A Magnificent Fight: The Battle for Wake IslandSoon after Japanese carrier-based planes attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Japanese land-based bombers pounded Wake Island, an American advanced base that was key to the U.S. Navy's strategy in the Pacific. Throughout the next two weeks Japanese planes bombed Wake almost daily, but its determined defenders held out, providing a badly needed lift to American morale. The author examines the defense plans prepared before the war and how grim necessity compelled the modification of those plans. The central part of the work recounts how the Wake garrison survived nearly daily bombings and repulsed the first Japanese attempt to take the atoll. This small band of defenders consisted of marines from an understrength defense battalion and a composite aviation unit equipped with a dwindling number of fighter planes, augmented by sailors and civilian volunteers. An army signal corps radio unit was the island's only contact with the outside world. This is the first American study of Wake's defense to use extensive Japanese materials - many never before tapped or previously unavailable to Western historians - to identify the enemy order of battle and the roles each unit played in the drama. The book also examines the atoll's development as a strategic American base. Readers specifically interested in World War II, the Pacific war, and Navy/Marine Corps history will enjoy this book, as will a more general audience drawn to fast-moving stories of quiet courage in the face of tremendous odds. |
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23 December aircraft airfield airstrip American ammunition antiaircraft ashore atoll attack aviation Barninger Battery Bayler beach Bloch bombers bombs Camp Captain carrier CinCPac civilians Clipper command post Commander Cunningham contractors CPNAB crew cruisers damage Defense Battalion Defense of Wake destroyers Detachment Diary Elrod enemy fight fighters fire five-inch Fleet Freuler Godbold Gunner Hamas Heinl island commander James P. S. Devereux Japanese Kajioka's kankōs Kessler Kimmel Kinney Kliewer lagoon landing later Lieutenant Commander machine guns Marine Corps Maru MCHC MCHC Archives McMorris Midway Naval NHC Operational Archives Oahu October officer Pacific PanAir Patrol Boat Peacock Point Pearl Harbor pilots planes Platt Poindexter position Private First Class Putnam radio raid Rear Admiral Report sailors seaplane Second Lieutenant Sergeant ships shōtais Sōryū squadron staff Stark Subj submarine Tambor Task Force Teters three-inch Triton U.S. Navy USMC Wake Island Wake's Wildcats Wilkes William Ward Burrows wounded wrote