In 1944, young Lieutenant Lee Bishop is in the Philippines, fire-control officer on the older battleship Nevada, three decks down from the main deck in an 'armored box'.

In February 1945, they end up at the tiny island of Iwo Jima (with an active volcano, Mount Suribachi, at one end), bombed and shelled for more than four months. The Marines are about to go in. Lee is to communicate with Marine spotters on shore, to direct shelling.

Soon, too many spotters on shore are lost to Japanese teams hunting them down. Lee volunteers to leave relative safety and go ashore to a hell on earth.

There's blood, mud and constant action - and it's horribly real, but not to be missed.

A historical recounting of the Battle of Iwo Jima in WWII. The author illustrates the fierceness and devastation of this battle. Overall a solid and well-researched book.

ARC was provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Published by ‎ St. Martin's Press on November 28, 2023

P.T. ‎Deutermann’s recent novels have been working their way through the Pacific War. This one showcases the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. The protagonist is Lee Bishop, a naval lieutenant assigned to a destroyer. His job is to communicate with spotters on the island and to translate the coordinates they provide into firing solutions. Being the military, information provided by spotters goes through layers of bureaucracy before orders to fire are finally given. The delay endangers Marines who need immediate support. Bishop comes up with a plan to replace multiple competing grids with a single grid. The plan will streamline the process and save American lives.

Unfortunately for Bishop, he is sent to Iwo Jima to explain and test his plan. He’s given the job of a spotter, a job that most Marines don’t survive for more than 24 hours before a sniper puts an end to their spotting. Three Marines who have become known as the Goon Squad are assigned to keep him alive. Bishop is a mere naval lieutenant and not a Marine, but they bond anyway. Bonding becomes easier after they repeatedly save each other’s lives.

Bishop proves that his idea is effective. It’s so effective that he’s repeatedly sent into the field on new missions. He saves countless lives by calling in strikes on Japanese positions, devising ways to get the right shells to land on the right targets.

The missions are harrowing. Nobody writes combat scenes with more voltage than Deutermann. If it is improbable that one man can do as much damage as Bishop causes, Deutermann sold me on believing in the possibility of unlikely heroism.

It’s amusing that Bishop reviles the Japanese because they use sneaky tactics and fight to the death as he finds sneaky ways to outfight the Japanese and praises Marines for fighting to the death. Such is the logic of war. I can’t fault Deutermann for portraying that logic as it appears to combatants.

Apart from holding widely shared opinions (like other soldiers and sailors in Deutermann’s recent novels, Bishop hates everything about the Japanese), Bishop doesn’t have much of a personality. He’s dutiful and friendly and brave, but he isn’t developed with the same depth as the protagonists in some of Deutermann’s other novels. To the extent that his personality comes through, Bishop reveals it in an epilog when we learn that he has not gotten over the trauma he endured on Iwo Jima. The epilog is genuinely moving. It also takes an honest look at the difficult cost-benefit value of crippling three divisions of Marines to capture a single island.

Even if Bishop is a bit bland, this novel doesn’t need to rely on characterization for its success. Deutermann excels at bringing the reader into a battlefield. The carnage of war, the relentless fear that an attack is imminent, the hope of survival, the odor of fuel and sweat and decaying bodies (and sulfur in the case of Iwo Jima), the deafening noise of artillery, all contribute to growing tension as the reader follows Bishop and hopes that, against all odds, he will complete his missions and survive intact. I don’t go out of my way to read war novels, but I am never disappointed by P.T. Deutermann’s stories about World War II.

RECOMMENDED

This novel captures the intensity, fear, heat, and pure exhaustion of this seminal battle in the war against Japan. One can almost sense the black sand giving way beneath your feet as you read the book and barely begin to understand just how horrific the conditions were to retake Iwo Jima. This was a tiny, volcanic island where the strategic value was small but the moral stakes were immense. The Japanese were determined to fight to the death. Deutermann delivers an intensity so gripping and compelling that you cannot stop reading because you want to see what happens next. It makes one truly appreciate the horrible conditions under which our "greatest generation" fought to preserve our freedoms. This book will stand as one of Deutermann's best, beyond any shadow of doubt! Superbly written and extremely readable. A real page turner.

One of the most iconic images of World War II is the marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi on the island of Iwo Jima. After brutal battles on various islands in the Pacific theater, Iwo Jima is next up for the marines. But the battle to take the island is bogged down by both the landscape as well as the enemy - the Japanese had prepared for some time for the invasion with armaments as well as an elaborate tunnel system. As the marines hit the beaches, they are bogged down and the massive naval presence offshore is for the most part ineffective as the spotters and the system they use for plotting where the artillery should be focused are not effective. Lieutenant Lee Bishop is a gunnery officer aboard the USS Nevada and recognizes the need for a different way to focus the artillery attacks. He volunteers to go ashore where he uses the code name Iwo 26 Charlie and is teamed with three hardened marines known as Goon, Twitch, and Monster and they implement Bishop’s new grid strategy which finally turns the tide of the battle that cost over 6,000 lives and another 18,000 wounded, one of the costliest attacks during the war.

This was a captivating read - obviously well researched by the author although there is no evidence that the characters or the portrayed events actually happened. While we all know of the sacrifices made in taking this island during WWII, this book truly brings home the grim task that faced the invading marines in a way that was never learned in the classroom. And Deutermann pulls no punches when he brings in some of the decisions made by senior military personnel that exacerbated the length and violence of the battle. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel.

The action, historical accuracy and writing style make this story a page turner that you will not be able to put down. Deutermann’s well-developed characters and wonderfully descriptive writing style, make you feel like you are on the actual battlefield; a visceral part of the horror that was the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

While this wasn't for me, I'm sure that fans of WWII military focused novels will find this to be a page turner, The early pages are filled with technical information about the weaponry on the USS Nevada and introduces Lt. Lee Bishop- but I got lost in the detail about the guns etc. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Over to others.

Expected So Much But Wound Up Mostly Disappointed!

WWII stories are one of my favorite genres, especially those that involve major battles grounds that helped determine the outcome of the war. So, given this book’s focus on Iwo Jima, I was confident I was in for a real exciting reading experience.,

Sadly, however, my level of enjoyment of Two 26 Charlie was considerably reduced due to the author’s overabundance of technical information about naval weaponry that it, for me,, seriously slowed down the pace of the plot and, more importantly, lessened the excitement level of its action sequences. Further, my overall satisfaction with Two 26, Charlie was hampered by author Deutermann’s character development skills,which, for me, were just serviceable, at best.

. #Iwo26Charlie #NetGalley

A Navy fire-control officer aboard the Nevada figures out a better grid system of directing fire from the ships onto Iwo Jima. Someone needs to go ashore and be the spotter. How about him?
Lt. Lee Bishop spends a harrowing time on Iwo in the stench of death, blood, and sulfur, the terrible thirst, and the knowledge that at any moment, an enemy snipper may kill him. His new grid works, but costs him dearly.
This is an engrossing story, giving a vision of hell on earth in wartime, but two things disrupted my enjoyment, leading to 4 instead of 5 stars. Several times, I bogged down in massive descriptions, and the awful profanity.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

For a history buff, I found this novel particularly exciting and hard to put down. It is one of the best books I’ve read that really brings the horrors of war home. And war doesn’t get much more horrible than Iwo Jima.

The main character is young gunnery liaison officer, Lee Bishop, aboard the battleship USS Nevada. The main job of the ship is providing naval fight support for troops on the ground, whether in softening up an area prior to a landing, or more importantly, in providing support for troops in danger and taking heavy enemy fire. Bishop’s job is taking the radio calls for support from spotters in the air or on the ground and translating those coordinates to the ships guns so that they can deliver fire where needed without further endangering friendly soldiers. His station is in a heavy steel reinforced box deep in the battleship. He knows his job is viral, but he feels somehow detached and isolated from the war.

At Iwo Jima the U. S. Marines find themselves in a slaughterpen. The Japanese have had years to heavily fortify the entire island with a network of underground tunnels, caves and fortifications which they use to rise up behind the Marine’s lines. Because of heavy loses and the rapid changes in the battlefront, the normal system of grids that regimental spotters use are overlapping and causing confusion and delays in fire support. When Bishop develops a new island wide grid he is sent to the front iines to introduce this new system.

The navy lieutenant is completely ill-prepared for what he witnesses and experiences. As the one who best knew the new system and how to speak the lingo, he is sent out as a spotter to prove that his system will work. His call sign is “Iwo, 26 Charlie”. The Japanese are extremely adept at killing any spotter, whose life expectancy is estimated at 24 hours. Bishop now experiences first hand the horror of life and death on Iwo Jima. This book was amazing in its descriptions of the role of spotter on the ground, and of those in shipboard fire support. This was something totally new for me. It was also both amazing and horrifying in it’s descriptions of the hell hole that was Iwo Jima. It was an inspiration to read the Marines story and to see how they truly live up to their motto, Semper Fi, “Always faithful.”

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. Highly recommended.

Although the battle for Iwo Jima occurred almost 80 years ago, P. T. Deutermann's latest novel places the reader in the middle of one of, if not the most ferocious Pacific battles of World War II. Through the eyes of a young Naval lieutenant, Lee Bishop, we experience the full ferocity of this devastating battle and the accompanying terrible loss of young men by both sides. This book is unforgettable for both the bravery and the brutality of this critical battle and the role it played in moving the war forward to its end.

One of the most iconic images of the battle of Iwo Jima and World War II is the raising of our flag on Mount Suribachi. This is one of our country’s proudest moments during the war in the Pacific.

Lieutenant Lee Bishop, call name IWO, 26 Charlie, goes onto the island to assist in firepower from the naval bombardment to “soften up” the island prior to the marine’s landing effort. The Japanese, however, had prepared the island with a myriad of caves and fortifications. It won’t be easy. The Japanese are extremely adept at killing any spotter, whose life expectancy is estimated at 24 hours.

The USS Nevada has a myriad of weapons systems including 14-inch guns. Grids are utilized to give accurate coordinates for the placement of the ordinance.

Anyone interested in the history of the Second World War will find this novel both interesting and amazing. I could not put the book down and I am sure most history buffs will have the same problem. 5 stars – CE Williams