THE war against Japan was played out over a vast stage with battles by land sea and air extended over millions of square miles.

Names such as Imphal, Kohima, Iwo Jima and Okinawa became as branded into the collective consciousness as the fire bombing of Japans cities which culminated in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In a writing project to accompany his bestseller Armageddon, which chronicled the defeat of the Germans, Max Hastings has produced a lucid, captivating account of the conflict for Japan. Distilled into a substantial but digestible tome Hastings brings the key personalities to life and the decisions they had to make.

The book covers the neglected war in China, which claimed 15 million lives, and the awesome sea battles of the Leyte Gulf.

No account of the period would be complete without conveying the sheer brutality of the Japanese and the deprivations of their prisoners who could lose their heads for a minor infraction. And yet he also illustrates the human side of the foe, who also displayed some astonishing examples of humanity.

In the Philippines, the fighting saw human wastage on an unimaginable scale as MacArthur plunged his men into unnecessary battle instead of bypassing entrenched Japanese. Manila civilians suffered the most, as the Japanese systematically slaughtered those not caught in the crossfire. Iwo Jima was one of the most bloody encounters, and the Geneva Convention simply didn't figure.

Hastings vividly evokes the heat of battle.

In one shellhole a corpsman asked Arthur Rodriquez to hold a man's protruding intestines while he applied sulphur powder, then pushed them back into his abdomen. A nearby explosion caused body parts to rain down on him. The young soldier tried to focus his mind on his sweetheart back home rather than upon the ghastly spectacle before him.

For those involved, the world became the next bunker. The battle for Japan also saw the genesis of the Kamakazi pilot, a concept started by Rear Admiral Masafumi Arima.

Hastings gives a balanced analysis of the decision to use the atom bombs in Japan. In the context of the incineration of hundreds of thousands and facing the prospect of a bloody land battle, it seemed a logical step at the time.

Books serve as another reminder, if ever it was needed, of the futility of war.

This is worthy contribution to the history of the period.