Rain of Steel

Mitscher's Task Force 58, Ugaki's Thunder Gods, and the Kamikaze War off Okinawa

Inbunden, Engelska, 2020

559 kr

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The last Pacific campaign of World War II was the most violent on record. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's Task Force 58 carriers had conducted air strikes on mainland Japan and supported the Iwo Jima landings, but his aviators were sorely tested once the Okinawa campaign commenced on 1 April 1945. Rain of Steel follows Navy and Marine carrier aviators in the desperate air battles to control the kamikazes directed by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. The latter would unleash ten different Kikusui aerial suicide operations, one including a naval force built around the world's most powerful battleship, the 71,000-ton Yamato. These battles are related largely through the words and experiences of some of the last living U.S. fighter aces of World War II.More than 1,900 kamikaze sorties--and thousands more traditional attack aircraft--would be launched against the U.S. Navy's warships, radar picket ships, and amphibious vessels during the Okinawa campaign. In this time, Navy, Marine, and Army Air Force pilots would claim some 2,326 aerial victories. The most successful four-man fighter division in U.S. Navy history would be crowned during the fight against Ugaki's kamikazes. The Japanese named the campaign tetsu no ame (""rain of steel""), often referred to in English as "typhoon of steel.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2020-10-29
Mått155 x 234 x 39 mm
Vikt889 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor456
FörlagNaval Institute Press
ISBN9781682475263

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Context and action. These attributes, in combination with Moore's exhaustive research and excellent writing, make the history of the savage fight against Japan's suicide flyers uniquely accessible to all. Rain of Steel is a must-read for aviation fans and students of the Pacific War alike. Highly recommended." --Jay A. Stout, author of Air Apaches "Stephen Moore adds to his already lustrous reputation by bringing to life the dramatic story of U.S. carrier aircraft battling Japanese aces in the Pacific. His reliance on aviator interviews reminds us that these were humans, not aircraft, racing into battle, and as such they grappled with every emotion as they gallantly met their foe. Moore helps illuminate a part of the Pacific War that offers courage, a sense of duty, and lessons for us all." --John Wukovits, 2018 recipient of the RADM Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature and author of the recent Dogfight over Tokyo: The Final Air Battle of the Pacific and the Last Four Men to Die in World War II "Rain of Steel not only profiles some of the unknown men who fought and won the brutal final Pacific campaign in World War II, but brings to life how close we came to defeat at the hands of the relentless Japanese. The bravery, guile, and determination outlined in Stephen Moore's masterpiece insure the names and faces and gathering heroics at Okinawa will never be forgotten." --Brian Kilmeade, author of New York Times best-sellers George Washington's Secret Six and Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers