night and disrupt the enemy -- began to form. The idea was bolstered by a forceful letter from Marine Captain James Roosevelt -- FDR's son -- to the Commandant of the Marine Corps. In February, l942, two experimental Raider battalions were authorized, with Colonel Merritt "Red Mike" Edson placed in command of the lst Marine Raider Battalion. Edson's appearance -- he was a small, unimpressive looking man who talked softly -- belied one of the greatest fighting leaders the Marines ever produced. He assembled his Raider battalion from hand-picked volunteers. Feelings in the Marines toward the Raiders were strong: love, envy, or loathing.Imagine that you are chosen as a Raider. You land on a Japanese infested island -- at night. (Daytime amphibious landings are chaotic; nighttime landings obviously multiply the chaos.) You are isolated in unknown jungles. You and your comrades now must search for the Japanese and kill them -- before they kill you.At Tulagi the Raiders killed all but 3 of the 350 man Japanese garrison. (Raider casualties: 38 killed; 55 wounded.)On Guadalcanal the Raiders fought the legendary battle of Edson's Ridge where 833 Raiders and Marine parachutists were outnumbered 5 to 1. The Raiders were ordered to hold the Ridge -- later named Edson's Ridge -- at all costs, for if the Ridge fell, Henderson field fell, and if Henderson field fell, Guadalcanal fell. The battle lasted 2 days and nights, many times with bayonets and knives. At night the Raiders had to listen to the screams of their captured comrades being tortured by the Japanese. These tortured screams intensified the Raiders' hatred of the Japanese, which had already been at high pitch when they learned the Japanese had machine-gunned survivors in the water from sinking ships. Despite repeated Japanese attacks, the Raiders held. So stunning was this defeat that the Japanese commander