thedrifter
01-31-09, 08:00 AM
One Square Mile of Hell: Review
Published: Friday, January 30, 2009 1:23 PM CST
Lance Cpl. Zachary J. Nola
Combat Correspondent
In his book, One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa, author John Wukovits uses participants’ letters and diaries and first-hand interviews with survivors, to paint for readers a picture of one the Corps’ finest, yet bloodiest victories over an extremely devoted Japanese enemy.
Wonderfully put together, the personal memories of the Marines and sailors of the 2nd Marine Division describe in detail how a battle that began with opposing sides hurling shells at each other from a mile’s distance ended in bitter and savage hand-to-hand combat.
The book can be broken down into three parts with the first detailing how young men, most of whom had never even heard of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, rushed to recruiting stations, leaving behind pitch forks, college books, jobs, girlfriends, and families in order to avenge what they considered to be a cowardly attack by the Japanese empire.
The second part of the novel deals with the actual battle, which began with some of the heaviest Naval bombardment of the war, before moving on to the bloody assault of the heavily fortified island of Betio. From there the book describes the intense close quarters combat as Marines slowly conquer the island and the rest of the atoll.
Three exhausting days after the assault on Betio begins, Wukovits explains how Marines and sailors get a chance to pause for chow and to bandage wounds before they start the painful search of murky water, burnt-out amtracs, and blood stained sand for comrades and, in some, cases family members.
The final section of the book is devoted to the campaign’s aftermath. Young boys are now men, who are still ready and willing to fight, but no longer eager to take a life. Young girls are now women moving on after accepting the fact that their high school sweetheart is not coming back. Parents, having not heard from their sons in some time, prepare themselves for bad news.
Unlike many other books of its kind, One Square Mile of Hell also captures what some would call the less than honorable, but all too real aspects of combat. The lieutenant who rushed an enemy machine gun only to see that his men, all frozen with fear, did not follow and abandoned him under fire. The officer, who hunkered down behind an amtrac caught on the reef, while his Marines waded through churning water only to be gunned down upon reaching the beach. These incidents, and other unfortunate parts of combat, including casualties from friendly fire, are remembered, and only help explain the madness that is war to those who have never been there and lived it.
While the darker side of warfare is addressed, the true honor, courage and commitment of the Marines and sailors who fought in the Tarawa campaign shines throughout the book. A private first class who rescued fellow Marines by bayoneting three Japanese soldiers before being cut down by an enemy saber and a corpsman who rushed through enemy fire to rescue Marines from a burning amtrac are remembered for their valor. The recollections of an officer who was loathed by his men before the battle only to be loved by them after, headquarters staff and cooks proving every Marine is a rifleman when they rush to fill gaps in the line during a Japanese counterattack, and a scout sniper who destroyed machine gun after machine gun and apologized to his comrades shortly before dying of wounds suffered during the attack, for leaving them while still engaged with the enemy are also told. Every story exhibits the bravery and honor these Marines demonstrated during this important piece of Corps history.
With books like One Square Mile of Hell, it is hard to imagine why the Tarawa campaign is not as well-known as other World War II campaigns. When the incorporation of amphibious assaults in World War II is mentioned, the first names that come to mind are the D-Day invasion, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima.
While these struggles were of great importance, Tarawa was just as significant in the effort to reclaim the Pacific. Retreat was not an option because there was nowhere to retreat to. As the book states, there were only two things to do on Tarawa: fight or die.
Ellie
Published: Friday, January 30, 2009 1:23 PM CST
Lance Cpl. Zachary J. Nola
Combat Correspondent
In his book, One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa, author John Wukovits uses participants’ letters and diaries and first-hand interviews with survivors, to paint for readers a picture of one the Corps’ finest, yet bloodiest victories over an extremely devoted Japanese enemy.
Wonderfully put together, the personal memories of the Marines and sailors of the 2nd Marine Division describe in detail how a battle that began with opposing sides hurling shells at each other from a mile’s distance ended in bitter and savage hand-to-hand combat.
The book can be broken down into three parts with the first detailing how young men, most of whom had never even heard of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, rushed to recruiting stations, leaving behind pitch forks, college books, jobs, girlfriends, and families in order to avenge what they considered to be a cowardly attack by the Japanese empire.
The second part of the novel deals with the actual battle, which began with some of the heaviest Naval bombardment of the war, before moving on to the bloody assault of the heavily fortified island of Betio. From there the book describes the intense close quarters combat as Marines slowly conquer the island and the rest of the atoll.
Three exhausting days after the assault on Betio begins, Wukovits explains how Marines and sailors get a chance to pause for chow and to bandage wounds before they start the painful search of murky water, burnt-out amtracs, and blood stained sand for comrades and, in some, cases family members.
The final section of the book is devoted to the campaign’s aftermath. Young boys are now men, who are still ready and willing to fight, but no longer eager to take a life. Young girls are now women moving on after accepting the fact that their high school sweetheart is not coming back. Parents, having not heard from their sons in some time, prepare themselves for bad news.
Unlike many other books of its kind, One Square Mile of Hell also captures what some would call the less than honorable, but all too real aspects of combat. The lieutenant who rushed an enemy machine gun only to see that his men, all frozen with fear, did not follow and abandoned him under fire. The officer, who hunkered down behind an amtrac caught on the reef, while his Marines waded through churning water only to be gunned down upon reaching the beach. These incidents, and other unfortunate parts of combat, including casualties from friendly fire, are remembered, and only help explain the madness that is war to those who have never been there and lived it.
While the darker side of warfare is addressed, the true honor, courage and commitment of the Marines and sailors who fought in the Tarawa campaign shines throughout the book. A private first class who rescued fellow Marines by bayoneting three Japanese soldiers before being cut down by an enemy saber and a corpsman who rushed through enemy fire to rescue Marines from a burning amtrac are remembered for their valor. The recollections of an officer who was loathed by his men before the battle only to be loved by them after, headquarters staff and cooks proving every Marine is a rifleman when they rush to fill gaps in the line during a Japanese counterattack, and a scout sniper who destroyed machine gun after machine gun and apologized to his comrades shortly before dying of wounds suffered during the attack, for leaving them while still engaged with the enemy are also told. Every story exhibits the bravery and honor these Marines demonstrated during this important piece of Corps history.
With books like One Square Mile of Hell, it is hard to imagine why the Tarawa campaign is not as well-known as other World War II campaigns. When the incorporation of amphibious assaults in World War II is mentioned, the first names that come to mind are the D-Day invasion, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima.
While these struggles were of great importance, Tarawa was just as significant in the effort to reclaim the Pacific. Retreat was not an option because there was nowhere to retreat to. As the book states, there were only two things to do on Tarawa: fight or die.
Ellie