Hell of a Way to Die: Tarawa Atoll, 20-23 November, 1943 [Hardcover]

Derrick Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

Hell of a Way to Die, A: Tarawa Atoll 20-23 November 1943 by Wright, Derrick

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Casemate Pub (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859150284
• ISBN-13: 978-1859150283
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,108,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well detailed gripping account of pure hell, October 12, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (mandbyoungman@talk2... (Cambridge, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hell of a Way to Die: Tarawa Atoll, 20-23 November, 1943 (Hardcover)

This work takes you from an outline of the Pacific war so far, through the crucial planning stages, detailing the lack of imformation about the objective that was to prove fatal to so many good men and culminates in a blow by blow account of the action itself. Many eye witness testimonies bring the action to life and you find yourself along side them, sheltering behind the bullet raked log sea wall, out of water, with no way forward and no way back. But you are one of the lucky ones. All around you is the chaos of an assault from the sea. LVT's wrecked and burning, riddled with bullet holes, dead floating in the lagoon by the hundred, but the tiny island had to be taken at any cost.

Gripping stuff from cover to cover, many black and white photos, useful maps and informative, orders of battle and other appendices. I highly recommend it to any historian or enthusiast of World War Two in the Pacific.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!, August 23, 2000

By 

Michael Desario "MD" (Stow, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hell of a Way to Die: Tarawa Atoll, 20-23 November, 1943 (Hardcover)

I am always astounded by sheer brazen courage of men under fire. This book takes you there from start to finish you are in the heat of the battle. You can almost sense the horror the Marines felt wadding ashore, weapons held high, while enemy machine guns ripped them to pieces! That they endured such horrendous cost and ultimately triumphed over a deeply entrenched enemy is nothing short of miraculous. If you seek the truth about the awful battle for Taraww this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.