Swift, Silent, and Deadly: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942-1945 (review)

The tantalizing title promises an action-packed account of Marine recon units. One envisions the men with blackened faces, shrouded in darkness, slipping over the sides of rubber boats, making their way inland, perhaps encountering the enemy, scouting potential landing sites, then stealthily withdrawing. What the slim volume delivers is the first comprehensive overview of the complex and diverse scouting missions conducted mainly by Marines in World War II. Bruce F. Meyers, a twenty-eight year veteran of the Marine Corps and experienced reconnaissance officer, though not involved in its World War II missions, draws on newly declassified operations orders and interviews with over a dozen participants to detail the organization, training, arming, and deployment of recon units.

Formed in December 1941 as the Observer Group, Marine recon units evolved into the first amphibious reconnaissance company and, by 1944, expanded further to battalion size. Training demanded physical conditioning and agility as units practiced scouting and patrolling, escape and evasion, combat swimming, rubber-boat and surf survival, knife fighting and jungle tracking. Marines from every recon unit attended the specialized schools of other services and America's Allies. Some trained with the Royal Marines in England. The weapons they carried depended on the mission and means of transport: perhaps a knife and pistol or heavy arms such as a machine gun, M-1 rifle, and mortars.

Scouting missions went in stealthily at night from submarines, patrol torpedo (PT) boats, Catalina PBY flying boats or high speed destroyer transports (APD). Inflatable boats, extensively used, could stay deflated and rolled up aboard ship until needed to reach shore. But sometimes paddling them in heavy currents exhausted the patrol before even landing. Worse, some Marines were swallowed up by the rough surf. Outboard motors sometimes drowned out.

Marine recon units landed on more than two hundred beaches, from Guadalcanal to Okinawa, collecting information. They measured water depth, gathered soil samples, charted coral heads, and noted the character of the surf, beach, and terrain inland. Recon units identified enemy defensive positions, weapons, obstacles, and the ever-important beach exits, to permit landing forces to withdraw. Their intelligence information proved especially invaluable when cloud cover hindered the quality of preinvasion aerial photography or the Japanese masterfully camouflaged gun placements. For example, at New Britain, officials rejected a proposed landing beach because recon units found high cliffs blocking any beach exits—a fact photography had not picked up.

Meyers paints a picture of the major amphibious operations in broad strokes so that he can concentrate on recon activities. At Guadalcanal, recon patrols operated only after the landing and provided important data on Japanese strengths, weaknesses, and morale. The Marines requested less noisy shoes when they discovered that their boondockers filled with water and sloshed on dry land. On Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands, patrols did soil tests which indicated airfields could only be built on the west coast.

Only submarine periscope photography, still in its infancy, provided information before the invasion of Tarawa. The need for better intelligence would be one of the "lessons learned" and applied to future operations. During the Marshall Islands campaign, recon units encountered some "firsts": riding to shore in amtracs (LVTs) and use in a pure infantry role. While recon purists abhor the use of skilled recon personnel in an infantry role, Meyers points out that this duty only helps dispel the elitist notion that recon marines are not equal to more standard assault tasks. At Saipan, recon companies helped to seize Mount Topotchau.

Tinian provided the finest example of clandestine recon of enemy beaches. Using interviews with several participants, Meyers dramatically reconstructs the methodical way recon units investigated the various beaches while Japanese sentries patrolled in the cliffs above. They recommended that an essentially undefended beach be chosen and a portable ramp be built to gain access over the cliffs. It worked perfectly...