Saipan

The Battle that Doomed Japan in World War II

By: James H. Hallas

Narrated by: Tim Dixon

The story of the Battle of Saipan has it all. Marines at war: on Pacific beaches, in hellish volcanic landscapes in places like Purple Heart Ridge, Death Valley, and Hell's Pocket, under a commander known as "Howlin' Mad." Naval combat: carriers battling carriers from afar, fighters downing Japanese aircraft, submarines sinking carriers. Marine-army rivalry. Fanatical Japanese defense and resistance. A turning point of the Pacific War. James Hallas reconstructs the full panorama of Saipan in a way that no recent chronicler of the battle has done. In its comprehensiveness, attention to detail, scope of research, and ultimate focus on the men who fought and won the battle on the beaches and at and above the sea, it rivals Richard Frank's modern classic Guadalcanal. This is the definitive military history of the Battle of Saipan.

©2019 Rowman & Littlefield (P)2019 Rowman & Littlefield

Like Being in the Thick of Battle

Amazingly detailed account of how the US Army, Navy, and Marines wrested control of one small island from Japan, with war-altering results. You are there, grinding yard by yard through murderous gun and mortar fire, or plummeting down on enemy ships as air bursts riddle your dive bomber. On the island comes a final convulsive Japanese armor and infantry attack when heads literally roll and thousands choose suicide over surrender, all told foxhole to foxhole. This is among the best histories of the Pacific war ever written.

I appreciated learning about

The sacrifice of our soldiers was very great and we shouldn’t forget how much they gave

Amazing history and personal experiences

This is one of the best war historical novels I have ever read. It presents the history from both the Japanese and American side and in the end demonstrates exactly why America had to use the atom bomb.

Incredible

Easily one of the best purchases I've ever made on Audible. the narrator was great, the writing was exemplary, and the story was riveting, informative, and horrifying

A brutal and thorough Saipan account

This book was one of the most brutal historical warfare accounts of any work I've ever read or listened to. I picked up this title because I'm interested in learning everything I can about World War 2 in the pacific. "Saipan" did not disappoint in it's thoroughness and was a very effective overview of the Saipan campaign from the highest to lowest levels, supported with technical detail. Individual stories were presented fairly from all sides, even from a civilian perspective and the extreme brutality and reality of what total war actual is, was made very clear in this work. I found myself having to take periodic breaks from the book due to multiple protracted and gruesome sections that described combat injuries in intricate gory detail. I do not hold this against the writer as there is absolutely no other way to get a true sense of what happened on Saipan and to do the campaign justice.

You'll find heroism, unbelievable coincidences, close calls, superhuman feats and loads of technical detail in this work. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a hardcore historical overview of the Saipan invasion, however, make sure you have the stomach to face the true ugly face of war.