“Illuminating.… An eloquent testament to a doomed city and its people.” —The Wall Street Journal In early 1945, General Douglas MacArthur prepared to reclaim Manila, America’s Pearl of the Orient, which had been seized by the Japanese in 1942. Convinced the Japanese would abandon the city, he planned a victory parade down Dewey Boulevard—but the enemy had other plans. The Japanese were determined to fight to the death. The battle to liberate Manila resulted in the catastrophic destruction of the city and a rampage by Japanese forces that brutalized the civilian population, resulting in a massacre as horrific as the Rape of Nanking. Drawing from war-crimes testimony, after-action reports, and survivor interviews, Rampage recounts one of the most heartbreaking chapters of Pacific War history.
Finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in History "Like Lauren Hillebrand's Unbroken…Target Tokyo brings to life an indelible era." —Ben Cosgrove, The Daily Beast On April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers under the command of daredevil pilot Jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way mission to pummel Japan’s factories, refineries, and dockyards in retaliation for their attack on Pearl Harbor. The raid buoyed America’s morale, and prompted an ill-fated Japanese attempt to seize Midway that turned the tide of the war. But it came at a horrific cost: an estimated 250,000 Chinese died in retaliation by the Japanese. Deeply researched and brilliantly written, Target Tokyo has been hailed as the definitive account of one of America’s most daring military operations.
This epic story recounts the exceptional valor and endurance of American troops that battled Japanese forces in the Philippines during World War II. Bill Sloan, “a master of the combat narrative” (Dallas Morning News), tells the story of the outnumbered American soldiers and airmen who stood against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II, and continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs. For four months they fought toe to toe against overwhelming enemy numbers—and forced the Japanese to pay a heavy cost in blood. After the surrender came the infamous Bataan Death March, where up to eighteen thousand American and Filipino prisoners died as they marched sixty-five miles under the most hellish conditions imaginable. Interwoven throughout this gripping narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines, based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors. Undefeated chronicles one of the great sagas of World War II—and celebrates a resounding triumph of the human spirit.
Nearly four years of brutal Japanese occupation in WW2 has dimmed Manila's lustre. The Philippine capital, surrounding an old Spanish fortress, was once a glittering jewel among America's overseas possessions. And now a vast Allied army led by the indomitable MacArthur is ready to take it back from the Japanese. It is a necessary mission and an urgent one for trapped within the old University of Santo Tomas are thousands of ailing prisoners: men and women, young and old, at risk of torture and death by their captors. But the token Japanese garrison has other ideas as desperate units of the Japanese navy dig in to fight to the death against the advancing Americans. Caught in this cruel vice are thousands of Filipinos still trapped in the metropolis, with no hope of escape. From the closing days of January until early March 1945, Manila is to endure the most bitter fighting in the Pacific theatre, leaving it a charred wasteland littered with the bodies of the dead, soldier and civilian alike, the latter deliberately targeted by Japanese death squads. Such is the carnage and conquest of Manila.
From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers, a chronicle of the extraordinary feats of heroism by Marines called on to do the impossible during the greatest battle of the Korean War. "Superb ... A masterpiece of thorough research, deft pacing and arresting detail...This war story—the fight to break out of a frozen hell near the Chosin Reservoir—has been told many times before. But Sides tells it exceedingly well, with fresh research, gritty scenes and cinematic sweep." —The Washington Post On October 15, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of UN troops in Korea, convinced President Harry Truman that the Communist forces of Kim Il-sung would be utterly defeated by Thanksgiving. The Chinese, he said with near certainty, would not intervene in the war. As he was speaking, 300,000 Red Chinese soldiers began secretly crossing the Manchurian border. Led by some 20,000 men of the First Marine Division, the Americans moved deep into the snowy mountains of North Korea, toward the trap Mao had set for the vainglorious MacArthur along the frozen shores of the Chosin Reservoir. What followed was one of the most heroic--and harrowing--operations in American military history, and one of the classic battles of all time. Faced with probable annihilation, and temperatures plunging to 20 degrees below zero, the surrounded, and hugely outnumbered, Marines fought through the enemy forces with ferocity, ingenuity, and nearly unimaginable courage as they marched their way to the sea. Hampton Sides' superb account of this epic clash relies on years of archival research, unpublished letters, declassified documents, and interviews with scores of Marines and Koreans who survived the siege. While expertly detailing the follies of the American leaders, On Desperate Ground is an immediate, grunt's-eye view of history, enthralling in its narrative pace and powerful in its portrayal of what ordinary men are capable of in the most extreme circumstances. Hampton Sides has been hailed by critics as one of the best nonfiction writers of his generation. As the Miami Herald wrote, "Sides has a novelist's eye for the propulsive elements that lend momentum and dramatic pace to the best nonfiction narratives."
General Douglas MacArthur's bloody campaign to defeat die-hard Japanese forces and liberate the Philippines “I shall return,” General Douglas MacArthur promised the Filipino people following the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines in spring 1942. The people there believed MacArthur’s vow—and even Americans were stirred by his dramatic pledge. Now, two and half years later, MacArthur was ready to fulfill his promise--the liberation of the Philippines was about to begin. It would not be an easy campaign. The more than 7,000 islands of the Philippine archipelago were the key to taking down the Japanese Empire—and the Imperial forces were prepared to sacrifice every man and every ship to prevent MacArthur from regaining control of them. Covering both the strategic and tactical aspects of the campaign through the participation of its soldiers, sailors, and airmen, as well as its commanders, James P. Duffy leads readers through a vivid account of the nearly year-long, bloody campaign to defeat over a quarter million die-hard Japanese defenders in the Pacific theater. Return to Victory is a wide-ranging, dramatic and stirring account of MacArthur’s epic liberation of the Philippines.
In the early- and mid-1880s, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the forerunner of the modern IRA, waged a bombing campaign that terrorized the citizens of London for more than four years. Explosives were detonated in such places as the Tower of London, the House of Commons, Victoria station and at the London Bridge. The bombings were carried out in an attempt to secure Ireland's freedom from England. The Fenians, as they were called, hoped citizens would put pressure on the government to resolve the dispute. Implored by the government to end the reign of terror, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson take up residence in a doss house in Whitechapel, which would achieve even greater notoriety a few years later courtesy of Jack the Ripper, posing as dock workers in order to learn more about the shadowy group and ingratiate themselves with its members. When Holmes learns a new bomb-maker is on the way and the bombings will increase in frequency, he understands time is running out. Despite proving his bona fides by bombing 10 Downing Street, Holmes is still held at arm's length by the group's leader Michael. As plans for the extensive new bombing campaign are formulated, Holmes realizes that he must act quickly in order to stop the terror. However, as clever as Holmes is, Michael is his match. The Devil's Disciples pits Holmes against an adversary who is every bit as cunning as he - but far more ruthless.
Author's Foreword This book is unfinished. The Filipino people shall finish it for me. I wrote this volume very, very slowly. 1 could have done with it In three months after my defection from the conjugal dictatorship of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos on February 20.1975. Instead, I found myself availing of every excuse to slow it down. A close associate, Marcelino P. Sarmiento, even warned me, "Baka mapanis 'yan." (Your book could become stale.)While I availed of almost any excuse not to finish the manuscript of this volume, I felt the tangible voices of a muted people back home in the Philippines beckoning to me from across the vast Pacific Ocean. In whichever way I turned, I was confronted by the distraught images of the Filipino multitudes cryingout to me to finish this work, lest the frailty of human memory -- or any incident a la Nalundasan - consign to oblivion the matters I had in mind to form the vital parts of this book. It was as if the Filipino multitudes and history itself were surging in an endless wave presenting a compelling demand on me toSan Francisco, California perpetuate the personal knowledge I have gained on the infamous machinations of Ferdinand E. Marcos and his overly ambitious wife, Imelda, that led to a day of infamy in my country, that Black Friday on September 22, 1972, when martial law was declared as a means to establish history's first conjugal dictatorship. The sense of urgency in finishing this work was also goaded by the thought that Marcos does not have eternal life and that the Filipino people are of unimaginable forgiving posture. I thought that, if I did not perpetuate this work for posterity, Marcos might unduly benefit from a Laurelian statement that, when a man dies, the virtues of his past are magnified and his faults are reduced to molehills. This is a book for which so much has been offered and done by Marcos and his minions so that it would never see the light of print. Now that it is off the press. I entertain greater fear that so much more will be done to prevent its circulation, not only in the Philippines but also in the United States.But this work now belongs to history. Let it speak for itself in the context of developments within the coming months or years. Although it finds great relevance in the present life of the present life of the Filipinos and of Americans interested in the study of subversion of democratic governments by apparently legal means, this work seeks to find its proper niche in history which mustinevitably render its judgment on the seizure of government power from the people by a lame duck Philippine President.If I had finished this work immediately after my defection from the totalitarian regime of Ferdinand and Imelda, or after the vicious campaign of the dictatorship to vilify me in July-August. 1975, then I could have done so only in anger. Anger did influence my production of certain portions of the manu-script. However, as I put the finishing touches to my work, I found myself expurgating it of the personal venom, the virulence and intemperate language of my original draft.Some of the materials that went into this work had been of public knowledge in the Philippines. If I had used them, it was with the intention of utilizing them as links to heretofore unrevealed facets of the various ruses that Marcos employed to establish his dictatorship.Now, I have kept faith with the Filipino people. I have kept my rendezvous with history. I have, with this work, discharged my obligation to myself, my profession of journalism, my family and my country.I had one other compelling reason for coming out with this work at the great risks of being uprooted from my beloved country, of forced separation from my wife and children and losing their affection, and of losing everything I have in my name in the Philippines - or losing life itself. It is that I wanted to makea public expiation for the little influence that I had . . . .(more inside)
Includes over 30 illustrations As in Nazi occupied countries that were liberated by the Allies, horrible crimes had been uncovered, perpetrated in the name of superior culture on defenceless civilians and prisoners of war. As the emaciated American, British, Australian soldiers emerged from the prisoner of war camps with barbaric tales of torture, mistreatment and neglect, it was clear that justice must be sought. The U.S. Military fixed on two Japanese generals who were foremost in causing and ordering these outrages, the conqueror of Malaya Tomoyuki Yamahsita and the notorious “Death March” Masaharu Homma. Lt. Col. Kenworthy was a member of the U.S. military police assigned to the Philippines and saw at first hand the military tribunal ordered at the express command of General MacArthur. He was detailed to guard both Yamashita and Homma during the trial and was able to view their reactions to the detailed evidence that was used against them. He was determined to write this account of this momentous event, he recorded not only the evidence of the crimes but also the stoic calm with which the two generals faced the weight of Allied Justice. A fascinating sidelight on the ending of the World War Two.
Long out of print, these wartime diaries of a key admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy, provide a revealing inside look into the Japanese view of the Pacific War. Matome Ugaki was chief of staff of the Combined Fleet under Admiral Isoroki Yamamoto until both were shot down over Bougainville in April 1943, resulting in Yamamoto's death. He later served as commander of battleship and air fleets, finally directing the kamikaze attacks off Okinawa. Invaluable for its details of the Japanese Navy at war, the diaries offer a running appraisal of the fighting and are augmented by editorial commentary that proves especially useful to American readers eager to see the war from the other side. When first published in 1991, this dairy was hailed as a major contribution to World War II literature as the only firsthand account of strategic planning for the entire war by a Japanese commander. -- Publisher's Description.
