A masterly narrative history of the climactic battles of the Second World War, and companion volume to his bestselling ‘Armageddon’, by the pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings.The battle for Japan that ended many months after the battle for Europe involved enormous naval, military and air operations from the borders of India to the most distant regions of China. There is no finer chronicler of these events than the great military historian Max Hastings, whose gripping account explores not just the global strategic objectives of the USA, Japan and Britain but also the first-hand experiences of the airmen, sailors and soldiers of all the countries who participated in the Far East and the war in the Pacific.The big moments in the story are chosen to reflect a wide variety of human experience: the great naval battle of Leyte Gulf; the under-reported war in China; the re-conquest of Burma by the British Army under General Slim; MacArthur's follies in the Philippines; the Marines on Iwojima and Okinawa; LeMay's fire-raising Super-fortress assaults on Japan; the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the kamikaze pilots of Japan; the almost unknown Soviet blitzkrieg in Manchuria in the last days of the war, as Stalin hastened to gather the spoils; and the terrible final acts across Japanese-occupied Asia.This is classic, epic history – both in the content and the manner of telling.
Оглавление
Max Hastings. Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–45
Nemesis. MAX HASTINGS
Copyright
Praise
Epigraph
Introduction
1 Dilemmas and Decisions. 1 WAR IN THE EAST
2 SUMMIT ON OAHU
2 Japan: Defying Gravity. 1 YAMATO SPIRIT
2 WARRIORS
3 The British in Burma. 1 IMPHAL AND KOHIMA
2 ‘THE FORGOTTEN ARMY’
4 Titans at Sea. 1 MEN AND SHIPS
2 FLYBOYS
5 America’s Return to the Philippines. 1 PELELIU
2 LEYTE: THE LANDING
6 ‘Flowers of Death’: Leyte Gulf. 1 SHOGO
2 THE ORDEAL OF TAFFY 3
3 KAMIKAZE
7 Ashore: Battle for the Mountains
8 China: Dragon by the Tail. 1 THE GENERALISSIMO
2 BAREFOOT SOLDIERS
3 THE FALL OF STILWELL
9 MacArthur on Luzon. 1 ‘HE IS INSANE ON THIS SUBJECT!’: MANILA
2 YAMASHITA’S DEFIANCE
10 Bloody Miniature: Iwo Jima
11 Blockade: War Underwater
12 Burning a Nation: LeMay. 1 SUPERFORTRESSES
2 FIRE-RAISING
13 The Road Past Mandalay
14 Australians: ‘Bludging’ and ‘Mopping Up’
15 Captivity and Slavery. 1 INHUMAN RITES
2 HELL SHIPS
16 Okinawa. 1 LOVE DAY
2 AT SEA
17 Mao’s War. 1 YAN’AN
2 WITH THE SOVIETS
18 Eclipse of Empires
19 The Bombs. 1 FANTASY IN TOKYO
2 REALITY AT HIROSHIMA
20 Manchuria: The Bear’s Claws
21 The Last Act. 1 ‘GOD’S GIFTS’
2 DESPAIR AND DELIVERANCE
22 Legacies
A Brief Chronology of the Japanese War
If you enjoyed Nemesis, check out these other great Max Hastings titles
Acknowledgements
Notes and Sources
References
Index
About the Author
Other Books
About the Publisher
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THE BATTLE FOR JAPAN, 1944-45
‘The shocking, little-known story of the war against Japan. Absolutely excellent’
.....
Despite all these difficulties, by the summer of 1944 the material strength of the US was becoming overwhelming, the Japanese comet was plunging steeply. The trauma inflicted on the Americans and their allies by Pearl Harbor, the loss of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and scores of Pacific islands, had faded. The challenge confronting the leaders of the Grand Alliance was no longer that of frustrating Japan’s advance, but instead that of encompassing its destruction. Strategic choice had become the privilege of the Allies. In the eastern war, this meant that the political, military and naval leadership of the US determined courses, then informed the British.
Early in the afternoon of 26 July 1944, the cruiser Baltimore passed Hawaii’s Diamond Head inbound for Pearl Harbor. Insecure gossip had prompted a crowd of soldiers and sailors to gather at the navy yard. Off Fort Kamehaha, as the big warship lost way a tug nosed alongside, carrying Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet. Then Baltimore moored at Pier 22B, enabling more flag officers and generals to ascend the gangway and form up to salute the cruiser’s exalted passenger, the President of the United States. Franklin Roosevelt, in the last nine months of his life and in the midst of his fourth presidential election campaign, looked about for Douglas MacArthur, the man he had come to meet. He was told that the general’s plane had just landed. MacArthur was on his way from Fort Shafter, and would arrive shortly. Sure enough, cheers and whistles along the Honolulu road heralded America’s most famous soldier since Ulysses S. Grant. MacArthur’s car swept up to the dockside. The great man emerged in khaki trousers, a brown leather air force jacket, Chief of the Army’s cap and insignia. As bosuns’ pipes screeched, he mounted the gangway, saluted the quarterdeck and went below to meet Roosevelt.
