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The Final Storm: A Novel of the War in the Pacific (World War II #4)
by Jeff ShaaraNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER With the war in Europe winding down in the spring of 1945, the United States turns its vast military resources toward a furious assault on the last great stepping-stone to Japan--the heavily fortified island of Okinawa. The three-month battle in the Pacific theater will feature some of the most vicious combat of the entire Second World War, as American troops confront an enemy that would rather be slaughtered than experience the shame of surrender. Meanwhile, stateside, a different kind of campaign is being waged in secret: the development of a weapon so powerful, not even the scientists who build it know just what they are about to unleash. Colonel Paul Tibbets, one of the finest bomber pilots in the U.S. Army Air Corps, is selected to lead the mission to drop the horrific new weapon on a Japanese city. As President Harry S Truman mulls his options and Japanese physician Okiro Hamishita cares for patients at a clinic near Hiroshima, citizens on the home front await the day of reckoning that everyone knows is coming.new weapon on a Japanese city. As the new president, Harry S Truman, mulls his options, and a Japanese physician named Okiro Hamishita cares for patients at a clinic near the city of Hiroshima, citizens on the home front await the day of reckoning that everyone knows is coming. A fitting conclusion to one of the most riveting sagas in military fiction, The Final Storm illuminates the heroism and sacrifice that defined the war in the Pacific, bringing the conflict to life as only Jeff Shaara can.From the Hardcover edition.
The Final Storm: The Final Storm (Wingman #6)
by Mack MaloneyOnly ace pilot Hawk Hunter can bring a Russian-backed traitor to justice. From &“the best high-action thriller writer out there today, bar none&” (Jon Land, USA Today–bestselling author). The Soviet Union had nearly been defeated when the vice president of the United States revealed himself as a traitor. He deactivated the defense grid just long enough for the Russians to strike, reducing America to a battle-scarred wasteland. The United States would have remained in shambles, were it not for Hawk Hunter, the greatest fighter pilot the world has ever known. He rebuilt the country one dogfight at a time, with one goal firmly fixed in his mind: to bring America&’s greatest traitor to justice. Backed by a team of commandos, Hunter storms the vice president&’s compound in Bermuda, and returns with the traitor in chains. To convict him for his crimes, the war&’s story must be told in full for the first time. And there is no one better to begin the telling than Hawk Hunter. He has risked his life on every front, and it&’s his courage that will ensure America rises again. The Final Storm is the sixth book of the Wingman series, which also includes Wingman and The Circle War.
The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players
by Bill Beaumont Stephen CooperThis is the story of fifteen men killed in the Great War. All played rugby for one London club; none lived to hear the final whistle.Rugby brought them together; rugby led the rush to war. They came from Britain and the empire to fight in every theatre and service, among them a poet, playwright and perfumer. Some were decorated and died heroically; others fought and fell quietly. Together their stories paint a portrait in miniature of the entire war.Founded in 1879, when British soldiers fought in Afghanistan as they do today, Rosslyn Park has no war memorial. An old press cutting gave numbers – 350 served, 72 died – but no names. So began a quest to rediscover these men and capture their lives, from their vanished Edwardian youth and vigour, to the war they fought and how they died.
The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
by Mark BowdenThe best-selling author of Black Hawk Down tells the story of the hunt for Osama bin Laden, based on extensive reporting, analysis, and interviews with President Obama, his national security staff, former SEALs, CIA officers, and others who can not be named.
The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden
by Mark BowdenFrom Mark Bowden, the preeminent chronicler of our military and special forces, comes The Finish, a gripping account of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. With access to key sources, Bowden takes us inside the rooms where decisions were made and on the ground where the action unfolded.After masterminding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden managed to vanish. Over the next ten years, as Bowden shows, America found that its war with al Qaeda-a scattered group of individuals who were almost impossible to track-demanded an innovative approach. Step by step, Bowden describes the development of a new tactical strategy to fight this war-the fusion of intel from various agencies and on-the-ground special ops. After thousands of special forces missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the right weapon to go after bin Laden had finally evolved. By Spring 2011, intelligence pointed to a compound in Abbottabad; it was estimated that there was a 50/50 chance that Osama was there. Bowden shows how three strategies were mooted: a drone strike, a precision bombing, or an assault by Navy SEALs. In the end, the President had to make the final decision. It was time for the finish.
The Finishing School: Earning the Navy SEAL Trident
by Dick CouchIn America's new war, the first guns in the fight are special operations forces, including the Navy SEALs, specially trained warriors who operate with precision, swiftness, and lethal force. In the constantly shifting war on terror, SEAL units--small in number, flexible, stealthy, and efficient--are more vital than ever to America's security as they take the battle to an elusive enemy around the globe. But how are Navy SEALs made? What special training and preparation sharpen the physical skills and intangible character of a regular soldier into that of an elite warrior? In the acclaimedWarrior Elite, former Navy SEAL Dick Couch narrated one SEAL class's journey through BUD/S training, the brutal initial course that separates out candidates with the character and stamina necessary to begin training as Navy SEALs. InThe Finishing School, Couch follows SEALs into the next levels of training, where they further develop their endurance and strength, but also learn the teamwork and finely honed skills they'll need to fight with the best--and win. Dick Couch spent six months living with and observing SEALs in training for operational readiness in the months leading up to the Iraqi campaign. He follows them on the ground and in the water as they undergo SEAL Tactical Training, where they master combat skills such as precision shooting, demolitions, secure communications, parachuting, diving, and first aid. From there, the men enter operational platoons, where they subordinate their individual abilities to the mission of the group and train for special operations in specific geographical environments. Never before has a civilian writer been granted such close access to the training of America's most elite military forces. The Finishing Schoolis essential reading for anyone who wants to know what goes into the making of America's best warriors.
The Fire Still Burns: a powerful story of love and peril set in pre-war Europe and Russia
by Constance HeavenLet much-loved author Constance Heaven sweep you away in this captivating and compelling romance spanning pre-war Europe. Both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, this is perfect for fans of Fiona Valpy, Kristin Hannah and Katie Flynn.'Readable and atmospheric' -- DUBLIN TIMES.'Excellent! Difficult to put down' -- ***** Reader review'Exciting read' -- ***** Reader review'A great novel from a great writer' -- ***** Reader review***************************************************************Leading a demonstration for the starving children of the Rhondda, Luke Llewellyn Jones is literally swept off his feet by the daughter of a Russian princess. For it is Tanya who first hits, then carries him in her car to her father's hospital.It it something of an eye-opener for Luke to be invited to the Cambridgeshire home of Lord Aylsham, and to meet his delightful and unconventional family who chatter as easily in Russian as English. And all too easy to fall for the lovely and impetuous girl who still insists it was him that ran into her.But Luke's dream of winning Tanya's heart is broken the moment she meets the charming but enigmatic Dirk von Richter. She leaves England to live in a Europe trembling on the brink of war.And it is in very different and dangerous circumstances that Luke risks all to see her again - among the bleak and far-flung mountains of Siberia.
The Fire and the Darkness: The Bombing of Dresden, 1945
by Sinclair McKayA gripping work of narrative nonfiction recounting the history of the Dresden Bombing, one of the most devastating attacks of World War II.On February 13th, 1945 at 10:03 PM, British bombers began one of the most devastating attacks of WWII: the bombing of Dresden. The first contingent killed people and destroyed buildings, roads, and other structures. The second rained down fire, turning the streets into a blast furnace, the shelters into ovens, and whipping up a molten hurricane in which the citizens of Dresden were burned, baked, or suffocated to death. Early the next day, American bombers finished off what was left. Sinclair McKay’s The Fire and the Darkness is a pulse-pounding work of history that looks at the life of the city in the days before the attack, tracks each moment of the bombing, and considers the long period of reconstruction and recovery. The Fire and the Darkness is powered by McKay’s reconstruction of this unthinkable terror from the points of view of the ordinary civilians: Margot Hille, an apprentice brewery worker; Gisela Reichelt, a ten-year-old schoolgirl; boys conscripted into the Hitler Youth; choristers of the Kreuzkirche choir; artists, shop assistants, and classical musicians, as well as the Nazi officials stationed there. What happened that night in Dresden was calculated annihilation in a war that was almost over. Sinclair McKay’s brilliant work takes a complex, human, view of this terrible night and its aftermath in a gripping book that will be remembered long after the last page is turned.
The Fire by Night: A Novel
by Teresa MessineoTeresa Messineo’s The Fire by Night is a powerful World War II novel about two U.S. military nurses that illuminates women’s unsung heroism.An International BestsellerIn war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from Brooklyn’s tenements, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. Enemy bombs have destroyed her hospital convoy, and now Jo singlehandedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories—the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school.Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of thousands of Allied men, women, and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Far from the safety of her small childhood Pennsylvania coal town, Kay clings to memories of her happy days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can . . . and live to see her beloved friend Jo once more.When the conflict at last comes to an end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place—and the hope of love—in a world that’s forever changed.
The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion: Same Time, Next Christmas The Firefighter's Christmas Reunion Fortune's Christmas Baby (Sugar Falls, Idaho #40)
by Christy JeffriesIn this interracial romance, a small town hopes a local firefighter’s reunion with a single mom of an adopted boy will result in a Christmas proposal.Home for the holidays with her adopted son from Ghana, Hannah Gregson runs straight into her former flame—fire chief Isaac Jones. Though the pair are determined to keep their distance, the local matchmakers throw them together at every holiday event, and Hannah’s son worships the brave ex-soldier. If Isaac isn’t careful, he just may go from hero to family man by Christmas!
The Fires of Autumn (Vintage International)
by Sandra Smith Irene NemirovskyThis panoramic exploration of French life between the wars reads like a prequel to Irène Némirovsky's international bestseller Suite Française. At the end of the First World War, Bernard Jacquelain returns from the trenches a changed man. Broken by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed, he becomes addicted to the lure of wealth and success. He wallows in the corruption and excess of post-war Paris, but when his lover abandons him, Bernard turns to a childhood friend for comfort. For ten years, he lives the good bourgeois life, but when the drums of war begin to sound again, everything around which he has rebuilt himself starts to crumble, and the future--of his marriage and of his country--suddenly becomes terribly uncertain. Written after Némirovsky fled Paris in 1940, just two years before her death, and first published in France in 1957, The Fires of Autumn is a coruscating, tragic novel of war and its aftermath, and of the ugly color it can turn a man's soul.From the Trade Paperback edition.n turn a man's soul.
The Fires of Babylon: Eagle Troop and the Battle of 73 Easting
by Mike GuardiaAs a new generation of main battle tanks came onto the line during the 1980s, neither the United States nor the USSR had the chance to pit them in combat. But once the Cold War between the superpowers waned, Iraq's Saddam Hussein provided the chance with his invasion of Kuwait. Finally the new US M1A1 tank would see how it fared against the vaunted Soviet-built T-72. On the morning of August 2, 1990, Iraqi armored divisions invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. The Iraqi Army, after its long war with Iran, had more combat experience than the US Army. Who knew if America's untested forces could be shipped across the world and then contest the battle-hardened Iraqis on their home ground? The Kuwaitis had collapsed easily enough, but the invasion drew fierce condemnation from the United Nations, which demanded Hussein's withdrawal. Undeterred by the rhetoric, the Iraqi dictator massed his forces along the Saudi Arabian border and dared the world to stop him. In response, the United States led the world community in a coalition of 34 nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm--a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. Leading this charge into Iraq were the men of Eagle Troop in the US Army's 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Commanded by then-Captain H. R. McMaster, Eagle Troop was the lead element of the US VII Corps' advance into Iraq. On February 26, 1991, Eagle Troop encountered the Tawakalna Brigade of Iraq's elite Republican Guard. By any calculation, the 12 American tanks didn't stand a chance. Yet within a mere 23 minutes, the M1A1 tanks of Eagle Troop destroyed more than 50 enemy vehicles and plowed a hole through the Iraqi front. History would call it the Battle of 73 Easting. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by renowned author Mike Guardia, this minute-by-minute account of the US breakthrough reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern warfare.
The Fires of Patriotism: Alaskans in the Days of the First World War 1910-1920
by Preston JonesThe little-known history of Alaska&’s participation in World War I—long before it became a state—includes photos. In the early twentieth century, Alaska was facing an exciting future as the newest US territory. Yet just five years after its official designation, the country entered World War I and citizens were called to fight. Despite the threat of a looming economic collapse, Alaska sent more people per capita to war than any other state and displayed a patriotism that rivaled that of any of the states. The Fires of Patriotism explores Alaska&’s wartime experience, bringing to light new stories and new characters from a decade that shook the world. This multifaceted book explores the era through engaging stories and rare photos, offering a fresh perspective on World War I from a marginal land that forged its place in the greater unity of the country.
The Fires of Vengeance: The Burning, Book Two (The Burning #2)
by Evan Winter'CAPTIVATING EPIC FANTASY FROM A MAJOR NEW TALENT' Anthony Ryan, on The Rage of DragonsDesperate to delay an impending attack by the indigenous people of Xidda, Tau and his queen craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all-out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne and reunite her people, then the Omehi might have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.THE FIRES OF VENGEANCE CONTINUES THE UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES THAT BEGAN WITH EVAN WINTER'S ACCLAIMED DEBUT THE RAGE OF DRAGONSPraise for The Rage of Dragons:'Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end - a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read' James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost'Stunning debut fantasy' Publishers Weekly'Intense, vivid and brilliantly realised - a necessary read'Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives'Impossible to put down' Rick Riordan'People ask the last book I couldn't put down, and I tell them The Rage of Dragons. The tension rises with every page until you fear it will break you in two' Peter V. Brett, bestselling author of The Painted Man'Fans of Anthony Ryan's Blood Song will love this' Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names'A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist' Anna Stephens, author of Godblind
The Fires of Vengeance: The Burning, Book Two (The Burning #2)
by Evan WinterIn order to reclaim her throne and save her people, an ousted queen must join forces with a young warrior in the second book of this"relentlessly gripping, brilliant" epic fantasy series from a breakout author (James Islington).Tau and his Queen, desperate to delay the impending attack on the capital by the indigenous people of Xidda, craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the Queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne, and if she can reunite her people then the Omehi have a chance to survive the onslaught.The BurningThe Rage of DragonsThe Fires of Vengeance
The Fires of Vengeance: The Burning, Book Two (The Burning #6)
by Evan Winter'CAPTIVATING EPIC FANTASY FROM A MAJOR NEW TALENT' Anthony Ryan, on The Rage of DragonsDesperate to delay an impending attack by the indigenous people of Xidda, Tau and his queen craft a dangerous plan. If Tau succeeds, the queen will have the time she needs to assemble her forces and launch an all-out assault on her own capital city, where her sister is being propped up as the 'true' Queen of the Omehi.If the city can be taken, if Tsiora can reclaim her throne and reunite her people, then the Omehi might have a chance to survive the coming onslaught.THE FIRES OF VENGEANCE CONTINUES THE UNMISSABLE EPIC FANTASY SERIES THAT BEGAN WITH EVAN WINTER'S ACCLAIMED DEBUT THE RAGE OF DRAGONSPraise for The Rage of Dragons:'Intense, inventive and action-packed from beginning to end - a relentlessly gripping, brilliant read' James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost'Stunning debut fantasy' Publishers Weekly'Intense, vivid and brilliantly realised - a necessary read'Anna Smith Spark, author of The Court of Broken Knives'Impossible to put down' Rick Riordan'People ask the last book I couldn't put down, and I tell them The Rage of Dragons. The tension rises with every page until you fear it will break you in two' Peter V. Brett, bestselling author of The Painted Man'Fans of Anthony Ryan's Blood Song will love this' Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names'A Xhosa-inspired world complete with magic, dragons, demons and curses, The Rage of Dragons takes classic fantasy and imbues it with a fresh and exciting twist' Anna Stephens, author of Godblind
The Fireship
by C. Northcote ParkinsonHaving obtained a position on the Glatton, Richard Delancey is soon to see action in the Battle of Camperdown. But the Nore and Spithead mutinies intervene to upset the course of his career. He devises an original legal defense in the court martial of a fellow officer accused of murder, and acquits himself well, but falls afoul of the naval establishment and is passed over in the general promotion of all in his rank.
The First & Second Italian Wars, 1494–1504: Fearless Knights, Ruthless Princes & the Coming of Gunpowder Armies
by Julian RomaneA historical analysis of the course of military operations and political machinations in Italy at the turn of the sixteenth century.The First and Second Italian Wars begins with the French conquest of much of Italy. But the French hold collapsed. The second French invasion gained Northern Italy. This time, the French allied with the Pope’s son, Cesare Borgia. Cesare managed to double deal too many people; his efforts ended in disaster. The French agreement with the Spanish allowed them to retake Naples only to be defeated at the Garigliano by the famous general, Gonzalo de Cordoba.These wars were not just another series of medieval fights. These battles were different from what had gone before: the French utilized a new method of artillery transport; the Spanish commander formulated a new system of military unit organization, and Cesare Borgia sought different systems of raising troops and forming states. And all the powers managed to spend vast amounts of money the likes of which no one had imagined before. This was the emergence of the so-called Military Revolution.Praise for The First and Second Italian Wars 1494–1504“An amazing account of medieval warfare between two of Europe’s principle nations.” —Books Monthly (UK)“This is a fascinating, detailed look at these crucial wars, placing the military campaigns in their political context—the world that inspired the writings of Machiavelli, and you can see where he got his inspiration from!” —History of War
The First Air War: 1914-1918
by Lee Kennett"In this fascinating book, Lee Kennett tells of (World War I fliers and) their experiences on all fronts and skillfully places them in proper context" (Edward M. Coffman, author of The Old Army"). "A welcome and long overdue addition to the literature of military aviation."--Richard P. Hallion, Lindbergh Professor, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
The First American Army: The Untold Story of George Washington and the Men Behind America's First Fight for Freedom
by Bruce ChadwickThis is the first book that offers a you-are-there look at the American Revolution through the eyes of the enlisted men. Through searing portraits of individual soldiers, Bruce Chadwick, author of George Washington's War, brings alive what it was like to serve then in the American army. With interlocking stories of ordinary Americans, he evokes what it meant to face brutal winters, starvation, terrible homesickness and to go into battle against the much-vaunted British regulars and their deadly Hessian mercenaries. The reader lives through the experiences of those terrible and heroic times when a fifteen-year-old fifer survived the Battle of Bunker Hill, when Private Josiah Atkins escaped unscathed from the bloody battles in New York and when a doctor and a minister shared the misery of the wounded and dying. These intertwining stories are drawn from their letters and never-before-quoted journals found in the libraries belonging to the camps where Washington quartered his troops during those desperate years.
The First Atomic Bomb: The Trinity Site in New Mexico (America’s Public Lands)
by Janet Farrell BrodieOn July 16, 1945, just weeks before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought about the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II, the United States unleashed the world&’s first atomic bomb at the Trinity testing site located in the remote Tularosa Valley in south-central New Mexico. Immensely more powerful than any weapon the world had seen, the bomb&’s effects on the surrounding and downwind communities of plants, animals, birds, and humans have lasted decades. In The First Atomic Bomb Janet Farrell Brodie explores the history of the Trinity test and those whose contributions have rarely, if ever, been discussed—the men and women who constructed, served, and witnessed the first test—as well as the downwinders who suffered the consequences of the radiation. Concentrating on these ordinary people, laborers, ranchers, and Indigenous peoples who lived in the region and participated in the testing, Brodie corrects the lack of coverage in existing scholarship on the essential details and everyday experiences of this globally significant event. The First Atomic Bomb also covers the environmental preservation of the Trinity test site and compares it with the wide range of atomic sites now preserved independently or as part of the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Although the Trinity site became a significant node for testing the new weapons of the postwar United States, it is known today as an officially designated National Historic Landmark. Brodie presents a timely, important, and innovative study of an explosion that carries special historical weight in American memory.
The First Battle
by Otto LehrackThe First Battle is a graphic account of the first major clash of the Vietnam War. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment on the Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On the American side were three battalions of Marines under the command of Colonel Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponent was the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, a veteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese. Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding success for the Marines and its result was cause for great optimism about America's future in Vietnam. Those expecting a book about Americans in battle will not be disappointed by the detailed descriptions of how the fight unfolded. Marine participants from private to colonel were interviewed during the book's research phase. The battle is seen from the mud level by those who were at the point of the spear. But this is not just another war story told exclusively from the American side. In researching the book, the author talked with and walked the battlefield with men who fought with the 1st Viet Cong Regiment. All were accomplished combat veterans years before the U.S. entry into the war. The reader is planted squarely in America in 1965, the year that truly began the long American involvement. Operation Starlite sent the Vietnam War into the headlines across the nation and into the minds of Americans, where it took up residence for more than a decade. Starlite was the first step in Vietnam's becoming America's tar baby. The subtitle of the book is: Operation Starlite and the Beginning of the Blood Debt in Vietnam. Blood debt, han tu in Vietnamese, can mean revenge, debt of honor, or blood owed for blood spilled. The Blood Debt came into Vietnamese usage early in the war with the United States. With this battle, the Johnson Administration began compiling its own blood debt, this one to the American people. The book also looks at the ongoing conflict between the US Army and the US Marines about the methodology of the Vietnam War. With decades of experience with insurrection and rebellion, the Marines were institutionally oriented to base the struggle on pacification of the population. The Army, on the other hand, having largely trained to meet the Soviet Army on the plains of Germany, opted for search-and-destroy missions against Communist main force units. The history of the Vietnam War is littered with many "what if's." This may be the biggest of them.
The First Battle of the Marne 1914
by Ian SumnerOsprey's study of the Battle of the Marne, which was one of the decisive encounters of World War I (1914-1918), saving France from a catastrophic defeat that would almost certainly have knocked her out of the war. Germany's failure to defeat the French committed her to a war on two fronts, which would lead to trench warfare and the war of attrition that the General Staff had hoped to avoid. The conduct of the battle served to make and break the reputation of commanders and subordinates alike. Although not an decisive defeat, the battle was a strategic Allied victory. Further attempts by each side to outflank the other led to the formation of a continuous front from the North Sea to Switzerland, which set the pattern for the rest of the war. This title presents the origins of the campaign, followed by a brief chronology, before detailing the opposing commanders and armies. It then breaks out the French orders of battle and the German's opposing plans, the outcome of the fighting and the aftermath of the battle. The book concludes with a look at the battlefield today and suggestions for further reading.
The First Battle: Operation Starlite and the Beginning of the Blood Debt in Vietnam
by Otto J. Lehrack&“[A] brief but well-told and well-researched account . . . a good description of early U.S. Marine deployments to Vietnam&” (HistoryNet). The First Battle is a graphic account of the Vietnam War&’s first major clash. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment on the Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On the American side were three battalions of Marines under the command of Col. Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponent was the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, a veteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese. Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding success for the Marines, and its result was cause for great optimism about America&’s future in Vietnam. Blood debt, han tu in Vietnamese, can mean revenge, debt of honor, or blood owed for blood spilled. The blood debt came into Vietnamese usage early in the war with the United States. With this battle, the Johnson Administration began compiling its own blood debt, this one to the American people. The book also looks at the ongoing conflict between the US Army and the US Marines about the methodology of the Vietnam War. With decades of experience with insurrection and rebellion, the Marines were institutionally oriented to base the struggle on pacification of the population. The Army, on the other hand, having largely trained to meet the Soviet Army on the plains of Germany, opted for search-and-destroy missions against Communist main force units. The history of the Vietnam War is littered with many &“what ifs.&” This may be the biggest of them.