7516 MARINES ON THE GROUND - OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM 1
by Gordon Arthur ISBN 962-361-127-7
48 pages, 153 color photos, 4 color plates, 1/35 scale plans

Much has been written about the Coalition invasion of Iraq in 2003, but there has been much less written about the United States Marine Corps' role specifically. Indeed, there are very few volumes that provide a concise yet full summary of the complete operation carried out by the Marines. This book provides a valuable survey of what the Marines of mostly I MEF achieved in this historic liberation of Iraq. This book focuses primarily on the vehicles and weapons used by Marine ground forces.

In a day-by-day account, the carefully researched volume describes the main and relevant events from pre-invasion, right through to the presidential declaration of the end of hostilities. The battles, the strategies, are all delineated in informative fashion in the text. This is backed up by the wide range of photos, many obtained from Marine combat photographers who were covering the invasion. This ensures that there is a wide range of settings, units and vehicles covered. Readers will find inspirational pictures of M1 tanks, AAVs, LAVs, artillery, and a full range of trucks and Humvees. This includes such things as destroyed or abandoned USMC and Iraqi equipment. These vehicles will provide modelers with tons of ideas in terms of combat loads, markings and weathering.

Besides two 1/35 scale plans, the book also contains four color plates featuring some of the key vehicles that were used by the Marines. Photo captions are full and descriptive, giving exact details of locations, units and dates, as well as useful background information. In terms of providing an easy to read survey of the Marines in OIF 1, plus an action-packed photographic record of this important campaign, this book is unsurpassed.