War on Our Doorstep: The Unknown Campaign on North America's West Coast

War On Our Doorstep by Brendan Coyle tells the tale of warfare off the Pacific coast in WWII. This book descriptions of Japanese actions in the Aleutian Islands and off the coast of Oregon, Washington, and California and the allied reactions (Mr. Coyle focuses primarily on Canada's contributions, but does pay good tribute to US forces also). Items covered include Japanese submarine attacks of the Pacific West Coast (including several off California that reminded me of Toshiro Mifune in 1941. I can still hear him calling out HOLLYWOOD!), Canadian and US Forces building up in the area, the Japanese firebombing of Oregon, the Japanese invasion of Kiska and Attu, the allied reaction to this invasion, and the attempted balloon bombs from Japan. This book is a solid history book that covers an aspect of WWII that most people aren't aware of. Because of this uniqueness, how solid Mr. Coyle's research was, and how well the book is written, I'll give it a solid 4 star rating.

While WW2 seemed far removed from the west coast of North America Japan brought it to our shores in an almost completely unknown campaign!The author has exposed incidents along the coast including the shelling of the west coast by submarine on 3 occasions, an air raid over Oregon, torpedoings and Alaska's forgotten war.Very good read! I couldn't put it down.