In July 1944, the 9, 000-man Japanese garrison on the island of Tinian listened warily as the thunder of the United States Navy and Marine Corps, Army and Air Corps, descended on their neighboring island, Saipan, just three miles away. There were 20, 000 Japanese troops on Saipan, but the US obliterated the opposition after a horrific all-arms campai
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, b...
When General Douglas MacArthur arrived in Australia in March 1942, having successfully left the Philippines to organise 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...
By the fall of 1944 the Western Allies appeared to be having it all their own way. The summer¿s Normandy invasion had finally succeeded and the Germans had been driven out of northern France and most of the Low Countries. In September the invasion of France¿s southern coast had met less opposition and Allied divisions had begun lining up along the Rhine. But while the Americans were about to meet a nasty surprise in the Ardennes, the Germans n...
