This is

CBSI in the world with Craig Simons, Professor Craig Simons,

U.S. Naval Academy, emeritus professor of history.

The book is Nimitz at War, Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo

Bay, the decision of the flag officers.

Gormley has struggled to provide for the U.S. Marine Corps on Guadalajanal, which is being overwhelmed again and again by attacks

mostly at night by the Japanese.

However, the Japanese, and the Japanese mean to dislodge them, mean to, early on, the Japanese

were fighting a war of attrition, believing the Americans would wear out and then they would

settle this war with negotiation, some fantastic version.

However, there's no patience at By Ernest King.

So Nimitz makes a command decision to replace Gormley with Halsey.

Why, Professor?

Well, I think that Nimitz believed he had given

Gormley every chance.

He visited Gormley in Nomea.

Nimitz had in fact personally flown to Guadalcanal, met with Vandergrip, walked the lines, awarded Vandergrip with the medal in this bunker, decided that Guadal Canal could be held.

Now remember, Guadal Canal is a large island.

The Marines are actually holding a small little footprint around the airstrip and the Japanese

have the rest of the island and the Japanese are hammering at those lines almost daily

and the Marines are holding out they never give way they hang on to that airfield but at any given moment it looks like the Japanese who are increasing their the size of their forces on Guadalcanal might in fact overwhelm that small enclave and Nimitz is worried enough

about that that he thinks somebody more proactive somebody in better health is needed to rescue those circumstances.

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