Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill [Paperback]

James H. Hallas (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159114356X | ISBN-13: 978-1591143567 | Publication Date: September 17, 2007

A key point in the Japanese defensive line on Okinawa in May 1945, Sugar Loaf Hill was the site of a tenacious seven-day battle that inflicted heavy casualties on the U.S. Marines attacking the hill. In this emotionally compelling account of the fierce fight, James H. Hallas chronicles the extraordinary courage and tactical skills of the 6th Marine Division's junior officers and enlisted men as they captured a network of sophisticated Japanese defenses on Sugar Loaf while under heavy artillery fire from surrounding hills. To give human dimensions to the story, the author draws on his many interviews with participants and skillfully weaves together their individual stories of the sustained close-quarter fighting that claimed more than 2,000 Marine casualties. Pushed to their physical and moral limits during eleven attempts to capture the fifty-foot-high, 300-yard-long hill, the Marines proved their uncommon valor to be a common virtue, and this detailed record of their courage and commitment assures them a permanent place in history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sugar Loaf Hill, 50 feet high and 900 feet long, was a key to the Japanese position on Okinawa during WWII. On the hill, the Japanese manned 25 sophisticated defenses with grim tenacity, supported by the heaviest firepower since Pearl Harbor. On the American side, the 6th Marine Division, which attacked the hill in the spring of 1945, may have been the best division in the Corps at the time. Even so, as Hallas (The Devil's Anvil, 1994) details in this intellectually and emotionally compelling account, it took all the raw courage and tactical skill of the division's junior officers and enlisted men to crack a Japanese position that might better have been flanked by an amphibious end run. Hallas uses firsthand accounts by Marine participants to depict the sustained close-quarter fighting that tested the Americans to their physical and moral limits as they engaged in a battle that saw 2000 Marine casualties in seven days. At Sugar Loaf, as on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue; Hallas's chronicle of the former battle's many instances of grace under fire will enhance all collections devoted to war's human dimensions.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Hallas's chronicle of the battle's many instances of grace under fire will enhance all collections devoted to war's human dimensions. STRONG;>

--Publisher's Weekly

Meticulously researched and based on interviews with nearly 100 survivors, this is a fitting tribute to the struggle, largely unknown to most Americans. --Amazon.com

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press (September 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159114356X
• ISBN-13: 978-1591143567
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #564,080 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Combat Narrative, February 14, 2003

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill (Hardcover)

James H. Hallas's book `Killing Ground on Okinawa' is one of those books that should be in any decent military history library. Having previously read his account of the fighting on Peleliu, `The Devil's Anvil' I couldn't wait to read this account of the battle for Sugar Loaf Hill. I am happy to say that I was not disappointed in this book.

The author allows the Marines who took part in the fighting tell the story and its incredible to read what these blokes went through for what looks like a very small piece of Pacific Island real estate. The accounts of the fighting men are detailed and to the point and you are forced to sit back and think of how these men endured this hell, it is almost beyond the comprehension of today's generation.

The narrative is full of details but the real guts of the book is the first-hand accounts by the men involved in the assaults against the well constructed Japanese defensive positions. Not only were the Japanese well dug in and protected but they used their firepower and weapons to great advantage. They wrought destruction upon the advancing marines. Men and machines were continually being knocked out with no gain being made against the determined Japanese defence.

Finally after a heroic night attack the marines secured a toehold on Sugar Loaf but then had to hold against Japanese counter attacks and massive counter fire from artillery, mortars, machine guns and snipers. The casualty list for the marine units were massively high causing some questioning of the strategy and tactics used by the Army High Command. In over seven days of fighting the 6th Marine Division suffered over 2,000 casualties fighting for this pimple of a hill which secured the Japanese Shuri Line.

The only fault that I could find with this book was the standard of the maps and photographs. I am sure that they could have been of a higher calibre. Overall this is a great story of combat, dedication, bravery and Espirt de Corp. I think it is one of the better combat accounts of the Pacific Theatre that I have read in some years and I am certain that anyone interested in the Pacific War would be fascinated by this account.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A ferocious Fight to the finish!, January 20, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill (Hardcover)

This book is another amazing account of a ferocious battle engaged by the US Marines at the close of WWII at terrible personal sacrifice. It ranks among the best narratives I have read. If you want to take a trip into the trenches of Okinawa with the men who bled their, this book is a must read. The story is fast paced, action packed, gripping and heart rending. I cannot imagine what the outcome of the Pacific war against the Japanese would have been without the sacrifice these brave young men made on behalf of freedom.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent battle history., October 24, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Killing Ground on Okinawa: The Battle for Sugar Loaf Hill (Hardcover)

Amid the VE-Day euphoria of 1945, Okinawa was captured at a cost (including civilians) of over 200,000 lives. Mr. Hallas persuasive argues (with others) that had Marine General Lemuel Shepherd's end-run plan been adopted, many of those lives might have been spared. The narrative particularly focuses on the key to Japanese defenses, Sugar Loaf Hill, where the 6th Marine Division lost over 6,000 men in a brutal slugging match unsurpassed in the annals of American courage. Meticulously researched and based on interviews with nearly 100 susvivors, this is a fitting tribute to the struggle, largely unknown to most Americans.