The Mosquito Bowl and the ‘barbaric madness’ of the Pacific War

It feels, at times, as if the viewer can’t escape. Body clenched, stomach tight — eyes perhaps slanted downward — as the oppressive violence folds around you. At face value, that seems absurd. The viewer isn’t one of the 5,000 Marines landing on Tarawa, facing a maelstrom of mortars, machine guns and rifle fire poured by elite troops of the Imperial Navy’s Special Naval Landing…