LEADER 03732cam 2200493Ii 4500001 ocn960294725 003 OCoLC 005 20170822104223.3 008 161009s2017 nyua b 001 0 eng d 020 9780306824715 020 030682471X |q(hardcover) 020 |z9780306824722 |q(ebook) 035 (Sirsi) o960294725 035 (OCoLC)960294725 040 BTCTA |beng |erda |cBTCTA |dBDX |dYDX |dHQD |dSINLB |dOCLCO |dFM0 |dPFLCL |dOCLCF |dVP@ |dWIH |dUtOrBLW 050 14 D767.99.S3 |bS56 2017 082 04 940.54/2667 |222 100 1 Sloan, Bill, |d1935- |eauthor. |=^A566766 245 10 Their backs against the sea : |bthe battle of Saipan and the largest banzai attack of World War II / |cBill Sloan. 246 30 Battle of Saipan and the largest banzai attack of World War II 250 First Da Capo Press edition. 264 1 [New York] : |bDa Capo Press, |c2017. 300 278 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : |billustrations ; |c24 cm 336 text |btxt |2rdacontent 337 unmediated |bn |2rdamedia 338 volume |bnc |2rdacarrier 504 Includes bibliographical references (pages 265-266) and index. 505 0 Islands of mystery -- The infernal beach -- The eternal beach -- Enter the 27th Division -- The Marianas turkey shoot -- Smith vs. Smith -- "Something's coming!" -- To die with honor -- The aftermath -- Tinian's rolling plains -- Coming home -- Tinian and the B-29 -- Dismay in Japan. 520 In the midst of the largest banzai attack of the war, US Army Lt. Col. William O'Brien, grievously wounded and out of ammunition, grabbed a sabre from a fallen Japanese soldier and flailed away at a small army of assailants, screaming to his men, "Don't give them a damn inch!" When his body was recovered the next day, thirty dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted twenty-five hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, its capture would result in secure air bases for the new B-29s that would put them within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific lay in the balance. In this gritty, vivid narrative, award-winning author Bill Sloan fuses fresh interviews, oral and unit histories, and unpublished accounts to describe one of the war's bloodiest and most overlooked battles of the Pacific theater. Combining grunt's-view grit with big picture panorama (and one of the ugliest inter-service controversies of the war), Their Backs against the Sea is the definitive dramatic story of this epic battle--and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history. 610 10 United States. |bMarine Corps |xHistory |yWorld War, 1939-1945. |=^A25953 610 14 United States. |bMarine Corps |xHistory |yWorld War, 1939-1945. |=^A25953 610 17 United States. |bMarine Corps. |2fast |0(OCoLC)fst00528845 |?UNAUTHORIZED 611 07 Saipan, Battle of (Northern Mariana Islands : 1944) |2fast |0(OCoLC)fst01103673 |?UNAUTHORIZED 611 27 World War (1939-1945) |2fast |0(OCoLC)fst01180924 |?UNAUTHORIZED 650 0 Saipan, Battle of, Northern Mariana Islands, 1944. |=^A671285 651 7 Northern Mariana Islands. |2fast |0(OCoLC)fst01203331 |?UNAUTHORIZED 648 7 1939-1945 |2fast 655 7 History. |2fast |0(OCoLC)fst01411628 949 Order on Demand |wASIS |hJOYNER219 960 |o1 |s27.00 |uJHIS |zUSD 961 |fDMD |m138099 596 1 998 4747840