Tarawa 1943

Tarawa 1943
Author: Derrick Wright
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2012-08-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1782002391

An detailed examination of this bloody Pacific battle, featuring maps, artwork and archive photography. 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. This richly illustrated volume examines the battle in depth and the lessons learned, which would dispel forever any illusions that Americans had about the fighting quality of the Japanese.

One Square Mile of Hell

One Square Mile of Hell
Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2022-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0593187474

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.

A Hell of a Way to Die

A Hell of a Way to Die
Author: Derrick Wright
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
Total Pages: 200
Release: 1997
Genre: History
ISBN:

Tarawa Atoll in the Central Pacific was the November 1943 testing ground for America's ability to take heavily defended Japanese-held islands. The trial lasted three and a half days and would cost more than 3,000 USMC casualties at the hands of a Japanese garrison of some 4,700 men -- of whom just 17 would allow themselves to be taken alive. This compelling account of one of the most savage battles of World War II draws upon the vivid memories of Marine veterans of those 76 terrible hours of close-quarter fighting. It is supported by striking photographs, by the poignant drawings of a war artist who landed with the Marines, and by detailed maps and appendices. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Utmost Savagery

Utmost Savagery
Author: Estate of Joseph H Alexander
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 2008-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612511678

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.

The Battle of Tarawa

The Battle of Tarawa
Author: Daniel Rogers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2021-08-15
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 9781591147039

Building upon the expertise of the authors and historians of the Naval Institute Press, the Naval History Special Editions are designed to offer studies of the key vessels, battles, and events of armed conflict. Using an image-heavy, magazine-style format, these Special Editions should appeal to scholars, enthusiasts, and general readers alike. The Battle of Tarawa was one of the most transformative engagements of World War II and for the future of the U.S. Marine Corps. Fought on a speck of coral sand in the middle of the Pacific, in just three days the battle and associated actions of Operation Galvanic killed over 1,700 U.S. service members and 5,000 Japanese defenders. Searing images of dead and wounded Marines quickly appeared in U.S. newspapers, magazines, and movie theaters, providing the public with a dismaying sense of the high cost of the upcoming Central Pacific campaign aimed at bringing the war quickly to Japan itself. From the pre-dawn of 20 November 1943, when U.S. battleships' guns first blazed away at Japanese positions, to the landings of men over a coral reef blocking the passage of most boats, to the brutal fighting necessary to overcome well-prepared and mutually supporting Japanese firing positions, the ferocity and brutality of the battle are carefully and fully narrated. This volume also covers the background of the battle; weaponry; naval actions; Japanese defensive fortifications; specialized U.S. forces such as armor, physicians, and chaplains; the media; and the long-term consequences of the battle. When it was over after 76 hours, lessons had been learned about amphibious landings and subsequent combat that would help the United States move quickly into the Marshall and Mariana Islands and then to the vicinity of Japan itself at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Rarely has one brief but horrific battle meant so much, for so many, for so long.

The Marine Corps Tanks Collection

The Marine Corps Tanks Collection
Author: Oscar E. Gilbert
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 863
Release: 2018-09-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1504055950

“Together these books provide the definitive history of the USMC’s tank forces . . . Very highly recommended” (Military Modelcraft International). Marine Corps Tank Battles in Korea: A detailed and gripping account of the little-known Marine tank engagements during the Korean War, from the valiant defense at Pusan and the bitter battles of the Chosin Reservoir to the bloody stalemate along the Jamestown Line. Oscar E. Gilbert unfolds the unique role played by tanks in the destruction of the ill-fated Task Force Drysdale, how Marine armor was a key factor in the defense of Hagaru, and how a lone tank made it to Yudamni and then led the breakout across the high Toktong Pass. Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam: In 1965 the large, loud, and highly visible tanks of 3rd Platoon, B Company, 3rd Tank Battalion landed across a beach near Da Nang, drawing unwelcome attention to America’s first, almost covert, commitment of ground troops in South Vietnam. Marine Corps tankers sought out the enemy in the sand dunes, jungles, mountains, paddy fields, tiny villages, and ancient cities of Vietnam, dealing with guerrilla ambushes from the Viet Cong and the long-range artillery capability of the North Vietnamese Army. Marine Corps Tank Battles in the Middle East: In America’s longest continual conflict, armored Marines became entangled in guerrilla war amid the broiling deserts, ancient cities, and rich farmlands of Iraq, and in the high, bleak wastes of Afghanistan. Fighting a fanatical foe who brutalized civilians, planted sophisticated roadside bombs, and seized control of entire cities, the Marine Corps tankers cleared roads, escorted convoys, conducted endless sweep operations to locate and destroy insurgent strongholds, protected voting sites for free elections, and recaptured and rebuilt urban centers, even adding a new trick to their repertoire: long-range surveillance. Tanks in Hell: On November 20, 1943, the 2nd Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the teeth of powerful Japanese defenses on Tarawa. In that blood-soaked invasion, a single company of Sherman tanks, of which only two survived, played a pivotal role in turning the tide from looming disaster to legendary victory.

One Square Mile of Hell

One Square Mile of Hell
Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2007-08-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 144062013X

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.

The Road to Victory

The Road to Victory
Author: Dale Dye
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2011-11-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1849089175

No war has tested the resolve of the American people and her fighting men as did the battles in the Pacific. This book is a visual testament to the key battles fought in the Pacific. On December 7, 1941, as the Japanese dived out of the clouds above Pearl Harbor, America's future was fundamentally altered. Ever since the first world conflict, the United States had resisted the temptation to be drawn into wars outside of its borders. But with this one surprise attack America was inevitably thrown into the fray as the Second World War erupted. This history by military specialists, Osprey Publishing, reveals each of the battles America would fight against Imperial Japan from the naval clashes at Midway and Coral Sea to the desperate, bloody fighting on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Each chapter reveals the horrors of battle and the grim determination to wrest victory from certain defeat. Using an astonishing collection of wartime imagery and complete with dozen of full-colour maps, this is an invaluable visual guide to the road to victory.

Dispatches from the Pacific

Dispatches from the Pacific
Author: Ray E. Boomhower
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2017-08-08
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0253029937

In the fall of 1943, armed with only his notebooks and pencils, Time and Life correspondent Robert L. Sherrod leapt from the safety of a landing craft and waded through neck-deep water and a hail of bullets to reach the shores of the Tarawa Atoll with the US Marine Corps. Living shoulder to shoulder with the marines, Sherrod chronicled combat and the marines' day-to-day struggles as they leapfrogged across the Central Pacific, battling the Japanese on Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. While the marines courageously and doggedly confronted an enemy that at times seemed invincible, those left behind on the American home front desperately scanned Sherrod's columns for news of their loved ones. Following his death in 1994, the Washington Post heralded Sherrod's reporting as "some of the most vivid accounts of men at war ever produced by an American journalist." Now, for the first time, author Ray E. Boomhower tells the story of the journalist in Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod, an intimate account of the war efforts on the Pacific front.