40 Thieves on Saipan

The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of WWII's Bloodiest Battles

Joseph Tachovsky, Cynthia Kraack

• Publisher: Regnery History
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781684510481
• eBook ISBN:
  9781684510672
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

Winner of The 2020 Best Book Award for Military History -- American Bookfest An elite platoon of Marine Scout-Snipers, Lieutenant Frank Tachovsky's "40 Thieves" were chosen for their willingness to defy rules and beat all-comers. When two Marines got into a fight, the loser ended up in the infirmary, the winner in the brig. Tachovsky wanted the winner on his team—a brush with military law was a recommendation. These full-blooded men were trained in a ruthless array of hand-to-hand killing techniques and then thrown into the battle for Saipan—Emperor Hirohito's "Treasure" and the bulwark of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific—where they would wreak havoc in and around, but mostly behind, enemy lines. They witnessed inhuman atrocities; walked into an ambush after the cunning Japanese used wounded Marines as bait; endured body-punishing extremes of heat, hunger, and thirst; fought a relentless enemy who would not surrender; and watched best friends die. Now Tachovsky's son Joseph tells their remarkable story—a story he didn't even know until after his father's death—reported from an extensive documentary record, including priceless mementos his father kept, and from exhaustive interviews with survivors who served under Lieutenant "Ski." This is how America won the war in the Pacific, where "uncommon valor was a common virtue." 40 Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Marine Scout-Snipers in One of World War II's Bloodiest Battles is true history. It's also an adventure you don't want to miss.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• A Note from the Authors
• Prologue: Four Woodpeckers
• Chapter One: A Mustang
• Chapter Two: The Dumb Hayshaker
• Chapter Three: Mr. Kansas City
• Chapter Four: Borawski Done It
• Chapter Five: Ellie, Tilly, Roxie, and Ruth
• Chapter Six: Sweet Dreams
• Chapter Seven: I Got Me a New Boss
• Chapter Eight: A Full-Blooded Bunch
• Chapter Nine: Old Dead Dog!
• Chapter Ten: The Black Death
• Chapter Eleven: Pololu
• Chapter Twelve: A Three-Day Pass
• Chapter Thirteen: Red Sky at Night
• Chapter Fourteen: Arello and Duley
• Chapter Fifteen: A Pact and a Premonition
• Chapter Sixteen: Red Sky at Morning
• Chapter Seventeen: The Kitchen Sink
• Chapter Eighteen: Hell Is on Us
• Chapter Nineteen: All the Devils Are Here
• Chapter Twenty: Dark Eyes
• Chapter Twenty-One: Evans, Arello, and Johnson
• Chapter Twenty-Two: The Road to Garapan
• Chapter Twenty-Three: Emerick
• Chapter Twenty-Four: Kenny
• Chapter Twenty-Five: Dyer
• Chapter Twenty-Six: Oliver
• Chapter Twenty-Seven: Seven Lives
• Chapter Twenty-Eight: Good-Byes
• Epilogue: Every Day for the Rest of Your Life
• The Making of 40 Thieves on Saipan
• About the Authors
• Index
• Copyright