- 321 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
"An incisive, readable account of a group of National Guard tankers who fought in the Philippines in the opening phase of America's war in the Pacific." —Robert S. Cameron, Ph.D., military historian and author of
Mobility, Shock, and Firepower: The Emergence of the U.S. Army's Armor Branch, 1917-1945
The American Provisional Tank Group had been in the Philippines only three weeks when the Japanese attacked the islands hours after the raid on Pearl Harbor. Sent north to meet the Japanese landings in Lingayen Gulf, the men of the PTG found themselves thrust into a critical role when the Philippine Army could not hold back the Japanese. When General MacArthur ordered the retreat to Bataan, the PTG proved itself indispensable.
During early months of 1942, the light tanks of the PTG patrolled Bataan's beaches, encircling and destroying Japanese penetrations and small amphibious landings. By April 1942, the situation had become untenable, and 15,000 Americans, along with 60,000 Filipinos, surrendered in one of the worst defeats in U.S. military history. The Provisional Tank Group ceased to exist, and its men endured the Bataan Death March, the torture and starvation of POW camps, the hell ships that took them to Japan and Manchuria for slave labor, and the Palawan massacre.
In an evocatively written book, Donald L. Caldwell reveals the largely ignored role of tanks in the Philippine campaign. Conducting impressive primary research to bring to life the combat history of the PTG, Caldwell has dug deeper to tell the stories of soldiers from each of the group's six companies, recounting their service from enlistment, training, and combat to imprisonment, liberation, and return home.
"Remarkable . . . [A] well-told history . . . highly recommended." —Jay A. Stout, LtCol (Ret), USMC, author of Air Apaches
The American Provisional Tank Group had been in the Philippines only three weeks when the Japanese attacked the islands hours after the raid on Pearl Harbor. Sent north to meet the Japanese landings in Lingayen Gulf, the men of the PTG found themselves thrust into a critical role when the Philippine Army could not hold back the Japanese. When General MacArthur ordered the retreat to Bataan, the PTG proved itself indispensable.
During early months of 1942, the light tanks of the PTG patrolled Bataan's beaches, encircling and destroying Japanese penetrations and small amphibious landings. By April 1942, the situation had become untenable, and 15,000 Americans, along with 60,000 Filipinos, surrendered in one of the worst defeats in U.S. military history. The Provisional Tank Group ceased to exist, and its men endured the Bataan Death March, the torture and starvation of POW camps, the hell ships that took them to Japan and Manchuria for slave labor, and the Palawan massacre.
In an evocatively written book, Donald L. Caldwell reveals the largely ignored role of tanks in the Philippine campaign. Conducting impressive primary research to bring to life the combat history of the PTG, Caldwell has dug deeper to tell the stories of soldiers from each of the group's six companies, recounting their service from enlistment, training, and combat to imprisonment, liberation, and return home.
"Remarkable . . . [A] well-told history . . . highly recommended." —Jay A. Stout, LtCol (Ret), USMC, author of Air Apaches
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Yes, you can access Thunder on Bataan by Donald L Caldwell in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military & Maritime History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Map Symbols
- Preface
- Chapter 1 The Heartland Mobilizes
- Chapter 2 The National Guard Tank Companies and the U.S. Armored Force
- Chapter 3 The Philippines
- Chapter 4 December 8
- Chapter 5 The Lingayen Gulf Landings and the Fil-American Response
- Chapter 6 Retreat across the Central Luzon Plain
- Chapter 7 The Siege of Bataan
- Chapter 8 Captives of the Japanese
- Chapter 9 The Home Front
- Chapter 10 Hell in the North
- Chapter 11 Return Home
- Map 1 U.S. Army Forces, Far East
- Map 2 Lingayen Gulf Landings
- Map 3 Retreat across the Central Luzon Plain
- Map 8 Bataan 1942
- Acknowledgments
- Sources
- Bibliography