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Triumph to Tragedy
- World War II Battle of Peleliu, Invasion of Iwo Jima, and Ultimate Victory on Okinawa in 1945 (WW2 Pacific Military History Series)
- Narrated by: Gary Williams
- Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins
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Triumph to Tragedy
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This is a nine-book bundle on the Pacific War, the theatre of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and Oceania. The Pacific War saw the Allies pitted against Japan, aided by Thailand and its Axis allies, Germany and Italy. Fighting included some of the largest naval battles in history, and the war culminated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Publisher's summary
A gripping account of the Pacific War that became a history-changing struggle without mercy or precedent.
From the shores of Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, the Second World War left a profound mark on this sheltered corner of the globe, which would be felt for decades to come.
Caught in the center of a vicious struggle between two superpowers, these islands would form an unconventional battleground for the Allied forces and the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy.
From the heavy fighting on Peleliu and Iwo Jima to the ultimate victory on Okinawa, each of these momentous operations were fascinating feats of strategy, planning, and bravery, handing the Allies what would eventually become a victory over the Pacific Theater and an end to Imperialist Japanese expansion.
This book sheds light on this often-overlooked facet of WWII, providing students, history fans, and World War II buffs alike with a captivating breakdown of the history and combat that defined the ending of the US offensive in the Pacific.
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- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 80
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 73
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 72
Sand and Steel gives us D-Day, arguably the greatest and most consequential military operation of modern times, beginning with the years of painstaking and costly preparation, through to the pitched battles fought along France's northern coast, from Omaha Beach to the Falaise and the push east to Strasbourg.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Details, details, details
- By Mike From Mesa on 11-11-21
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Okinawa
- The Last Battle
- By: Roy E. Appleman, James MacGregor Burns, Russell A. Gugeler, and others
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 15 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 32
On 1 April, 1945, the largest amphibious assault of the Pacific Theater began. The battle for the island of Okinawa would last for the next 82 days. Through the course of this dramatic battle, over 20,000 Americans would lose their lives, and over 75,000 Japanese were killed in one of the bloodiest clashes of World War II. Okinawa: The Last Battle is a remarkably detailed account of this monumental event by four soldiers who witnessed the action first-hand.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Good Okinawa History
- By Derail on 03-10-20
By: Roy E. Appleman, and others
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Normandy '44
- D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: John Sackville
- Length: 24 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 526
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 469
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
D-Day, June 6, 1944, and the 76 days of bitter fighting in Normandy that followed the Allied landing, have become the defining episode of World War II in the west - the object of books, films, television series, and documentaries. Yet as familiar as it is, as James Holland makes clear in his definitive history, many parts of the OVERLORD campaign, as it was known, are still shrouded in myth and assumed knowledge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent account of Normandy but be weary...
- By S. H. Moore on 02-22-20
By: James Holland
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Saipan
- The Battle that Doomed Japan in World War II
- By: James H. Hallas
- Narrated by: Tim Dixon
- Length: 22 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 355
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 315
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 313
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.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!
- By Patrick on 03-08-20
By: James H. Hallas
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Eagle Against the Sun
- The American War With Japan
- By: Ronald H. Spector
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 23 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 239
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 204
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 203
Spector reassesses US and Japanese strategy and offers some provocative interpretations. He shows that the dual advance across the Pacific by MacArthur and Nimitz was less a product of strategic calculation and more a pragmatic solution to bureaucratic, doctrinal, and public relations problems facing the Army and Navy. He also argues that Japan made its fatal error not in the Midway campaign but in abandoning its offensive strategy after that defeat and allowing itself to be drawn into a war of attrition.
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3 out of 5 stars
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OK as an overview, but too little detail
- By Mike From Mesa on 03-21-22
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Sicily '43
- The First Assault on Fortress Europe
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 153
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 152
On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion 11 months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, and its drama, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great writing, great narration, interesting topic
- By ItalCali on 08-02-21
By: James Holland
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Guadalcanal Marine
- By: Kerry L. Lane
- Narrated by: Kenneth Lee
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 40
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 38
In Guadalcanal Marine, Lt. Col. Kerry L. Lane recounts the dark reality of combat experienced by the men of the 1st Marine Division fighting on Guadalcanal and Cape Gloucester. With 80 gripping photographs and his text, he brings to life the struggles of his companions as they achieve these two astonishing victories.
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3 out of 5 stars
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I want to give a very honest review.
- By Jfm on 07-12-15
By: Kerry L. Lane
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Utmost Savagery
- The Three Days of Tarawa
- By: Colonel Joseph H. Alexander United States Marine Corps (Ret.)
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 780
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 688
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 682
On November 20, 1943, in the first trial by fire of America’s fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, 5,000 men stormed the beaches of Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress barely the size of the 300-acre Pentagon parking lots. Before the first day ended, one-third of the marines who had crossed Tarawa’s deadly reef under murderous fire were killed, wounded, or missing. In three days of fighting, four Americans would win the Medal of Honor and six thousand combatants would die.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Definitive Battle History of Tarawa
- By Iain on 02-23-11
By: Colonel Joseph H. Alexander United States Marine Corps (Ret.)
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South Pacific Cauldron
- World War II's Great Forgotten Battlegrounds
- By: Alan Rems
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 42
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 41
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 41
Unlike most other World War II accounts, this work covers the South Pacific operations in detail. The audiobook includes many now-forgotten operations that deserve to be well remembered. Significantly, the official Australian history of World War II correctly observed that Australia's part in the Pacific war is barely mentioned in American histories. This volume finally brings the major Australian contribution to the fore.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A little dry but informative
- By Damien on 02-20-15
By: Alan Rems
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Leyte 1944
- The Soldiers' Battle
- By: Nathan N. Prefer
- Narrated by: Jones Allen
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 341
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 308
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 306
When General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia in March 1942, having successfully left the Philippines to organize a new American army, he vowed, "I shall return!" More than two years later he did return, at the head of a large U.S. army to retake the Philippines from the Japanese. The place of his re-invasion was the central Philippine Island of Leyte. Much has been written about the naval Battle of Leyte Gulf that his return provoked, but almost nothing has been written about the three-month long battle to seize Leyte itself.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Very well Researched..
- By jbnimble on 04-19-14
By: Nathan N. Prefer
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D-Day in the Pacific
- The Battle of Saipan
- By: Harold J. Goldberg
- Narrated by: Gary D. MacFadden
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 30
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
In June 1944, the attention of the nation was riveted on the events unfolding in France. But in the Pacific, the Battle of Saipan was of extreme strategic importance. D-Day in the Pacific: The Battle of Saipan is a gripping account of one of the most dramatic engagements of World War II. The conquest of Saipan and the neighboring island of Tinian was a turning point in the war in the Pacific, making the American victory against Japan inevitable.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Written like an amateur's account of his battle
- By jack on 12-18-13
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Where the Iron Crosses Grow
- The Crimea 1941-44
- By: Robert Forczyk
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 154
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 153
The Crimea was one of the crucibles of the war on the Eastern Front, where first a Soviet and then a German army were surrounded, fought desperate battles, and were eventually destroyed. The fighting in the region was unusual for the Eastern Front in many ways, in that naval supply, amphibious landings, and naval evacuation played major roles, while both sides were also conducting ethnic cleansing as part of their strategy - the Germans eliminating the Jews and the Soviets purging the region of Tartars.
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2 out of 5 stars
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names, places,troop strength and commanders
- By richard on 02-19-15
By: Robert Forczyk
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The Mighty Endeavor
- American Armed Forces in the European Theater in World War II
- By: Charles B. MacDonald
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 22 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 64
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 64
From the first landings at Casablanca straight through to the crossing of the Elbe River and V-E Day, this book tells the gripping story of the European theater of operations battles of World War II that American soldiers, sailors, and airmen took part in and of the strategy behind them. The book's core is its account of such famous and dramatic episodes as the landings in North Africa, Kasserine Pass, Salerno and Anzio; D-day; the liberation of Paris; the Battle of the Bulge; the crossing of the Rhine; and the race across Germany.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great background on US Armed Forces in the ETO and MTO
- By Dan McGrew on 05-16-17
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The Tank Killers
- A History of America's World War II Tank Destroyer Force
- By: Harry Yeide
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 166
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 143
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 142
The Tank Killers follows the men who fought in the tank destroyers from the formation of the force in 1941 through the victory over the Third Reich in 1945. It is a story of the American Tank Destroyer Force in North Africa, Italy, and the European Theater during World War II, and of American flexibility and pragmatism in military affairs.
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3 out of 5 stars
-
Dry and without detail
- By Vernon D. Burt on 08-06-18
By: Harry Yeide
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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
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,834
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,421
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3,406
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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Four Hours of Fury
- The Untold Story of World War II's Largest Airborne Operation and the Final Push into Nazi Germany
- By: James M. Fenelon
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 86
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 73
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 73
On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than 2,000 Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war’s largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized....
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5 out of 5 stars
-
personal and powerful.
- By TXcustomer on 07-09-19
By: James M. Fenelon
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Blitzkrieg
- From the Ground Up
- By: Niklas Zetterling
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 67
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 59
The successes of the German Blitzkrieg in 1939-41 were as surprising as they were swift. Allied decision-makers wanted to discover the secret to German success quickly, even though only partial, incomplete information was available to them. The false conclusions drawn became myths about the Blitzkrieg that have lingered for decades.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
An interesting perspective
- By OCreviewer on 09-11-19
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