One Square Mile of Hell

Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593187474
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
For Dutton Caliber's American War Heroes series, the riveting true account of the Battle of Tarawa, an epic World War II clash in which the U.S. Marines fought the Japanese nearly to the last man. In November 1943, the men of the 2d Marine Division were instructed to clear out Japanese resistance on the Pacific island of Betio, a speck at the end of the Tarawa Atoll. When the Marines landed, the Japanese poured out of their underground bunkers—and launched one of the most brutal and bloody battles of World War II. For three straight days, attackers and defenders fought over every square inch of sand in a battle with no defined frontlines, and where there was no possibility of retreat—because there was nowhere to retreat to. It was a struggle that would leave both sides stunned and exhausted, and prove both the fighting mettle of the Americans and the fanatical devotion of the Japanese. Drawn from new sources, including participants’ letters and diaries and exclusive firsthand interviews with survivors, One Square Mile of Hell is the true story of a battle between two determined foes, neither of whom would ever look at the other in the same way again.

Utmost Savagery

Author: Estate of Joseph H Alexander
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612511678
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
Marine combat veteran and award-winning military historian Joseph Alexander takes a fresh look at one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War. His gripping narrative, first published in 1995, has won him many prizes, with critics lauding his use of Japanese documents and his interpretation of the significance of what happened. The first trial by fire of America's fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, the violent three-day attack on Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress of barely three hundred acres, left six thousand men dead. This book offers an authoritative account of the tactics, innovations, leadership, and weapons employed by both antagonists. Alexander convincingly argues that without the vital lessons of Tarawa the larger amphibious victories to come at Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa might not have been possible.

Pacific Alamo

Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101658185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

Book Description
It happened in the shadow of Pearl Harbor—mere hours after the first attack on the day that would “live in infamy.” But few know the full story of Wake Island. Now a prominent military historian, breaking new ground on the assault, relates the compelling events of that day and the heroic struggle that followed. Thanks to the brave Marines stationed there-and the civilian construction workers who selflessly put their lives on the line to defend the island-what was supposed to be an easy victory became a protracted and costly battle for Imperial Japan. This is the story of that battle, from survivors on both sides, and with a gallery of historic photos.

Chesty Puller

Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593184580
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
The dramatic battlefield story Chesty Puller, Marine hero of World War II In 1942, when Chesty Puller first stepped foot onto Guadalcanal in America’s first major land campaign against Japan, he had already served two remarkable decades as a US Marine. Yet it was on that Pacific island where the Puller legend would come to life. For months, Chesty and his Marines fought the Japanese in close-up jungle combat, at times resorting to bayonets and even fists. During the Battle for Henderson Field, Puller’s Marines held off wave after wave of enemy attackers over the course of three consecutive nights. His courage under fire and unbreakable devotion to his men inspired not just those under his own command but Marines everywhere. As the war marched on, one bloody battle after another, from Guadalcanal to Peleliu, Chesty became the most decorated Marine in US history. Now, acclaimed military historian John Wukovits, author of Pacific Alamo, tells the story of Chesty Puller's incredible valor and combat leadership in the Pacific War.

Summary of John Wukovits's One Square Mile of Hell

Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The Battle of Tarawa was the first major battle the United States fought in the Pacific theater. It was also the first time many of the young Marines had ever been in combat, and they were shocked by the violence and brutality of the enemy. #2 The landing on Tarawa was the most haunting memory of World War II for many veteran correspondents. #3 Charlie Montague and Gene Seng were two friends who liked to work on cars and horses together. They also understood risk, as they knew what it was like to be in danger every time they took a car out in public. #4 Charlie was very introverted, and he preferred to spend his time dreaming and reflecting. He had a lot of thoughts about Lucille Miller, the love of his life, whom he had met when he was blind dating her friend for her junior prom.

A Small Corner of Hell

Author: Anna Politkovskaya
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226674347
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
Chechnya, a 6,000-square-mile corner of the northern Caucasus, has struggled under Russian domination for centuries. The region declared its independence in 1991, leading to a brutal war, Russian withdrawal, and subsequent "governance" by bandits and warlords. A series of apartment building attacks in Moscow in 1999, allegedly orchestrated by a rebel faction, reignited the war, which continues to rage today. Russia has gone to great lengths to keep journalists from reporting on the conflict; consequently, few people outside the region understand its scale and the atrocities—described by eyewitnesses as comparable to those discovered in Bosnia—committed there. Anna Politkovskaya, a correspondent for the liberal Moscow newspaper Novaya gazeta, was the only journalist to have constant access to the region. Her international stature and reputation for honesty among the Chechens allowed her to continue to report to the world the brutal tactics of Russia's leaders used to quell the uprisings. A Small Corner of Hell: Dispatches from Chechnya is her second book on this bloody and prolonged war. More than a collection of articles and columns, A Small Corner of Hell offers a rare insider's view of life in Chechnya over the past years. Centered on stories of those caught-literally-in the crossfire of the conflict, her book recounts the horrors of living in the midst of the war, examines how the war has affected Russian society, and takes a hard look at how people on both sides are profiting from it, from the guards who accept bribes from Chechens out after curfew to the United Nations. Politkovskaya's unflinching honesty and her courage in speaking truth to power combine here to produce a powerful account of what is acknowledged as one of the most dangerous and least understood conflicts on the planet. Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in Moscow on October 7, 2006. "The murder of the journalist Anna Politkovskaya leaves a terrible silence in Russia and an information void about a dark realm that we need to know more about. No one else reported as she did on the Russian north Caucasus and the abuse of human rights there. Her reports made for difficult reading—and Politkovskaya only got where she did by being one of life's difficult people."—Thomas de Waal, Guardian

Line of Departure: Tarawa

Author: Martin Russ
Publisher: Doubleday Books
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description

Dogfight over Tokyo

Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306922045
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
From an expert in the Pacific theater of World War II comes the tragic story of the pilots who fought the last fight of the war during the first hour of peace When Billy Hobbs and his fellow Hellcat aviators from Air Group 88 lifted off from the venerable Navy carrier USS Yorktown early on the morning of August 15, 1945, they had no idea they were about to carry out the final air mission of World War II. Two hours later, Yorktown received word from Admiral Nimitz that the war had ended and that all offensive operations should cease. As they were turning back, twenty Japanese planes suddenly dove from the sky above them and began a ferocious attack. Four American pilots never returned—men who had lifted off from the carrier in wartime but were shot down during peacetime. Drawing on participant letters, diaries, and interviews, newspaper and radio accounts, and previously untapped archival records, historian and prolific author of acclaimed Pacific theater books, including Tin Can Titans and Hell from the Heavens, John Wukovits tells the story of Air Group 88's pilots and crew through their eyes. Dogfight over Tokyo is written in the same riveting, edge-of-your-seat style that has made Wukovits's previous books so successful. This is a stirring, one-of-a-kind tale of naval encounters and the last dogfight of the war—a story that is both inspirational and tragic.

Tarawa 1943

Author: Derrick Wright
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782002391
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 207

Book Description
The island of Betio in the Tarawa Atoll was defended by the elite troops of the Special Naval Landing Force, whose commander, Admiral Shibasaki, boasted that "the Americans could not take Tarawa with a million men in a hundred years". In a pioneering amphibious invasion, the Marines of the 2nd Division set out to prove him wrong, overcoming serious planning errors to fight a 76-hour battle of unprecedented savagery. The cost would be more than 3000 Marine casualties at the hands of a garrison of some 3700. The lessons learned would dispel forever any illusions that Americans had about the fighting quality of the Japanese.

Blood and Fury

Author: Stephen L. Moore
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593186702
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

Book Description
For Dutton Caliber's American War Heroes series, the gripping and action-packed combat story of America’s most celebrated tank commander, Staff Sergeant Lafayette “War Daddy” Pool. Lafayette Pool provided inspiration for Brad Pitt’s character “War Daddy” Collier in the movie Fury, but his true story is less known. Here, acclaimed author Stephen L. Moore writes the first full-length narrative to honor the valiant Texan tanker. A champion Golden Gloves boxer turned U.S. Army legend, Pool was known as the “ace of tankers” for destroying more than five enemy tanks in head-to-head combat. Sporting a pair of cowboy boots and a confident smile, Pool and his tank, In the Mood, fearlessly led the charge into at least twenty-one different engagements across France, Belgium, and Germany in World War II. His 3rd Armored superiors credit Pool’s crew with destroying at least 275 enemy vehicles, capturing 250 or more enemy soldiers, and killing or wounding more than a thousand opponents. In one three-day period alone, they knocked out four German tanks, three anti-tank guns, and fifty armored vehicles, creating an overwhelming number of enemy casualties. Drawing on official military documents, the memoirs of Pool’s crewmen, and personal interviews with the family of Pool and his comrades, Blood and Fury is full of heated battles, suspenseful near-death experiences, and indomitable bravery. At the heart of it all is an undeniable American hero: Lafayette Pool.