Rolling Thunder Against the Rising Sun

The Combat History of U.S. Army Tank Battalions in the Pacific in World War II

Gene Eric Salecker

• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN:
  9780811743624
• Print ISBN:
  9780811703147

This WWII history sheds light on the extensive use of armored fighting vehicles in the Pacific Theater from the Philippines to Okinawa.
 
Although the history of armor in World War II has captured the attention of countless authors, the extensive use of tanks in the Pacific has gone largely unexamined. Now historian Gene Eric Salecker corrects this oversight. With comprehensive detail, Salecker describes the exploits of American tanks on the jungle islands where troops engaged in savage combat and encountered unforgiving weather and terrain. 
 
Stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked the islands in 1941, the U.S. Army's independent tank battalions fought from the very start of the war. From New Guinea and the Solomons to Makin, Saipan, and Guam, American armor proved instrumental in winning World War II in the Pacific.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1. Baptism of Fire
• 2. War
• 3. War Plan Orange-3
• 4. Into Bataan
• 5. Bataan
• 6. The Points and Pockets
• 7. Siege and Suffering
• 8. Surrender
• 9. Reinforcements and Turnabout
• 10. Taking Makin
• 11. Closing the Solomons
• 12. Another Crack in the Outer Barrier
• 13. Isolating Rabaul
• 14. Leapfrogging the New Guinea Coast
• 15. Bloody Biak
• 16. Southern Saipan
• 17. The Valley of Death
• 18. Hard Days on Saipan
• 19. The End on Saipan
• 20. Guam
• 21. Stepping Stones
• 22. The Helmet’s Wings
• 23. The Return
• 24. The Drive to Ormoc
• 25. Luzon
• 26. Manila
• 27. Corregidor and Southern Luzon
• 28. Northern Luzon
• 29. Clearing the Southern Philippines
• 30. Eastern Mindanao
• 31. Iceberg
• 32. Hard Days
• 33. The Last Battle
• 34. The End
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover
• Discover more