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Seller's Description:
Good. x, [6], 281, [5] pages. Illustrations. Maps. Index. Some wear and sticker residue. Includes Guide to Abbreviation; 63 black and white maps; Prologue; Part 1: Before; Part 2: The First Day; Part III: The Second Day; Part IV: The Third Day; Part V: The Last Day. Also includes 2 appendixes: A Word About Organization; and Medal of Honor Recipients. Navy admirals assured Marine commanders that heavy bombardments would pound the Japanese to coral dust. But tidal conditions had been miscalculated, and Marines without combat experience waded 500 years through knee-deep water into withering enemy gunfire. This is the gripping and explosive story of how the Marines triumphed against impossible odds. Coauthor John E. Lane, a young Marine bugler who stormed the blood-soaked beach, relives with others those first days of intense fighting that changed the course of the war. Eric M. Hammel (June 29, 1946-August 25, 2020) was a military historian, with a focus on the military campaigns of the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific War, and other military action in World War II as well as military conflicts including the Vietnam War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Hammel wrote a series of books about World War II Flying Aces but his most influential book was The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984 on the subject of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings. John E. Lane was born June 12, 1926. He held a master's degree from Columbia University. During the war, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, as a rifleman, runner, and radioman. 76 Hours: The Invasion of Tarawa By Eric Hammel and John E. Lane On the morning of Saturday, November 20, 1943, the U.S. 2nd Marine Division undertook the first modern amphibious assault against a well-defended beachhead. The objective was tiny Betio Island in Tarawa Atoll. The result was an immortal story of tragedy and near defeat turned around into an epic of victory and indomitable human spirit. Although the admirals commanding the Tarawa invasion fleet had assured the Marines that Betio would be pounded to coral dust by a massive naval and air bombardment-the largest of its kind ever seen to that time-the first waves of Marines found the Japanese defenses intact and manned by determined foes. Within minutes of the start of the head-on assault, the American battle plan was a shambles and scores of Marines had been killed or wounded. The assault virtually stopped at the water's edge, its momentum halted before many Marines ever dismounted from the amphibian tractors that had carried them to the deadly, fire-swept beach. Follow-up waves of Marines suffered grievous casualties when they were forced to wade more than 500 yards through fire-swept, knee-deep water because tidal conditions had been miscalculated by the invasion's planners. Follow the bloody battle for Betio in graphic detail as heroic American fighting men advance every life-threatening step across the tiny island in the face of what many historians agree was the best and most concentrated defenses manned by the bravest and most competent Japanese defenders American troops encountered in the entire Pacific War.