Contains 51 photos and 28 maps and charts. The fight to remove the barriers protecting the main base of the Japanese in New Guinea at Rabaul, was characterized by brutal jungle fighting attritional warfare of the worst sort and required every bit of toughness from the Marines that landed there. “BOUGAINVILLE AND THE NORTHERN SOLOMONS is a narrative not only of Marines against the Japanese, but of Marines against the jungle. In all the past history of the Corps, whether it be Nicaragua, Haiti, or Guadalcanal, it is improbable that Marine units ever faced and defeated such an implacable combination of terrain and hostile opposition. In this struggle, as always, superior training, discipline, determination and unquestioning will to win on the part of individual Marines were the crucial factors. Indeed, those same factors may be said to constitute common denominators of victory under any circumstances, whether jungle or atoll, on the ground or in the air. -C. B. CATES, GENERAL, U. S. MARINE CORPS, COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS”

"Top of the Ladder: Marine Operations in the Northern Solomons" by John C. Chapin is a commemorative book honoring the men who served in the marines during World War II. The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II after Japanese forces extended their reach into the islands. The US armed forces worked diligently day and night to keep the Japanese at bay, but the Solomons campaign continued until the end of the war.

Contains 90 photos and 18 maps and charts. “In the grand strategy of the Pacific War, the Central Solomons operation constituted only a short step in the overall advance on Japan. But in the neutralization of Rabaul, Japan’s key holding in her "Southeastern Area," this campaign played a vital role. By early 1943 the Central Solomons area might be described as an amphibious no man’s land lying between Rabaul and the new Allied citadel of Guadalcanal, across which the two antagonists exchanged air and naval blows. The Japanese, by increasing the strength of their garrisons in New Georgia, had already begun their effort to control this strategic area. The Allied campaign that followed was designed to drive them out and establish a forward base from which Rabaul could be brought under constant assault. It is a source of extreme pride to me that those Marines who participated in the Central Solomons operations acquitted themselves with such distinction. Despite the most adverse weather, terrain and climate, the enemy was driven out and the mission finally accomplished. Growing out of this campaign was an extremely significant sense of mutual admiration between the Army, Navy and Marine troops involved.-LEMUEL C. SHEPHERD, JR. GENERAL, U. S. MARINE CORPS COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS”

The Solomon Islands campaign was a major campaign of the Pacific War of World War II. The campaign began with Japanese landings and occupation of several areas in the British Solomon Islands and Bougainville, in the Territory of New Guinea, during the first six months of 1942. The Japanese occupied these locations and began the construction of several naval and air bases with the goals of protecting the flank of the Japanese offensive in New Guinea, establishing a security barrier for the major Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain, and providing bases for interdicting supply lines between the Allied powers of the United States and Australia and New Zealand. The Allies, in order to defend their communication and supply lines in the South Pacific, supported a counteroffensive in New Guinea, isolated the Japanese base at Rabaul, and counterattacked the Japanese in the Solomons with landings on Guadalcanal and small neighboring islands on 7 August 1942. These landings initiated a series of combined-arms battles between the two adversaries, beginning with the Guadalcanal landing and continuing with several battles in the central and northern Solomons, on and around New Georgia Island, and Bougainville Island. In a campaign of attrition fought on land, on sea, and in the air, the Allies wore the Japanese down, inflicting irreplaceable losses on Japanese military assets. The Allies retook some of the Solomon Islands (although resistance continued until the end of the war), and they also isolated and neutralized some Japanese positions, which were then bypassed. The Solomon Islands campaign then converged with the New Guinea campaign. This book recounts the Marine Operations in the Central Solomons during World War II.