Their Backs Against the Sea : The Battle of Saipan and the Largest Banzai Attack of World War II

In the midst of the largest banzai attack of the war, US Army Lt. Col. William O'Brien, grievously wounded and out of ammunition, grabbed a sabre from a fallen Japanese soldier and flailed away at a small army of assailants, screaming to his men, "Don't give them a damn inch!" When his body was recovered the next day, thirty dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted twenty-five hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, its capture would result in secure air bases for the new B-29s that would put them within striking distance of the Japanese homeland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific lay in the balance. In this gritty, vivid narrative, award-winning author Bill Sloan fuses fresh interviews, oral and unit histories, and unpublished accounts to describe one of the war's bloodiest and most overlooked battles of the Pacific theater. Combining grunt's-view grit with big picture panorama (and one of the ugliest inter-service controversies of the war), Their Backs against the Sea is the definitive dramatic story of this epic battle — and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history. The battle of Saipan lasted twenty-five hellish days in the summer of 1944, and the stakes couldn't have been higher. If Japan lost possession of the island, all hope for victory would be lost. For the Americans, the island was the only obstacle between them and the Japanese mainland. The outcome of the war in the Pacific was in the balance. Their Backs against the Sea fuses fresh interviews, oral histories, and unpublished accounts into a fast-paced narrative of the Battle of Saipan. Combining grunt's-view grit with big-picture panorama (and one of the ugliest inter-service controversies of the war), this is the definitive dramatic story of one of the war's toughest and most overlooked battles and an inspiring chronicle of some of the greatest acts of valor in American military history. Islands of mystery -- The infernal beach -- The eternal beach -- Enter the 27th Division -- The Marianas turkey shoot -- Smith vs. Smith -- "Something's coming!" -- To die with honor -- The aftermath -- Tinian's rolling plains -- Coming home -- Tinian and the B-29 -- Dismay in Japan. A vivid narrative of the twenty-five hellish days (June 15-July 9, 1944) when American and Japanese forces fought what was described at the time as the most decisive battle in the Pacific theater, culminating in the largest Japanese suicidal (banzai) attack of World War II