Publisher: Unabridged Library Edition
Authors: Major Damon 'Rocky' Gause Dick Hill
List Price: $44.25
Amazon Price: $44.25
Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks
Reviews:
Summary: Great book!
I read this book about 4 or 5 years ago when I was stationed in Germany. It is one of the best books about WW2 I have ever read. And what makes it so fascinating, is its a true story! I wrote the author after reading it to tell him how much I enjoyed it, and he wrote me back! Great guy. Highly recommend this book to everyone with an interest in the subject.
Summary: Yes, maybe...
I dont doubt any of the details of Major Gauses escape story,its no doubt a great and authentic ocean survival story: but being written during the war, which Mr Gause did not survive, its perhaps fancifully fallacious in its account of the US defence during the Japanese invasion of the Philipines itself, in the tradition of wartime flag-flapping movies like 'Bataan', which attempt to make a glorious rallying cry of something pretty ignominious.
If the campaigns of Singapore/Malaya and Philipines were Allied victories instead of complete, total, and lets face it, easy Japanese victories, we'd be deifying them as brilliant miraculous Allied offensives against a numerically superior enemy defence.
As it is, and as I see here in some of these reviews, and as we understandably did at the time, we cop out and falsify the truth talking about 'overwhelming Japanese forces' in places like Corrigidor, Bataan and Malaya/Singapore, or similiarly excuse German walkover victories in 1940-42.
the truth is, as all serious military historians certainly know now, and those in the know knew then, is that the Japanese forces that took half the Pacific and Asia as far as the Burma/India border in 1941-42 were not 'overwhelming' numerically, were in fact typically outnumbered overall by the US and British Commonwealth defending forces-add to that, the defenders typically were in possession of lavish supplies compared to the spartan Japanese.
In context here, what Im saying in relation to the Gause account of Corregidor and Bataan, is I perhaps doubt the complete accuracy of his claims of Japanese killed in some incidents, as an ex-WW2 German said once of our war-movies,
'if you had killed as many of us as easily and cheaply as in all these movies, we would have been already losing in 1939 and completely wiped out by 1940, instead of mostly kicking your arses for at least half the war and lasting 6 years against half the world.'
its true. Some historians , Allied, have soberly admitted that Allied victory was in fact rare except where the ALLIES showed up in overwhelming numbers, where the Allies were either defending or attacking. And there probably were no Allied offensives from numerical inferiority, whereas, even with the Japanese, less than 50000 rampaging Japanese SOMEHOW took the Kra peninsula from at least 100000 British Commonwealth troops, and in the Philipines, it was about the same ratio Japanese to US.
More honesty and credibility in some areas, please.
Summary: ONE OF THE BETTER ACCOUNTS OF THE WAR
Written in the first person, this is one of the better personal accounts of WWII that I have read. Despite the the author not being a professional writer, Gause has the ability to tell a story. If some of the stories have perhaps become blurred with the passing of time, it does not distract one bit from the overall deeds of the author and him comrades. I have had the wonderful opportunity over the years of talking with and listening to many veterans of this war and others, and having spent over twenty years in the service myself, I can pretty well spot crap when I see or hear it. This is honest stuff. Recommend you read this one and also add it to your collection.
Summary:
,
amazon.co.uk
,
google.com
