Undefeated : America's Heroic Fight for Bataan and Corregidor

by Bill Sloan

• ISBN13: 9781439199640
• ISBN10: 1439199647
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-04-24
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary

An epic story of exceptional valor, and based on exclusive interviews with more than thirty survivors, Undefeated tells in gripping prose how outnumbered and outgunned American soldiers and airmen fought against invading Japanese forces in the Philippines at the beginning of World War II and then continued to resist through three harrowing years as POWs.Called “a master of the combat narrative” ( The Dallas Morning News), Bill Sloan captures the valor, fortitude, and suffering of the American defenders of the Philippines as no other author has. Abandoned by their government, the men and women of the American garrison struggled against impossible military odds, rampant disease, and slow starvation to delay inevitable surrender by the largest American military force ever. Rather than picturing these defenders as little more than helpless victims of an overwhelmingly powerful and sadistic enemyas most previous books about the Philippines campaign have done Undefeated credits American troops with the unexcelled heroism and indomitable spirit they displayed under the worst imaginable conditions. Interwoven throughout this panoramic narrative are the harrowing personal experiences of dozens of American soldiers, airmen, and Marines. Sloan also provides intimate, in-depth profiles of General Douglas MacArthur, who evacuated to Australia as the situation on Bataan worsened, and of General Jonathan Wainwright, who succeeded him as top U.S. commander in the Philippines and himself became a prisoner of the Japanese.

Author Biography

Bill Sloan is a respected military historian and the author of more than a dozen books, including Brotherhood of Heroes and The Ultimate Battle. A former investigative reporter and feature writer for the Dallas Times-Herald, where he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Sloan lives in Dallas, Texas.

Table of Contents

A $36-a-Month Paradise	p. 1
Paradise Lost	p. 24
A Black-and-Blue Christmas	p. 49
The Last Bridge to Nowhere	p. 75
Victory, Retreat, and a Final Charge	p. 100
Abandoning the Battling Bastards	p. 125
Chaos on a Collapsing Front	p. 149
Through One Hell to Another	p. 175
The Rockù"A Shining Example"	p. 201
O'Donnell and Other Horrors	p. 229
Hell ShipsùVoyages to Oblivion	p. 258
EscapeùThe Ultimate Revenge	p. 285
A Race Between Freedom and Death	p. 312
New Lives, Old Scars	p. 338
Sources and Notes	p. 365
Bibliography	p. 377
Acknowledgments	p. 383
Index	p. 385
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