Download or read book The Story of Wake Island written by James Patrick Sinnott Devereux and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This account of the defense of Wake Island was written after five years without benefit of notes and records, which were destroyed by the Japanese or by us to prevent capture. This account is as accurate as the author could make it from his own recollection, available records and the recollection of other Wake Island veterans, both officers and men. The Navy Department is in no way responsible for any points of view expressed nor for the factual accuracy of statements made." --Page [6] Author's Note.

Download or read book Facing Fearful Odds written by Gregory J. W. Urwin and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2002-06-01 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing Fearful Odds is based on interviews and correspondence gathered from more than seventy of Wake's American defenders and on research in archival and printed sources. The book covers the planning and political struggles that began Wake Island's transformation into a naval air station and submarine base, the U.S. Navy's eleventh-hour efforts to garrison and fortify Wake, and the various air, sea, and land attacks that resulted in the atoll's capture by the Imperial Japanese Navy. This study attempts to correct the myths that shroud what happened on the atoll. - from preface.

Download or read book The Battle of Wake Island written by United States. Navy Department. Library and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Tactical Defeat Or Strategic Victory The Battle Of Wake Island 8 23 December 1941 written by Major Marlyn. R. Pierce and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given the constrained environment the US Armed Forces operate in would it be possible or even strategically feasible to relieve a cut-off force. This study investigates this scenario by using the historical example of Wake Island. Wake Island is an insignificant strip of coral located in the central Pacific. However, it gained strategic significance during pre-war planning. From its location, Wake Island could dominate the sea-lanes through the central Pacific. After the beginning of hostilities in 1941, the Japanese attacked Wake Island by air for three days before attempting an amphibious assault on 11 December. Miraculously, the defenders repulsed the Japanese. The only time during the Pacific War that an invasion attempt was defeated. Humiliated by the defeat, the Japanese returned on 23 December with a larger force. The defenders, again, put up a stubborn defense but eventually were overwhelmed. After the defenders defeated the Japanese on 11 December, the Navy’s senior leaders were forced to decide on the fate of the men on Wake Island. In the final analysis it was determined that the strategic loss of any of three aircraft carriers operating in the Pacific outweighed the tactical gain of relieving the beleaguered island.

Download or read book Given Up for Dead written by Bill Sloan and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2008-01-29 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping narrative of unprecedented valor and personal courage, here is the story of the first American battle of World War II: the battle for Wake Island. Based on firsthand accounts from long-lost survivors who have emerged to tell about it, this stirring tale of the “Alamo of the Pacific” will reverberate for generations to come. On December 8, 1941, just five hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes attacked a remote U.S. outpost in the westernmost reaches of the Pacific. It was the beginning of an incredible sixteen-day fight for Wake Island, a tiny but strategically valuable dot in the ocean. Unprepared for the stunning assault, the small battalion was dangerously outnumbered and outgunned. But they compensated with a surplus of bravery and perseverance, waging an extraordinary battle against all odds. When it was over, a few hundred American Marines, sailors, and soldiers, along with a small army of heroic civilian laborers, had repulsed enemy forces several thousand strong––but it was still not enough. Among the Marines was twenty-year-old PFC Wiley Sloman. By Christmas Day, he lay semiconscious in the sand, struck by enemy fire. Another day would pass before he was found—stripped of his rifle and his uniform. Shocked to realize he hadn’t awakened to victory, Sloman wondered: Had he been given up for dead—and had the Marines simply given up? In this riveting account, veteran journalist Bill Sloan re-creates this history-making battle, the crushing surrender, and the stories of the uncommonly gutsy men who fought it. From the civilians who served as gunmen, medics, and even preachers, to the daily grind of life on an isolated island—literally at the ends of the earth—to the agony of POW camps, here we meet our heroes and confront the enemy face-to-face, bayonet to bayonet.

Download or read book Victory in Defeat written by Gregory J. W. Urwin and published by Naval Inst Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a book that draws on interviews with American POWs, as well as their Japanese captors, and diaries secretly kept by prison-camp inmates, the author of Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island offers a moving history of the incarceration of the American defenders of Wake Island after their surrender to the Japanese during World War II.

Download or read book A Magnificent Fight written by Robert Cressman and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Battle of Wake Island written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Story of Wake Island written by James P. S. Devereux and published by . This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The courageous conduct of the officers and men who defended Wake Island will not be forgotten so long as gallantry and heroism are respected and honored." Citation of the President "Excellent" The New York Times On 8th December 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, thirty-six Japanese bombers attacked Wake Island and destroyed eight of its twelve aircraft. Two more raid shortly followed, further reducing the defensive possibilities for the men who were left to defend this small area of American soil in the center of the Pacific Ocean. Major James P. S. Devereux was the Commanding Officer of the 1st Marine Defense Battalion who faced Japanese onslaught. The first Japanese landing attempt on the morning of 11th December was repelled by a ferocious defense put forward by Devereux and his men. Yet although the Japanese had withdrawn without landing, they continued to bombard the island by air and sea, and there was little hope of resupply for the Americans. For fifteen days the American troops suffered endless bombardments until the second major Japanese offensive was launched on 23rd December. Against overwhelming forces the Marines and other troops that were stationed on the island fought valiantly, but after forty-nine men had lost their lives in the fight, the remaining American men and civilians were captured by the Japanese. James P. S. Deveraux's remarkable book The Story of Wake Island takes the reader to the heart of the action from the point of view of the commanding officer. It is a brilliant account of this tragic event that demonstrated the fighting spirit of the American soldier even in the face of unbeatable odds. "His special vantage point enriches his commentary not only on the ill-fated military operation but also on the state (and spirit) of the prewar preparations to defend the island." John J. Sbrega, The War Against Japan, 1941-1945 James P. S. Devereaux was a United States Marine Corps general, Navy Cross recipient, and Republican congressman. After the ferocious fifteen-day battle of Wake Island Devereux was interned for nearly four years in Japanese prison camps. His book The Story of Wake Island was first published in 1947 and he passed away in 1988.

Download or read book Wake Island 1941 written by Jim Moran and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An illustrated examination of the daring last stand by a collection of marines, sailors, and other service personnel on Wake Island in World War II - one of the legendary stories of American military history. On the same day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they also launched air attacks on Wake Island, an American marine and naval base in the Pacific. Three days later a Japanese invasion force stormed the island, but were bloodily repulsed by the scratch force of marines, sailors and even service personnel who defended it. Despite US attempts to relieve the island, the Japanese launched a much greater invasion a few weeks later and, despite gallant resistance, eventually caused the US Forces to surrender. This book tells the complete story of the vicious fighting on Wake Island, featuring full-color maps and archive photography.

Download or read book Wake Island Pilot written by John F. Kinney and published by Potomac Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese struck the small U.S. garrison on Wake Island. As his squadron's engineering office, Marine pilot John F. Kinney oversaw the repair of damaged planes when he himself was not in the air fighting off the Japanese assault. After the Americans held out for an incredible two weeks, Kinney was captured by the Japanese but eventually escaped in China. Wake Island Pilot is the memoir of a remarkable hero of one of World War II's epic struggles."--Page [4] cover.

Download or read book The Battle of Wake Island written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-03 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the fighting by soldiers on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading All Americans are familiar with the "day that will live in infamy." At 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, the advanced base of the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet, was ablaze. It had been smashed by aircraft launched by the carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy. All eight battleships had been sunk or badly damaged, 350 aircraft had been knocked out, and over 2,000 Americans lay dead. Indelible images of the USS Arizona exploding and the USS Oklahoma capsizing and floating upside down have been ingrained in the American conscience ever since. In less than an hour and a half the Japanese had almost wiped out America's entire naval presence in the Pacific, but one of the aspects of the war most forgotten is that the Japanese simultaneously launched concerted attacks against American targets elsewhere in the Pacific that the same day, including one against the strategically located Wake Island. Claimed for the United States in 1841 by the cheerful, narrow-faced Lieutenant Charles Wilkes aboard the USS Vincennes, Wake Island (actually three separate portions known as Wake, Peale, and Wilkes Islands) remained essentially useless until the technology and politics of the 20th century suddenly rendered it more important. Given the possibility of war with Japan in the near future, the United States Navy began researching and developing the island for use as a forward airbase in 1940. Located between Hawaii and Japan, with the nearest inhabited land over 600 miles away, Wake appeared as a key strategic asset for America. Its status as U.S. territory made it possible for the Navy to construct a base there without antagonizing the Japanese, and desalination technology enabled maintaining a permanent human presence on the island. Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, CINCPAC in 1941, prepared a long commentary on Wake which included the assessment: "The strategic importance of Wake is increasingly evident, as one inquires into means by which the Pacific Fleet may carry on offensive operations to the westward. [...] As an operating patrol plane base, it could prove highly valuable to us in observing the Marshalls, or in covering advance of our forces toward the Saipan-Honshu line. In the hands of the Japanese, it would be a serious obstacle to surprise raids." (Heinl, 1947, 1). The Japanese, of course, also recognized the strategic value of Wake and planned to deny it to the United States. Since their war plan involved a surprise attack, with the declaration of war following the start of hostilities, they anticipated seizing Wake Island with minimal resistance from the contractors and U.S. Marines there. The Japanese might perhaps have viewed the Americans on Wake in the same way Shakespeare's Duke of Orleans dismissed the English in Henry V, Act III, Scene 7: "You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion." As it turned out, the Japanese would require multiple invasion attempts and a few weeks to take the island against dogged American resistance, and it would cost them over 1,000 casualties by the time the fighting was finished. The Battle of Wake Island: The History of the Japanese Invasion Launched in Conjunction with the Attack on Pearl Harbor chronicles one of the initial Japanese campaigns in the Pacific. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the battle like never before.

Download or read book Navy Department Communiques 1 624 written by United States. Navy Department. Office of Public Relations and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Early Air War in the Pacific written by Ralph F. Wetterhahn and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:  During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.

Download or read book Wake And Reunion written by Stanford D. Carman and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2011-01-14 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wake And Reunion revolves around the Battle of Wake Island from Dec.8-23,1941. While many of the US Defenders are mentioned the book includes the Individual bio's of 17 Wake Island Defenders, and their return to United States after 1350 days as POWs of the Japanese until the surrender of the Japanese ending WWII in September 1945. The chapter Vindication and Aftermath, deals with United States actions against Japanese held Wake Island and the official report of the surrender of Wake Island by the Japanese back to the United States, September 1945. The book also contains the complete roster of all men on Wake Island when it fell to the Japanese Dec.23, 1941. Wake And Reunion is richly illustrated with over 100 photographs, letters, and diagrams, some of which date back to the 1930's. Also included are photos of what was to be the Wake Island Defenders last organized reunion in October 2005.

Download or read book The Story of Wake Island Illustrated Edition written by James P. S. Devereux Colonel U.S.M.C. and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes 11 photos and 5 maps/diagrams of the Defence of Wake Island “It is Monday, 8 December 1941. On Wake Island, a tiny sprung paper-clip in the Pacific between Hawaii and Guam, Marines of the 1st Defense Battalion are starting another day of the backbreaking war preparations that have gone on for weeks. Out in the triangular lagoon formed by the islets of Peale, Wake, and Wilkes, the huge silver Pan American Airways Philippine Clipper flying boat roars off the water bound for Guam. The trans-Pacific flight will not be completed. “Word of war comes around 0700. Captain Henry S. Wilson, Army Signal Corps, on the island to support the flight ferry of B-17 Flying Fortresses from Hawaii to the Philippines, half runs, half walks toward the tent of Major James P.S. Devereux, commander of the battalion's Wake Detachment. Captain Wilson reports that Hickam Field in Hawaii has been raided. “Devereux immediately orders a "Call to Arms." He quickly assembles his officers, tells them that war has come, that the Japanese have attacked Oahu, and that Wake "could expect the same thing in a very short time” Robert Cressman. So began the epic 14 day siege of Wake Island in 1941, on one side the overwhelming numbers and firepower of the invading Japanese on the other Major Devereux and a handful of Marines aided by civilian contractors and miscellaneous personnel. In this memoir Devereux recounts how he and his men put up a resistance that stunned their Japanese foes, and provided their American countrymen with a potent positive rallying point after the attack at Pearl Habor.

Download or read book The Defense of Wake written by Robert Debs Heinl and published by Merriam Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: