BREAKING THE BISMARCKS BARRIER

The quality of successive titles in this 13 volume official naval history continues very high. This, the sixth volume, follows Coral Sea. Midway and the Submarine in the series, and to those who have read General Kenney Reports and Eichelberger's Our Jungle Road to Tokyo there is particular value and significance in the official record of the navy's vital part in the progress up from Guadalcanal and New Guinea-Mindanao axis to Timor. It isn't only the navy's story, for amphibious operations and the drama of the slugging it out of the foot soldiers are given full credit. There is more here of the strategic planning for 1943-44, the place this ""Operation Watchtower"" played in the overall scheme. The story seesaws between the southwest and the south Pacific, the MacArthur and the Halsey commands, and is highlighted by occasional personal closeups. Morison can make what might be stale history lively reading.