The week before last I finished reading One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle For Tarawa by John Wukovits.
This was very good read. The book is tells the story of some of participants during the Battle of Tarawa during World War II in 1943. If I recall correctly this was the second amphibious operation that took place in the Pacific theatre by the Marines and Navy. The first was at Guadalcanal and also involved the U.S. Army. The battle lasted for three days and turned out to not be the pushover that many thought it would be. A few hour pre-invasion bombardment barely made a dent in the Japanese defenses that consisted of hundreds of well camoflauged bunkers and pillboxes that were connected by miles of tunnels. During the three days of fighting there were an estimated 6,000 men that died. For the Americans the losses consisted of 1,027 Navy and Marine personel with 2,292 wounded and 88 listed as missing in action. Very few Japanese survived to be taken prisoner. Many of Japanese troops committed mass suicide when the tide of the battle eventually began to turn to the Marines favor. Much of the fighting took place in close quarters with fists, knives and bayonets. Marines would be shot and killed by Japanese in pillboxes and bunkers that were mere feet away from the Marines with the Marines not being able to see them. Flamethrowers were widely used on the island the clear fortifications.
A Marine Staff Sergeant named Norman Hatch took a lot of photos and footage of the battle. There were also reporters embedded with the Marines. Hatch's footage was laster turned into an award winning documentary by director Frank Capra titled With The Marines At Tarawa. The Department of Defense and the President authorized the documentary to be shown to the public to enlighten and prepare them for the facts that the war would be long, brutal and very costly.
The Tarawa Atoll was a chain of small islands. The largest of which was called Betio and was where the battle took place. Why was it fought? The answer to this is that the island contained an airfield that the Japanese could use to launch airstrikes from. The battle had to happen. The lessons learned from this operation were put to use in later amphibious operations during the war in the Pacific. The planners of the D-Day invasion of Normandy also used Tarawa as one of the models during their planning of Overlord.
If you like military history or history in general then I have to recommend reading this book.
This was very good read. The book is tells the story of some of participants during the Battle of Tarawa during World War II in 1943. If I recall correctly this was the second amphibious operation that took place in the Pacific theatre by the Marines and Navy. The first was at Guadalcanal and also involved the U.S. Army. The battle lasted for three days and turned out to not be the pushover that many thought it would be. A few hour pre-invasion bombardment barely made a dent in the Japanese defenses that consisted of hundreds of well camoflauged bunkers and pillboxes that were connected by miles of tunnels. During the three days of fighting there were an estimated 6,000 men that died. For the Americans the losses consisted of 1,027 Navy and Marine personel with 2,292 wounded and 88 listed as missing in action. Very few Japanese survived to be taken prisoner. Many of Japanese troops committed mass suicide when the tide of the battle eventually began to turn to the Marines favor. Much of the fighting took place in close quarters with fists, knives and bayonets. Marines would be shot and killed by Japanese in pillboxes and bunkers that were mere feet away from the Marines with the Marines not being able to see them. Flamethrowers were widely used on the island the clear fortifications.
A Marine Staff Sergeant named Norman Hatch took a lot of photos and footage of the battle. There were also reporters embedded with the Marines. Hatch's footage was laster turned into an award winning documentary by director Frank Capra titled With The Marines At Tarawa. The Department of Defense and the President authorized the documentary to be shown to the public to enlighten and prepare them for the facts that the war would be long, brutal and very costly.
The Tarawa Atoll was a chain of small islands. The largest of which was called Betio and was where the battle took place. Why was it fought? The answer to this is that the island contained an airfield that the Japanese could use to launch airstrikes from. The battle had to happen. The lessons learned from this operation were put to use in later amphibious operations during the war in the Pacific. The planners of the D-Day invasion of Normandy also used Tarawa as one of the models during their planning of Overlord.
If you like military history or history in general then I have to recommend reading this book.
