Bataan Diary, by Chris Schaefer

Chris Schaefer's extremely readable Bataan Diary: An American Family in World War II, 1941-1945 is a well-documented story of resistance and survival during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

Built around the World War II diaries kept by Major Frank Riley Loyd and his wife, Evelyn, the book chronicles the difficult struggle of Frank Loyd, half-starved and seriously ill, sheltering in a series of jungle hideouts. Then, as MacArthur's return approaches, he joins the guerrilla war.

Another dimension is added by an occasional chapter detailing the stateside fears and frustrations of Evelyn, not knowing if her husband was still alive, while she immerses herself in supporting the war effort.

However, the book is more than the combined diaries of the Loyds. It also examines the larger war effort in the Pacific and the involvement of other Americans and Filipinos, many of them Philippine Scouts, in the anti-Japanese guerrilla movement on Luzon. It contains interesting information on commando infiltration teams, both Filipino and American, sent in by submarine to help shore up the resistance movement. It also examines in some detail prison camp conditions and the brutal counter intelligence activities of the dread Japanese Kempei-tai.

The book begins with the idyllic tropical existence of the Loyds during nearly a year and a half of pampered and languid duty in peacetime Manila. He was Provost Marshall at Fort McKinley and she taught fourth grade at the base school. American officers in this peacetime army worked half days and spent their evenings socializing with other military families. Training and equiping of the Philippine Army also proceeded at a leisurely pace, which would have important ramifications when war broke out.

As U.S.-Japanese relations deteriorated in the summer of 1941, this colonial idle ended as military families, including Evelyn and the two children, were sent back to the United States. In late July, the Japanese invaded French Indo China and the U.S., Britain and the Netherlands embargoed all trade with Japan, cutting off the flow of oil, rubber and other strategic material needed by the Japanese to sustain their conquest of China. War now appeared inevitable.

Shortly following the devastating Japanese surprise air assaults on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines in early December, a Japanese invasion force landed on Luzon and forced the Filipino and American troops to retreat to defensive positions on Bataan and Corregidor. Four months later, when Bataan surrendered, Major Loyd was among the small group of American and Filipino military men who escaped to nearby mountains and jungles. Most of these men, including Frank Loyd, spent many months surviving at a subsistence level thanks to the courageous generosity of the local Filipino population.

Eventually Frank and many others would join guerrilla groups, the nucleus of which was organized by American officers put in place by General MacArthur before the surrender. Most of these guerrilla leaders and about half of the approximately 400 Americans who joined them would not survive the war.

In recounting the failures and successes of these guerrilla units, Schaefer also examines the indigenous civilian intelligence network in Manila, which consisted predominantly of upper class Filipinos. Many of these civilian patriots also did not survive the war, as the Japanese successfully infiltrated the movement.

Another interesting feature of the book is a description of the infighting among the various guerrilla leaders, as they vied to assert command over each other and to expand their geographic sway. Although largely ego-driven, this also was the result of a need to claim scant resources in manpower and civilian support. Further complicating the resistance mix, were the Communist-led Hukbalahap, who, when not fighting the Japanese, often clashed violently with American-led guerrilla groups.

Despite the burdens of hunger, disease, scarce resources, infighting and the depredations of the Japanese, sufficient guerrilla forces were mobilized and trained to form a very useful auxiliary force when MacArthur returned to liberate the Philippines. An important component of these guerrilla groups was the Philippine Scouts, superbly-trained Filipino soldiers who comprised the majority of the regular U.S. Army's infantry and cavalry troops in the Philippines. (The Scouts should not be confused with the Philippine Army troops, who were mostly conscripts and not nearly as well trained.) Rallying to the cause in large numbers, the Scouts were crucial in the training of other Filipinos in guerrilla warfare. The Scouts themselves proved as adept at guerrilla warfare as they had been in their heroic defense of Bataan and Corregidor during the early months of the war.

An attractive feature of the book is its map collection, which helps the reader visualize where the action took place. Indeed, with its maps, bibliography, extensive endnotes, and lengthy index, this book is a useful reference tool for more serious students of World War II guerrilla warfare on Luzon. As such it is an excellent companion volume to Malcolm Decker's On a Mountainside, reviewed above.

Reviewed by J. Michael Houlahan
Schaefer, Chris. Bataan Diary. Riverview Publishing, Houston, Texas, 2004. Pp. 434, incl. 60 pp. endnotes, extensive bibliography and index, as well as 5 maps and 12 pp. of photos. ISBN: 0-9761084-0-2. SRP: $14.95, paperback available through either www.bataandiary.com or amazon.com.

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WORLD WAR II
	Love Company, Infantry Combat Against the Japanese WWII Author Don Dencker is a veteran of the Battle of Okinawa, 96th Infantry Division. Don received the Bronze Star after the battle for "meritorious achievement" in connection with military operation against the enemy on Okinawa. He serves as the Historian for the 96th Infantry Division and also as a tour guide for Valor Tours. Get an autographed copy of this book from Don Dencker by calling him at 608-837-7479.
	The Last Lieutenant: A Foxhole View of the Epic Battle for Iwo Jima by John C. Shively Availability: This item has not yet been released. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Indiana University Press (April 6, 2006)
	The 101st Airborne at Normandy by Mark A. Bando, Mark Banda, Mark Bondo Shopping with us is 100% safe. Guaranteed. Paperback - 160 pages (April 1994) Motorbooks International; ISBN: 0879388730 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.40 x 10.63 x 8.29 Avg. Customer Review: 4.5 stars
	BEYOND THE BEACHHEAD: The 29th Infantry Division in Normandy by Joseph Balkoski, Stephen E. Ambrose Paperback - 320 pages 2nd edition (February 1999) Stackpole Books; ISBN: 0811726827 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.92 x 8.97 x 6.03 Avg. Customer Review: 5 stars Synopsis Originally published in hardcover in 1989, this book, which has become the standard for future histories of the World War II citizen-soldier, illustrates the brutal realities of life in combat for the 45 days from Omaha Beach to the liberation of St. Lo. 63 illustrations.
	Father Found by Duane Heisinger Hardcover; 588 pages Publisher: Xulon Press (April 1, 2003) ISBN: 1591604982 Avg. Customer Review: 5 stars Synopsis Father found is a well-written, thoroughly researched and powerful account of the life of Americans who served in the Philippines during WWII and their subsequent years as prisoners of the imperial japanese. Most of the accounts from this period of time are told in the first person, by those few who survived (Give Us This Day, by Sidney Stewart, for example). What sets this book apart from others is that it is a historical perspective told from the notes, diaries, stories of several survivors; rather than one. Thus, one gets a more robust picture of POW existence. The author's goal in writing the book is to try and trace his father's life from just before WWII until his death a few months before the surrender of Japan. While the initial parts of the book are focused on the author's father exclusively, the presentation of the material makes for reading that any reader can relate to. As the war progressed the author found less and less first hand information from his father and the book slowly becomes an historical perspective on POW survival under the most grizzly and barbaric conditions imaginable. The author makes a strong effort to understand how any group of people could carry out such atrocities on another. Although he finds no justification for the actions of the japanese authorities toward the prisoners, he delves into many of the radical differences between the American and the Japanese cultures which contributed to the extreme conditions. The author did an excellent job of researching his topic; from diaries, national archives, war crime trial transcripts and interviews. As a final personal triumph the author is able to track down where his father's remains were buried in Hawaii. Thus, the book is a triumph for the author in two ways: he finds out more about who his father was and he finds his final resting place. Be advised this book is not for the faint of heart. The conditions endured by the POWs are worse than any words can describe.
	Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission by Hampton Sides Paperback; 384 pages Publisher: Anchor; (May 7, 2002) ISBN: 038549565X Avg. Customer Review: 4.5 stars Synopsis On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them the last survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March. A recent prison massacre by Japanese soldiers elsewhere in the Philippines made the stakes impossibly high and left little time to plan the complex operation. In Ghost Soldiers Hampton Sides vividly re-creates this daring raid, offering a minute-by-minute narration that unfolds alongside intimate portraits of the prisoners and their lives in the camp. Sides shows how the POWs banded together to survive, defying the Japanese authorities even as they endured starvation, tropical diseases, and torture. Harrowing, poignant, and inspiring, Ghost Soldiers is the mesmerizing story of a remarkable mission. It is also a testament to the human spirit, an account of enormous bravery and self-sacrifice amid the most trying conditions.
	Roll Me over : An Infantryman's World War II by Raymond Gantter Mass Market Paperback - 397 pages 1 Ed edition (July 1997) Ivy Books; ISBN: 0804116059 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.07 x 6.89 x 4.24 Avg. Customer Review: 4.5 stars Synopsis From the beaches of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the border of Czechoslovakia, an American infantryman recounts his journey through the expiring Third Reich, offering an insightful and detailed account of his experiences under fire. When Raymond Gantter arrived in Normandy in 1944, bodies were still washing up from the invasion. He and his fellow infantrymen moved across northern France and Belgium, taking part in the bloody Battle of the Bulge, penetrating into and across Germany, fighting all the way to the Czech border. From dueling with unseen snipers in ruined villages to fierce battles against Hitler's panzers, Gantter skillfully portrays their progress across a tortured continent.
	Parachute Infantry : An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich by David Kenyon Webster, Stephen E. Ambrose (Introduction) Paperback - 288 pages Reprint edition (September 1997) Louisiana State Univ Pr; ISBN: 080712222X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.60 x 8.98 x 6.00 Availability: This title usually ships within 4-6 weeks. Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. We will notify you within 2-3 weeks if we have trouble obtaining this title. Avg. Customer Review: 4 stars Review: David Kenyon Webster's personal account of the D-day invasion and the fall of the Third Reich is beautifully written and completely captivating. Though he did jump in Normandy on D-Day, and saw the war to the end, his actual combat experience was somewhat limited. He recalls only one definite kill, a retreating German soldier who was thought to be a runner. Webster admits that this action was one of the few times he ever fired his rifle in combat. For Webster, the real war was fought inside his mind, as he tried to find a personal acceptance and justification for being in the army and fighting in WWII....Many WWII soldiers say that the army (service) made them better people. With a negative and sometimes hateful tone, Webster vividly recounts his experiences. This book is a must read for anybody who is interested in learning what many soldiers were thinking and saying as they participated in the largest military invasion in history.
	The Deadly Brotherhood : The American Combat Soldier in World War II by John C. McManus Hardcover - 352 pages (June 1998) Presidio Pr; ISBN: 0891416552 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.34 x 8.79 x 5.85 Avg. Customer Review: 5 stars Synopsis What makes a soldier enter the inferno of death and destruction that is the battlefield? What was battle like for the World War II American combat soldier and marine? Using letters, diaries, on the spot historical surveys, memoirs, and oral histories, DEADLY BROTHERHOOD examines and answers these questions fully, not as an examination of military doctrine and strategy, but as a work full of flesh-and-blood realities of survival. 32 photos. The Deadly Brotherhood provides accounts from veterans of nearly every division (armor, infantry, airborne, marine) that saw combat in World War II. Ultimately the most basic question is why they did it. Why did these American combat soldiers endure what should have been unendurable? What made them perform effectively and cohesively and draw on reserves of courage that they probably thought they did not possess? Author John C. McManus discovers that to a great extent, they fought for one another, made real by a bond that is accurately termed a "brotherhood." The GI leaving his foxhole in the Ardennes might not have liked the soldier next to him, but he would do almost anything to help him. The same was true for his counterpart in Italy and the Pacific. The brotherhood was not unique to any one unit, sector, or theater. It was pervasive among the troops who fought the war.
	The Second World War by John Keegan Paperback - 608 pages Reprint edition (September 1990) Penguin USA (Paper); ISBN: 014011341X ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.44 x 9.37 x 7.39 Avg. Customer Review: 4 stars Synopsis Much more than a mere chronological narrative, the history of World War II is recounted both periodically and thematically. Keegan analyzes five crucial battles, each characteristic of a distinctive kind of warfare ofthe period. Photographs, maps, diagrams.
OKINAWA
	The War in the Pacific : From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, 1941-1945 (G.I. Series)by Jonathan Gawne Paperback - 72 pages (October 1996) Greenhill Press
	American Occupation of Japan and Okinawa by Michael S. Molasky Availability: On Order; usually ships within 1-2 weeks. Library Binding - 224 pages 1 edition (August 1, 1999)
	The Battle for Okinawa by Hiromichi Yahara, Frank B. Gibney Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Paperback - 245 pages (June 1995) John Wiley & Sons
	From Omaha to Okinawa : The Story of the Seabees (Bluejacket Books) by William Bradford Huie Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Paperback - 264 pages (April 1999) United States Naval Inst. Synopsis In this rousing sequel to his classic Can Do! The Story of the Seabees, William Bradford Huie continues the saga of the combat-trained civilian plumbers, carpenters, heavy equipment operators, wharf builders, and civil engineers who served in the U.S. Navy Construction Battalions. A lieutenant (j.g.) in the battalions himself, Huie begins this story in 1944 with the battle for Iwo Jima when the Seabees secured the beachhead while braving concentrated enemy fire and lwo's daunting terrain to rigfloating causeways, blow up wrecked landing craft, and drive their bulldozers up three terraces that rose from the ocean. This book fully chronicles their heroism, including the unforgettable efforts of the men of the 31st Battalion who crawled the length of a landing strip to pick up shrapnel as Japanese snipers fired away.
	With the Old Breed : At Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene B. Sledge, Paul Fussell (Illustrator) Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours. Paperback - 326 pages Reprint edition (September 1990) Oxford Univ Pr (Trade) Synopsis Based on notes he kept on slips of paper tucked secretly away in his Bible, Eugene Sledge has written a devastingly powerful memoir of his experience fighting in the South Pacific during WWII. John Keegan describes this stirring account of the vitality and bravery of the Marines as "one of the most arresting documents in war literature."
LEYTE
	United States Army in World War 2, War in the Pacific, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines by Hamlin M. Cannon Hardcover reprint edition (November 1993) Government Printing Office; ISBN: 9995156903 Availability: This title usually ships within 4-6 weeks. Please note that titles occasionally go out of print or publishers run out of stock. We will notify you within 2-3 weeks if we have trouble obtaining this title.
VIETNAM
	A Better War : The Unexamined Victories and the Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam by Lewis Sorley Hardcover - 528 pages (July 1999) Harcourt Brace; ISBN: 0151002665 ; Dimensions (in inches): 2.01 x 9.30 x 6.35 Number : 4 stars Reviews There was a moment when the United States had the Vietnam War wrapped up, writes military historian Lewis Sorley (biographer of two Vietnam-era U.S. Army generals, Creighton Abrams and Harold Johnson). "The fighting wasn't over, but the war was won," he says in this convention-shaking book. "This achievement can probably best be dated in late 1970." South Vietnam was ready to carry on the battle without American ground troops and only logistical and financial support. Sorley says that replacing General Westmoreland with Abrams in 1968 was the key. "The tactics changed within fifteen minutes of Abrams's taking command," remarked one officer. Abrams switched the war aims from destruction to control; he was less interested in counting enemy body bags than in securing South Vietnam's villages. A Better War is unique among histories of the Vietnam War in that it focuses on the second half of the conflict, roughly from Abrams's arrival to the fall of Saigon in 1975. Other volumes, such as Stanley Karnow's Vietnam and Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie, tend to give short shrift to this period. Sorley shows how the often-overlooked Abrams strategy nearly succeeded--indeed, Sorley says it did succeed, at least until political leadership in the United States let victory slip away. Sorley cites other problems, too, such as low morale among troops in the field, plus the harmful effects of drug abuse, racial disharmony, and poor discipline. In the end, the mighty willpower of Abrams and diplomatic allies Ellsworth Bunker and William Colby was not enough. But, with its strong case that they came pretty close to winning, A Better War is sure to spark controversy. --John J. Miller
	Thunderbolt : General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times by Lewis Sorley Paperback - 430 pages Reprint edition (June 1998) Brasseys Inc; ISBN: 1574881795 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.99 x 9.24 x 6.02 Avg. Customer Review: 5 stars Reviews From Kirkus Reviews , July 1, 1992 A fine appreciation of the military professional who arguably ranks among America's very best generals. Drawing on interviews with contemporaries and family members as well as on archival sources, Sorley (a USMA grad who served in Vietnam) offers an unsentimental portrait of a career officer who fought in three wars. A member of West Point's Class of `36, Abrams became an authentic hero leading a tank battalion in WW II's ETO. Winning promotion to brigadier general after a tour of duty in Korea, he handled a number of increasingly responsible assignments before being posted to Southeast Asia as General William Westmoreland's deputy and successor. As Sorley makes clear, Abrams probably would be better and more warmly remembered today had he been given a better war to fight. In any case, Abrams gave a brilliant account of himself despite restrictive rules of engagement and the fact that his civilian superiors had begun a phased reduction of US combat forces. Back in the States after a four-year absence, he was appointed chief of staff, a position that allowed him (before his untimely death at 59 in 1974) to initiate the reforms that eventually helped the US Army win in the Persian Gulf. While Sorley focuses on the talents that gained Abrams renown as a world-class strategist and tactician, he does not scant the qualities that also made him a soldier's soldier and a very human being. In addition to recounting the feats of arms that earned the colorful, cigar-chomping Abrams a legendary reputation among front- line troops and peers, the author provides affecting glimpses of his subject's personal and spiritual life. Though tough-minded and a stickler for integrity and honesty, Abrams (a late-in-life convert to Roman Catholicism) was evidently a devoted father of six, a loving husband, and a compassionate, if demanding, commander. A well-told tale of a paradigmatic warrior.
MARSHALL ISLANDS
	Islands of History by Marshall David Sahlins Paperback - 180 pages (April 1987) University of Chicago Press; ISBN: 0226733580 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.61 x 8.51 x 5.59
SAIPAN
	Saipan : The War Diary of John Ciardi by John Ciardi, Edward Cifelli (Introduction) Paperback - 155 pages (September 1988) Univ of Arkansas Pr; ISBN: 1557280185 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.46 x 8.48 x 4.99 Customer Review: 4.5 stars Book Description Here's a poet who was a gunner in a B-29 over Tokyo, and who kept a diary during his months on Saipan. Really fine, really worth reading, for the unvarnished thoughts of the man who kept the journal. Unlike most such journals, it hasn't been edited for publication, though there are a few of Ciardi's own afterthoughts.
NAPOLEAN
	How to Make War by Napoleon Bonaparte, Yann Cloarec (Editor), Keith Sanborn (Translator), Napoleon Paperback - 166 pages (October 1, 1998) Ediciones La Calavera; ISBN: 0964228424 Avg. Customer Review: 5stars Book Description How to Make War is the most comprehensive collection of the military maxims of Napoleon ever published in English. The translation by Keith Sanborn is followed by a critical essay on the Napoleonic legacy by Sanborn entitled "Postcards from the Berezina." Since the first appearance in English of the military maxims of Napoleon in 1831, all English translations have relied upon the extremely incomplete French edition of General Burnod published in 1827. How to Make War is based on the French edition compiled by Yann Cloarec published by ditions Champ Libre in 1973 as Comment faire la guerre. This new volume greatly enlarges and enhances our understanding of Napoleonic thought. It fundamentally reorders the texts of the Napoleonic corpus to bring an active practice of the reading to what has previously been either passively received as timeless wisdom or buried among the trivia of obsolete tactical considerations. It makes possible for the English-speaking world, a critical reassessment of Napoleon's own reflections on politics and war, strategy and tactics. How To Make War incorporates the French editor's original statement and brief notes of 1973 as well as an essay by Keith Sanborn, the English language translator, situating the thought of Napoleon in the context of "postmodern" war and its continuation as politics. The essay explores Napoleon's impact on thinkers ranging from Hegel, Marx and Alexandre Kojve to Bataille, Debord-and the Situationist International-and Virilio.
TITANIC
	The Complete Titanic : From the Ship's Earliest Blueprints to the Epic Film by Stephen J. Spignesi Availability: This title usually ships within 2-3 days. Hardcover - 288 pages (November 1998) Birch Lane Pr; ISBN: 1559724838 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.43 x 9.33 x 6.30 Avg. Customer Review: 4.5 stars

Alaska by Cruise Ship : The Complete Guide to the Alaska Cruise Experience by Anne Vipons, Alan Nakano (Illustrator), William Kelly (Editor), mic Defreitas, Anne Vipond Paperback - 350 pages 3rd Rev edition (February 1999) Customer Review: 5 stars Book Description Get on board the cruise vacation phenomenon with this international bestseller. From Seattle to Anchorage and beyond, this guide provides readers with solid detail. The author also covers all areas of interest such as history, wildlife, native culture, and much more. Color photos & maps.

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