The Twilight Riders The Last Charge of the 26th Cavalry

by Stevens, Peter F.

• ISBN13: 9780762764853
• ISBN10: 0762764856
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-04-01
• Publisher: Lyons Press

Summary

A stunning collision of militaray eras--The heroic and tragic final campaign of the U.S. horseback cavalry against the mechanized Japanese Army of World War II This the first book to chronicle the full drama of the 26th Cavalry's magnificent but doomed mounted campaign against the finest troops, air power, and tanks of the Japanese Army--a long neglected episode of World War II that marked the end of the grand tradition of the U.S. horseback cavalry. It was shortly after Pearl Harbor, and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines was underway. Among the Philippines' defenses was a group of Filipino noncommissioned officers and enlisted men, led by white American officers. They were from a different era--trained to fight on horseback as had the Cavalry in the Civil War. They battled fiercely against their Japanese foes but were, in the end, forced to slaughter their mounts and to give up the fight. Through extensive research based in part on in-depth interviews with 26th Cavalry veterans, author Peter F. Stevens brings this band of brothers and their beloved horses to life as they rode, fought, and bled together in the desperate, doomed struggle to stem the Imperial Japanese Army. Peter F. Stevensis the news and features editor ofThe Boston Irish Reporterand the award-winning author of several books, includingThe Voyage of the Catalpa. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Author Biography

Peter F. Stevens is the news and features editor of the Boston Irish Reporter and the award-winning author of several books, including The Voyage of the Catalpa. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Prologue: A Vision from Another Century	p. ix
The End of a Very Glamorous Time	p. 1
Like a Ton of Bricks	p. 2
Your Ass Belongs to the Japanese	p. 11
Saddle Up!	p. 33
The Bloody Road to Damortis	p. 42
A True Cavalry Action-Fit to Make a Man's Heart Sing	p. 57
To Be Held at All Costs	p. 58
This Is What We Were Trained For	p. 68
As Though They Were Silhouette Targets on the Rifle Range	p. 73
At Any Time from Then On	p. 89
There Still Seemed to Be a Chance	p. 93
Wind Up Our Little Ball of String	p. 107
Take Out Those Damn Tanks!	p. 108
Here Was a True Cavalry Action	p. 117
You Know What to Do	p. 127
Riding into the Twilight	p. 139
A Helluva Christmas	p. 140
A Beautiful Exhibition	p. 155
It Would Have to Do	p. 165
Like the End of the World	p. 173
We Will Stand Now and Take 'Em On	p. 182
I Began to Think That He Was Protecting Me	p. 192
The Final Charge	p. 204
The Quartermaster Has Confiscated Them	p. 221
Epilogue: Bataan and Beyond	p. 228
26th Cavalry Regiment Roster	p. 235
Acknowledgments	p. 248
Sources	p. 250
Endnotes	p. 262
Index	p. 281
About the Author	p. 290
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