The Twilight Warriors
The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It
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The Twilight Warriors
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Narrated by:
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John Pruden
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By:
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Robert Gandt
About this listen
April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of pilots in their early 20s who were trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they'll never actually see real action and will go home without having a chance to face the enemy. They call themselves Tail-End Charlies. They fly at the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines, and now they are prepared for battle at the tail end of the war. Little do they know that they will be key players in the most difficult and bloodiest of naval battles---not only of World War II but in all of American history: the campaign to take the Japanese island of Okinawa to serve as a basis for an eventual invasion of Japan. Derived from interviews with and newly discovered memoirs, journals, and correspondence of Okinawa veterans from both the American and Japanese sides, The Twilight Warriors provides a thrilling you-are-there narrative. Like the HBO series The Pacific, this book combines thrilling action with human stories of courage and sacrifice and triumph. It's Band of Brothers at sea and in the sky.
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Excellent story well told
- By Kismet on 01-30-09
By: Robert J. Mrazek
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The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
- The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Barrett Whitener
- Length: 16 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,028
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,667
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,664
Told from the point of view of the men who waged this steel-shattering battle, The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors captures Navy pilots attacking enemy battleships with makeshift weapons and sacrificial valor, a veteran commander improvising tactics never taught in Annapolis, and young crews from across America rising to an impossible challenge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding
- By John on 04-17-04
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The Battle for Hell's Island
- How a Small Band of Carrier Dive Bombers Helped Save Guadalcanal
- By: Stephen L. Moore
- Narrated by: Pete Bradbury
- Length: 15 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 78
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4 out of 5 stars 70
From the author of Pacific Payback comes the gripping true story of the Cactus Air Force and how this rugged crew of dive bombers helped save Guadalcanal and won the war. November 1942: Japanese and American forces have been fighting for control of Guadalcanal, a small but pivotal island in Japan's expansion through the South Pacific.
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2 out of 5 stars
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agonizing audiobook full of facts
- By chris on 04-13-16
By: Stephen L. Moore
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Morning Star, Midnight Sun
- The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign of World War II August–October 1942
- By: Jeffrey R. Cox
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 20 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 616
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 550
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 539
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 Soloman 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 had fostered the creation of its Pacific empire.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very enjoyable popular history
- By Sheldon Campbell on 08-17-19
By: Jeffrey R. Cox
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Pacific Payback
- The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway
- By: Stephen L. Moore
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific....
But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squadron and witnessed the heart of America's Navy broken and smoldering on the oil-slicked waters below.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent companion to Dawn like Thunder
- By G. Bruce Greer on 07-21-14
By: Stephen L. Moore
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Enterprise
- America’s Fightingest Ship and the Men Who Helped Win World War II
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 943
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 840
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 841
America’s most decorated warship of World War II, Enterprise was constantly engaged against the Japanese Empire, earning the title “the fightingest ship” in the navy. Her career was eventful, vital, and short. Commissioned in 1938, her bombers sank a submarine just ten days after the Pearl Harbor attack, claiming the first Japanese vessel lost in the war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Bio of a Truly Remarkable Ship
- By Aser Tolentino on 09-18-12
By: Barrett Tillman
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Hell from the Heavens
- The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack
- By: John Wukovits
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 98
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Story5 out of 5 stars 99
On the morning of April 16, 1945, the crewmen of the USS Laffey saw what seemed to be the entire Japanese air force assembled directly above. They were about to become the targets of the largest single-ship kamikaze attack of World War II.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Compelling story worth the effort
- By David Traill on 08-10-16
By: John Wukovits
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The Cactus Air Force
- Air War Over Guadalcanal
- By: Eric Hammel, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: Adam Henderson
- Length: 14 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 146
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent Book!
- By Eric Peterson on 09-16-22
By: Eric Hammel, and others
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Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
- By: Ian W. Toll
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,984
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,552
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,537
On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Astonishingly good.
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-01-12
By: Ian W. Toll
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Intrepid Aviators
- The True Story of U.S.S. Intrepid's Torpedo Squadron 18 and Its Epic Clash with the Superbattleship Musashi
- By: Gregory G. Fletcher
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 95
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 95
On the morning of October 24, 1944, in the Sibuyan Sea amidst the Philippine Islands, VT-18, a close-knit squadron of six young American torpedo bomber pilots, departed the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid on a search and destroy mission. Their target: the super-battleship Musashi, the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The pilots were tasked with preventing the immense enemy warship and the huge naval armada of which she was a part from inflicting unspeakable damage.
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5 out of 5 stars
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TRUE PICTURE
- By RODNEY K. on 08-04-12
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The Fleet at Flood Tide
- America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,349
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,201
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,196
With its thunderous assault on the Mariana Islands in June 1944, the United States crossed the threshold of total war. In this tour de force of dramatic storytelling, distilled from extensive research in newly discovered primary sources, James D. Hornfischer brings to life the campaign that was the fulcrum of the drive to compel Tokyo to surrender—and that forever changed the art of modern war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Hornfischer's Philosophical Summary Up to VJ Day
- By Hollywood Dave on 01-08-17
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Lucky 666
- The Impossible Mission
- By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 945
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 869
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Story5 out of 5 stars 865
From the authors of the New York Times best-selling The Heart of Everything That Is and Halsey's Typhoon comes the dramatic untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the war in the Pacific - but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A WWII Pacific Tale
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: Bob Drury, and others
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Incredible Victory
- The Battle of Midway
- By: Walter Lord
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 148
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Story5 out of 5 stars 147
On the morning of June 4, 1942, doom sailed on Midway. Hoping to put itself within striking distance of Hawaii and California, the Japanese navy planned an ambush that would obliterate the remnants of the American Pacific fleet. On paper, the Americans had no chance of winning. They had fewer ships, slower fighters, and almost no battle experience. But because their codebreakers knew what was coming, the American navy was able to prepare an ambush of its own.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very informative
- By Jim Walters on 08-27-18
By: Walter Lord
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Pacific Thunder
- The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 238
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 209
On 27 October 1942, four "Long Lance" torpedoes fired by the Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo exploded in the hull of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). Minutes later, the ship that had launched the Doolitte Raid six months earlier slipped beneath the waves of the Coral Sea 100 miles northeast of the island of Guadalcanal and just north of the Santa Cruz Islands, taking with her 140 of her sailors. With the loss of Hornet, the United States Navy now had one aircraft carrier left in the South Pacific.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good for what it is, but not what it claims to be
- By David Maher on 12-18-17
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Midnight in the Pacific
- Guadalcanal -- The World War II Battle That Turned the Tide of War
- By: Joseph Wheelan
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 527
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 475
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Story5 out of 5 stars 472
Published on the 75th anniversary of the battle and utilizing vivid accounts written by the combatants at Guadalcanal, along with marine corps and army archives and oral histories, Midnight in the Pacific is both a sweeping narrative and a compelling drama of individual marines, soldiers, and sailors caught in the crosshairs of history.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Don't start here or you'll be confused.
- By Doctor Bob on 08-13-17
By: Joseph Wheelan
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Clash of the Carriers
- The True Story of the Marianas Turkey Shoot of World War II
- By: Barrett Tillman, Stephen Coonts
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 281
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 254
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 249
The incredible true story of the most spectacular aircraft-carrier battle in history - World War II's Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. Here is the true account of those great and terrible days - by those who were there, in the thick of the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Drawing upon numerous interviews with American and Japanese veterans as well as official sources, Clash of the Carriers is an unforgettable testimonial to the bravery of those who fought and those who died in a battle that will never be forgotten.
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5 out of 5 stars
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OUTSTANDING BOOK!!
- By Bill on 10-30-18
By: Barrett Tillman, and others
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Air Apaches
- The True Story of the 345th Bomb Group and Its Low, Fast, and Deadly Missions in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 898
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 806
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 803
The American 345th Bomb Group - the Air Apaches - was legendary in the war against Japan. The first fully trained and fully equipped group sent to the South Pacific, the 345th racked up a devastating score against the enemy. Armed to the teeth with machine guns and fragmentation bombs, and flying their B-25s at impossibly low altitudes - often below 50 feet - the pilots and air crews strafed and bombed enemy installations and shipping with a fury that helped cripple Japan.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Boring and unorganized unit history
- By R. Denton on 04-25-19
By: Jay A. Stout