Scratch One Flattop

Author : Robert C. Stern
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2019-05-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780253039316

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Scratch One Flattop by Robert C. Stern Pdf

A study of the historic World War II naval battle, the first involving aircraft carriers and first in which neither warship was in sight of the other. By the beginning of May 1942, five months after the Pearl Harbor attack, the US Navy was ready to challenge the Japanese moves in the South Pacific. When the Japanese sent troops to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, the Americans sent the carriers Lexington and Yorktown to counter the move, setting the stage for the Battle of the Coral Sea . . . In this book,historian Robert C. Stern analyzes the Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major fleet engagement where the warships were never in sight of each other. Unlike the Battle of Midway, the Battle of the Coral Sea has received remarkably little study. Stern covers not only the action of the ships and their air groups but also describes the impact of this pivotal engagement. His analysis looks at the short-term impact as well as the long-term implications, including the installation of inert gas fuel-system purging on all American aircraft carriers and the push to integrate sensor systems with fighter direction to better protect against enemy aircraft. The essential text on the first carrier air campaign, Scratch One Flattop is a landmark study on an overlooked battle in the first months of the United States’ engagement in World War II. “His research into sources on both sides is exhaustive and he has used Japanese translators where necessary and appropriate to best illuminate materials. His effort has taken years of meticulous scholarship and it shows. . . . Highly recommended.” —Lisle A. Rose, The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord

Author : Peter Tsouras
Publisher : Stackpole Books
Page : 260 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : History
ISBN : 185367446X

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Rising Sun Victorious by Peter Tsouras Pdf

Here is a sideways look at World War II in the Pacific, which gives an exciting view of how the Japanese could have won. Expert military historians examine what would have happened if, for example if the Japanese had conquered India and knocked Britain out of the Pacific War; More...or if Japanese landings in Australia had severed the strategic link between the US and its Southwest Pacific base. The authors, writing as if these world-changing events had really happened, project realistic possibilities based on the true capabilities and circumstances of the forces involved. Rising Sun Victorious is essential and stimulating reading for anyone interested in how chances of history affected the outcome of World War II. Scenarios include: Pearl Harbor: Irredeemable Defeat, by Frank Shirer; The Coral Sea Runs Purple: The Japanese Codes are Cracked, by James Arnold; Nagumo's Luck: The Japanese Find The US Navy First at Midway, by Rick Lindsey; Australian Conquest, by John H. Gill; Guadalcanal Evacuation, by John Burtt; and Victory Rides the Wind: The Kamikaze Prevents Defeat at Kyushu, by Dennis Giangreco.

Author : Chester G. Hearn
Publisher : Stackpole Books
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2007-06-11
Category : History
ISBN : 081173398X

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Carriers in Combat by Chester G. Hearn Pdf

Engaging combat narratives from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands War, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and the current Iraq War Razor-sharp analysis of the roles of ships, aircraft, commanders, tactics, and strategy Aircraft carriers surged into prominence during World War II--mainly in the Pacific, where the U.S. and Japan fought history's greatest carrier battles, like the Coral Sea and Midway. Since then, although there have been no engagements between carrier groups, carriers have played an important role in world events, serving as distant launching pads for attacks on targets around the globe. From the first improvised wooden platforms to today's nuclear-powered supercarriers, Hearn explores how combat experiences have driven the development and use of carriers in the world's navies.

Author : Charles Kupfer
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 549 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2012-04-05
Category : History
ISBN : 9781441189691

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Indomitable Will by Charles Kupfer Pdf

Some of the worst military disasters in U.S. history occurred between Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the Battle of Midway in June 1942. During this period, the American people faced a barrage of bad news and accounts of defeats and retreats. Yet if they were shocked and dismayed, they showed little panic. Indomitable Will resurrects the legacy of this first half-year of American combat during WWII -a legacy of pain, but not of woe. Historian Charles Kupfer recounts the story of the war's early defeats: Bataan, Corregidor, Wake Island, and the Java Sea. Some of these battles remain evocative today; others are obscure; all were catastrophes for American arms. Kupfer asserts, however, that later victories were made inevitable by the steeling effect of those initial disasters. Weaving together military, journalistic, political, and cultural histories, this engaging book shows that by setting their collective will on victory, Americans in and out of uniform gained strength from their setbacks. Indomitable Will spells out how the nation turned early defeat into ultimate victory.

Author : William R. Forstchen
Publisher : Baen Books
Page : 173 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2016-12-06
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781625795489

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Fleet Action by William R. Forstchen Pdf

The Kilrathi Empire is in a bind. For the last five years they have been constructing a secret fleet so powerful that it will slice straight through to Earth and destroy the Confederation. There is a problem, however: the Confederation has become increasingly successful with its behind-the-lines raids and the Prince fears that before the new fleet is ready, the Empire will be on the ropes. At a Kilrathi council of war a simple solution is agreed upon: sure for peace, lull the humans into disarming and then when all is ready, launch a surprise offensive. True to the tradition of democracies everywhere, the Confederation falls for it; the military stands down. Luckily for the human race, however, there are a few who don’t trust soft words from a Kilrathi mouth. Admiral Tolwyn and his veterans must fight a delaying action, buying time with their lives for humanity to make ready for the final battle… At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management).

Author : Ray E. Boomhower
Publisher : University of New Mexico Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2021
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780826362889

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Richard Tregaskis by Ray E. Boomhower Pdf

In the late summer of 1942, more than ten thousand members of the First Marine Division held a tenuous toehold on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. As American marines battled Japanese forces for control of the island, they were joined by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. Tregaskis was one of only two civilian reporters to land and stay with the marines, and in his notebook he captured the daily and nightly terrors faced by American forces in one of World War II's most legendary battles--and it served as the premise for his bestselling book, Guadalcanal Diary. One of the most distinguished combat reporters to cover World War II, Tregaskis later reported on Cold War conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. In 1964 the Overseas Press Club recognized his first-person reporting under hazardous circumstances by awarding him its George Polk Award for his book Vietnam Diary. Boomhower's riveting book is the first to tell Tregaskis's gripping life story, concentrating on his intrepid reporting experiences during World War II and his fascination with war and its effect on the men who fought it.

Author : Gerald Astor
Publisher : Presidio Press
Page : 466 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9780307417770

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Wings of Gold by Gerald Astor Pdf

From critically acclaimed military historian Gerald Astor comes Wings of Gold, the first account of how the airplane transformed the U.S. Navy and paved the way to victory in the Pacific in World War II. Astor tracks that fateful journey from its humble beginnings in 1910 when Eugene Ely flew the very first plane off the deck of a U.S. Navy ship to the unprecedented air combat missions that helped defeat the Japanese. Few naval aviators in World War II realized that when they earned their wings of gold they were about to become test pilots for a whole new kind of combat. In their own words, these courageous fliers describe the life-and-death air battles that defined the revolution in naval strategy that rose from the ashes of Pearl Harbor, when fighter pilots watched in horror as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft bombed their planes and airfields into smoking rubble. While following the pilots’ firsthand reports of air strikes and blazing dogfights across the islands and atolls of the Pacific, Astor explores the ways the U.S. Navy began its momentous transformation before the war. Later, the critical role of aircraft carriers in the stunning U.S. victory at Midway sounded the death knell for conventional naval warfare, yet the public, the press, the Army, and even the president’s advisors refused to recognize the new reality. In fact, only a few in the Navy understood that a new era had begun that would change the face of war forever. The young Americans who fought the deadly duels against Imperial Japanese forces high over the Pacific gave everything they had to the war effort, and many made the supreme sacrifice. Wings of Gold pays tribute to their courage, daring, and selfless dedication. Vividly told, thoroughly researched, and filled with stirring accounts of the Pacific War’s greatest air battles, Wings of Gold is an important addition to the annals of World War II aerial combat.

Author : Michael E. Haskew
Publisher : Zenith Press
Page : 243 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2016-02-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9780760348147

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Aircraft Carriers by Michael E. Haskew Pdf

"An illustrated history of the aircraft carrier, from World War I through World War II, the Cold War, and today"--

Author : Winston Groom
Publisher : Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Page : 804 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2007-12-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781555847784

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1942 by Winston Groom Pdf

America’s first year in World War II, chronicled in this “page-turner” by the Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of Forrest Gump and The Generals (Publishers Weekly). On December 7, 1941, an unexpected attack on American territory pulled an unprepared country into a terrifying new brand of warfare. To the generation of Americans who lived through it, the Second World War was the defining event of the twentieth century, and the defining moments of that war were played out in the year 1942. This account covers the Allies’ relentless defeats as the Axis overran most of Europe, North Africa, and the Far East. But by midyear the tide began to turn. The United States finally went on the offensive in the Pacific. In the West, the British defeated Rommel’s panzer divisions at El Alamein while the US Army began to push the Germans out of North Africa. By the year’s end, the smell of victory was in the air. 1942, told with Winston Groom’s accomplished storyteller’s eye, allows us into the admirals’ strategy rooms, onto the battlefronts, and into the heart of a nation at war. “When not drawing in readers with the narrative, Groom is impressing them with his masterful analyses.” —The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Groom has done an artful job of blending the many stories of 1942.” —The Anniston Star

Author : Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2015-02-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472805607

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F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2 by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver Pdf

The first VF-2 was a prewar unit that had been dubbed the 'hottest outfit afloat' due to the skill of their non-commissioned pilots. This first unit only saw combat at the Battle of the Coral Sea, although VF-2 pilots flying Grumman F4F Wildcats were able to rack up 17 claims there during the bitter 48-hour period of fighting. The second 'Fighting Two' was armed with the new Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. Arriving in Hawaii in October 1943, the squadron so impressed Cdr Edward H 'Butch' O'Hare, the Medal of Honor-winning first US Navy ace of World War 2, that he requested the squadron replace VF-6 in his CAG-6 aboard USS Enterprise. No unit US Navy unit created more aces than VF-2, whose pilots went into action over the Carolines, Marianas, Guam, Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Using exquisite photographs and first-hand accounts from the elite fliers themselves, this volume tells the story of the ace pilots who comprised the original VF-2 and the second.

Author : Ronald E. Martell
Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
Page : 454 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2015-03-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9781503539716

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Showdown in the Pacific War by Ronald E. Martell Pdf

Showdown in the Pacific War: Nimitz and Yamamoto This unique book combines a carefully researched history with an easy to read analysis of the war in a fictional meeting between staff officers close to Admirals Chester Nimitz and Isoroku Yamamoto. They trace the events leading to the Pacific War and the heroic struggles following the attack on Pearl Harbor to the eclipse of the Japanese war machine at Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, and beyond. Showdown reveals Yamamoto’s opposition to Japan’s waging a war it could not win along with his planning of her early successes and Admiral Nimitz’s patient and careful reversal of the Empire’s offensives. Showdown presents an even-handed view of the nations that waged combat in the early stages of history’s most famous naval war. “Ron Martell has given us a new and very interesting look at World War II in the Pacific. Instead of simply retelling history, he puts the reader in a fictitious yet plausible latter-day conference between two of the conflict’s high-ranking adversaries, key staff officers of the American and Japanese navies. . . . It’s a genuine page-turner for any fan of World War II history. ” Ronald Russell, author of No Right to Win: A Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway. “Showdown in the Pacific is a thoroughly enjoyable read. . . . If someone asks me for a single book to read on how the Pacific War started and then was fought for the first 18 months, I will heartily recommend this one.” Thom Walla, Editor and Host of The Battle of Midway RoundTable.

Author : Peter C. Smith
Publisher : Stackpole Books
Page : 402 pages
File Size : 40,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : History
ISBN : 9780811734547

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Dive Bomber! by Peter C. Smith Pdf

Details on planes like the German Stuka, the American Dauntless, the Japanese Aichi D3A1 "Val," the Soviet PE-2, and numerous others Riveting accounts of aerial combat Includes maps, diagrams, tables, and photos For many, it is a dive bomber that conjures the most dramatic, quintessential image of World War II: a screaming German Stuka hurtling toward the ground as part of the frightening blitzkrieg that opened the war. In this illustrated history of Allied and Axis dive bombers, Peter C. Smith traces these formidable aircraft from the earliest experiment, through the planes' first operation, to their emergence as devastatingly effective tools of aerial warfare in World War II.

Author : John Toland
Publisher : Modern Library
Page : 977 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2014-11-26
Category : History
ISBN : 9780804180955

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The Rising Sun by John Toland Pdf

“[The Rising Sun] is quite possibly the most readable, yet informative account of the Pacific war.”—Chicago Sun-Times This Pulitzer Prize–winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, “a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened—muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox.” In weaving together the historical facts and human drama leading up to and culminating in the war in the Pacific, Toland crafts a riveting and unbiased narrative history. In his Foreword, Toland says that if we are to draw any conclusion from The Rising Sun, it is “that there are no simple lessons in history, that it is human nature that repeats itself, not history.” “Unbelievably rich . . . readable and exciting . . .The best parts of [Toland’s] book are not the battle scenes but the intimate view he gives of the highest reaches of Tokyo politics.”—Newsweek

Author : Frank Olney Hough,Verle E. Ludwig,Henry I. Shaw
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 456 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1958
Category : Guadalcanal, Battle of, Solomon Islands, 1942-1943
ISBN : UOM:39015042010598

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Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal by Frank Olney Hough,Verle E. Ludwig,Henry I. Shaw Pdf

Author : Jeffrey Cox
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 467 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2018-02-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9781472826398

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Morning Star, Midnight Sun by Jeffrey Cox Pdf

Following the disastrous Java Sea campaign, the Allies went on the offensive in the Pacific in a desperate attempt to halt the Japanese forces that were rampaging across the region. With the conquest of Australia a very real possibility, the stakes were high. Their target: the Japanese-held Solomon Islands, in particular the southern island of Guadalcanal. Hamstrung by arcane pre-war thinking and a bureaucratic mind-set, the US Navy had to adapt on the fly in order to compete with the mighty Imperial Japanese Navy, whose ingenuity and creativity thus far had fostered the creation of its Pacific empire. Starting with the amphibious assault on Savo Island, the campaign turned into an attritional struggle where the evenly matched foes sought to grind out a victory. Following on from his hugely successful book Rising Sun, Falling Skies, Jeffrey R. Cox tells the gripping story of the first Allied offensive of the Pacific War, as they sought to prevent Japan from cutting off Australia and regaining dominance in the Pacific.