Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa

Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa

t-weight: bold;" >Winner of THE GENERAL WALLACE M. GREENE, JR. AWARD for outstanding nonfiction

In May 1943 a self-described â€œreally young, green, ignorant lieutenantâ€ assumed command of a new Marine Corps company. His even younger enlisted Marines were learning to use an untested weapon, the M4A2 â€œShermanâ€ medium tank. His sole combat veteran was the company bugler, who had salvaged his dress cap and battered horn from a sinking aircraft carrier. Just six months later the company would be thrown into one of the ghastliest battles of World War II.

On 20 November 1943 the Second Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the teeth of powerful Japanese defenses on Tarawa. In that blood-soaked invasion, a single company of Sherman tanks, of which only two survived, played a pivotal role in turning the tide from looming disaster to legendary victory. In this unique study Oscar Gilbert and Romain Cansiere use official documents, memoirs, interviews with veterans, as well as personal and aerial photographs to follow Charlie Company from its formation, and trace the movement, actionâ€”and lossâ€”of individual tanks in this horrific four-day struggle.

The authors have used official documents and interviews with veterans to follow the company from training through the brutal 76-hour struggle for Tarawa. Survivor accounts and air photo analysis document the movements â€“and destruction â€“ of the companyâ€™s individual tanks. It is a story of escapes from drowning tanks, and even more harrowing escapes from tanks knocked out behind Japanese lines. It is a story of men doing whatever needed to be done, from burying the dead to hand-carrying heavy cannon ammunition forward under fire. It is the story of how the two surviving tanks and their crews expanded a perilously thin beachhead, and cleared the way for critical reinforcements to come ashore. But most of all it is a story of how a few unsung Marines helped turn near disaster into epic victory.
Country USA
Brand Casemate
Manufacturer Casemate
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber Illustrated
ReleaseDate 2015-05-18
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781612003030

Country	USA
Brand	Casemate
Manufacturer	Casemate
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	Illustrated
ReleaseDate	2015-05-18
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781612003030

Tanks in Hell: A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa

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