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Victory at Peleliu: The 81st Infantry Division's Pacific Campaign
- Narrated by: Grant D. Showalter
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
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Publisher's summary
When the 1st Marine Division began its invasion of Peleliu in September 1944, the operation in the South Pacific was to take but four days. In fact, capturing this small coral island in the Palaus with its strategic airstrip took two months and involved some of the bloodiest fighting of the Second World War in the Pacific. Rather than the easy conquest they were led to expect, the Marines who landed on Peleliu faced a war of attrition from the island's Japanese defenders, who had dug tunnels and fortified the island's rugged terrain. When the Marines' advance stalled after a week of heavy casualties, the "Wildcats" of the 81st Infantry Division were called in, at first as support. Eventually, the 1st Marines Division was evacuated and the 81st Infantry secured the island.
Now Bobby C. Blair and John Peter DeCioccio tell the story of this campaign through the eyes of the 81st Infantry to offer a revised assessment. Previous accounts of the battle have focused on the 1st Marines, all but ignoring the 81st Infantry Division's contributions. Victory at Peleliu demonstrates that without the army's help, the marines could not have succeeded on Peleliu.
Blair and DeCioccio have mined the 81st Division's unit records and interviewed scores of veteran participants. The new data they offer challenges the orthodox view that the 81st Infantry merely mopped up an already broken enemy. Allowing their interviewees to tell much of the story, the authors also give a human face to a brutal battle.
The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press.
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The Darkest Summer
- Pusan and Inchon 1950: The Battles That Saved South Korea---and the Marines---from Extinction
- By: Bill Sloan
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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The outcome of the Korean War was decided in the first three months. The Darkest Summer is the hour-by-hour, casualty-by-casualty story of those months---a period that saw American and UN forces almost driven into the sea by the North Korean invaders, then stage an incredible turn-around that reversed the entire course of the war.
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Great intro to Korea
- By I Ate Your Pug For Lunch and It was Tasty on 01-14-11
By: Bill Sloan
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Victory Fever on Guadalcanal
- Japan's First Land Defeat of World War II
- By: William H. Bartsch
- Narrated by: Bill Nevitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Following their rampage through Southeast Asia and the Pacific in the five months after Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces moved into the Solomon Islands, intending to cut off the critical American supply line to Australia. But when they began to construct an airfield on Guadalcanal in July 1942, the Americans captured the almost completed airfield for their own strategic use. The Japanese Army countered by sending to Guadalcanal a reinforced battalion under the command of Col. Kiyonao Ichiki.
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This a great Guadalcanal book, with caveats.
- By S. H. Moore on 11-19-19
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A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945
- By: Edward G. Miller
- Narrated by: Peter Hassinger
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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victorious American army, having driven through Belgium almost unopposed, ran head-on into German soldiers on their own home ground, in some of the most rugged country in western Germany - and at the beginning of the worst fall and winter weather in decades.
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Gripping story of a little known corner of WW2.
- By The Bookwyrm Speaks on 09-24-16
By: Edward G. Miller
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Breakout from Juno
- First Canadian Army and the Normandy Campaign, July 4 - August 21, 1944
- By: Mark Zuehlke
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The ninth book in the Canadian Battle Series, Breakout from Juno, is the first dramatic chronicling of Canada's pivotal role throughout the entire Normandy Campaign following the D-Day landings.
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Disappointing narration and geography
- By Gary on 04-13-14
By: Mark Zuehlke
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On to Victory
- The Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands, March 23 - May 5, 1945
- By: Mark Zuehlke
- Narrated by: William Dufris
- Length: 16 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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It is remembered in the Netherlands as "the sweetest of springs," the one that saw the country's liberation from German occupation. But for the soldiers of First Canadian army, who fought their way across the Rhine River and then through Holland and northwest Germany, that spring of 1945 was bittersweet. While the Dutch were being liberated from the grinding boot heel of the Nazis, their freedom was being paid for in Canadian lives lost.
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Confusing at times, narrator impossible
- By Charlotte Ward on 10-05-13
By: Mark Zuehlke
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D-Day
- June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of WW II
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jesse Boggs
- Length: 25 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Stephen E. Ambrose draws from hundreds of interviews with US Army veterans and the brave Allied soldiers who fought alongside them to create this exceptional account of the day that shaped the twentieth century. D-Day is above all the epic story of men at the most demanding moment of their existence, when the horrors, complexities and triumphs of life are laid bare and courage and heroism come to the fore.
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What an epic story what great men
- By Michael on 02-12-14
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All the Way to Berlin
- A Paratrooper at War in Europe
- By: James Megellas
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 2 hrs and 34 mins
- Abridged
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In mid-1943 James Megellas, known as "Maggie" to his fellow paratroopers, joined the 82nd Airborne Division, his new "home" for the duration. His first taste of combat was in the rugged mountains outside Naples.
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Incredible book - narrator was terrible
- By joseph metz on 01-06-22
By: James Megellas
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Their Backs Against the Sea
- The Battle of Saipan and the Greatest Banzai Attack of World War II
- By: Bill Sloan
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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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, 30 dead enemies were piled around him. The Battle of Saipan lasted 25 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.
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Thank you!
- By Robert on 01-29-19
By: Bill Sloan
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Beyond Valor
- World War II's Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat
- By: Patrick K. O'Donnell
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Previous books have promised to describe the combat experience of the World War II GI, but there has never been a book like Patrick O'Donnell's Beyond Valor. Here is the first combat history of the war in Europe in the words of the men themselves, and perhaps the most honest and brutal account of combat possible.
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Can't get enough.
- By C,L, Richey on 01-08-12
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Tiger Bravo's War
- By: Rick St. John
- Narrated by: David L. White
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Tiger Bravo’s War follows a band of young paratroopers, from the same battalion in the elite 101st Airborne Division portrayed in Stephen Ambrose’s World War II best seller Band of Brothers, during their first year in combat in the Vietnam War - from a bayonet charge in War Zone D and street fighting during the 1968 Tet Offensive, to a rescue mission of a surrounded platoon and rock and roll in the company mess hall, and much more.
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Vietnam from an Officer's Perspective...
- By Michael Richards on 05-11-18
By: Rick St. John
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Tanks in Hell
- A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa
- By: Oscar E. Gilbert, Romain Cansiere
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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On November 20, 1943, the 2nd Marine Division launched the first amphibious assault of the Pacific War, directly into the teeth of powerful Japanese defenses on Tarawa. 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, and interviews with veterans to follow Charlie Company from its formation, and trace the movement, action - and loss - of individual tanks in this horrific four-day struggle.
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This is a great book but read this review.
- By S. H. Moore on 05-25-19
By: Oscar E. Gilbert, and others
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Patton at the Battle of the Bulge
- How the General's Tanks Turned the Tide at Bastogne
- By: Leo Barron
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Hitler's forces had pressed in on the small Belgian town in a desperate offensive designed to push back the Allies, starting the Battle of the Bulge. So far, the US soldiers had managed to repel waves of attackers and even a panzer onslaught, but as their ammunition dwindled, the weary paratroopers of the 101st Airborne could only hope for a miracle - a miracle in the form of General George S. Patton and his Third Army.
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No Way
- By Amazon Customer on 04-23-15
By: Leo Barron
What listeners say about Victory at Peleliu: The 81st Infantry Division's Pacific Campaign
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rebecca
- 06-04-21
incredible endurance amidst the brutality of war.
When one comes to know the squalid, brutal, and implacable conditions in which they fought, one becomes aware of the price of our freedoms. Let not these sacrifices be in vain... but inspire efforts toward a victory over dictatorship everywhere.
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- David A
- 09-17-17
A Little Justice
I love the USMC but they brag way to much. Maybe their need to over inflate their accomplishments was rooted in a political necessity to avoid budget cuts or even total dissolution but historically it is misleading. The Marines did not win the Pacific theatre of war in WW2 alone. Unfortunately that's what the majority of books and movies portrays. It is about time inter service rivalry is put aside and a more balanced view showing the Army, Army Air Corps, and Navy helped the Marines - just a little. After that miscarriage of history is cleared up maybe we can start working on non US forces contributions to the Pacific war.
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- Val
- 02-01-22
Filled in what Dad did not tell!
Provided information of the setting & much detail of what my father did not include in his few stories of the war or what he told my mother. This was especially helpful on the topics of army/marine tactics, the surrender, & occupation months. Son of an 81st "wildcat" Co B 306th Combat Engineers Battalion
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- theinglebaby23
- 06-03-19
Story is great, narrator kills it
As stated in the title, great story (that is a necessary and important addition to WWII historical understanding), but the narrator is horrible. Reads at an excitement level of a monotone second grader. Made it so I just put it on in the background just so I could get through it and be done with it...
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