Best of
American-History

1946

One Damned Island After Another: The Saga of the Seventh


Clive Howard - 1946
     Just over a year later the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor devastated this force. Out of a total of 231 aircraft of the Hawaiian Air Force, 64 were destroyed and not more than 79 were left usable. Out of the inferno emerged the newly reformed Seventh Air Force. It faced, in the central Pacific, the largest water theater in the world — sixteen million square miles, five times the size of the United States. The Americans patched up their planes as best they could and began to fly the "Atoll Circuit," the low-lying, white sand atolls and the first stepping stones on the long road to Tokyo. In this huge area and against a fearsome opponent, the men of the Seventh were forced to fly the longest missions in any theater of war, entirely over water and, at first, without fighter escort. They fought at Midway, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, Truk, Saipan, Palau, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and finally Tokyo. Clive Howard and Joe Whitley’s history of this remarkable air force covers from the events at Pearl Harbor through to V-J Day, covering every single island that the force landed on in between. They listened to demand of Corporal Earl Nelson’s article “Heroes Don’t Win Wars”, that criticised the press and radio that only recorded the fantastic achievements of men who wore medals; “Why don’t they talk about the guy who is just a soldier?” So with humor and insight Howard and Whitley have provided us with a history of the Seventh Air Force that doesn’t focus on only the glorious achievements of some men, nor does it simply record the accounts of the “brass hats”, but instead gets to the heart of what the men of this extraordinary force did and thought. Clive Howard and Joe Whitley were both sergeants and served as correspondents for the Seventh Air Force. They were there; they saw it happen. Their book One Damned Island After Another was first published in 1946.

Submarine!


Edward L. Beach - 1946
    It was a duty few men could handle—and even fewer would survive.This is the true story of those brave men who served and too often died under the ocean surface, written by a man who was there. Edward L. Beach masterfully weaves his gripping experiences aboard the USS Trigger with those of other boats fighting the war in the Pacific. Part action-packed combat chronicle, part testament to the courageous sacrifices made by those who never came back, this is a compelling eyewitness account of the war as few have seen it.

Coral Comes High: U.S. Marines and the Fight for Peleliu


George P. Hunt - 1946
     The 1st Marines stormed the Pacific island of Peleliu. Captain Hunt and his company of two hundred and thirty-five men were among some of the first to land; forty-eight hours later, only seventy-eight of them were alive. Outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy, they beat off all attacks with a courage which is at the same time matter-of-fact and superhuman individual, yet collective and drawn from the real comradeship of men who cannot let each other down. Here are dramatic accounts of wounded men miraculously still fighting, of two men seen in silhouette at night against the flashes of guns in a death struggle atop a cliff, of the flame-scarred bodies of Japanese in caves and pillboxes, of a nervous and badly scared youngster shooting one of his own comrades. When, at last, relief came and Captain Hunt and his handful of men staggered back to the beach, they had withstood three terrible counterattacks and killed more than five hundred enemy soldiers. “Coral Comes High is an unpretentious, stark, blow-by-blow story of a terrible action, well told in the fewest possible words” Time Magazine “This is a story of fighting men told by a fighting man.” General Alexander Vandegrift, United States Marine Corps. Captain Hunt served in the 1st Regiment of the 1st Marine Division in the South Pacific and was decorated with the Silver Star medal and the Navy Cross. He received the Navy Cross for his part in the action described in this book. The citation for this decoration relates how Captain Hunt's company of riflemen was reduced to thirty-four men; how these survivors defended an isolated position "against three counterattacks killing four hundred and twenty-two Japanese.” After the war he worked as a writer and editor for Fortune and Life magazines. Coral Comes High was first published in 1946 and Hunt passed away in 1991.

Pocahontas


Ingri d'Aulaire - 1946
    When the Natives judge the white man's magic as evil, John Smith is condemned to death— - only the intervention of Pocahontas saves his life and a tentative friendship is established between Pocahontas's tribe and the new colonists. The King of England sends a crown, rich robes and a royal bed to honor Powhatan and he is pleased, but the white man's insistence that the Indians give them corn to sustain them through the long winters threatens their tenuous relationship. Pocahontas's ultimate marriage to John Rolfe, the birth of their son, their voyage to England and presentation to the King and Queen is the stuff of fairy tales except that it is one of the great true stories of America's earliest days. 46pg

Not So Wild a Dream


Eric Sevareid - 1946
    In this brilliant first-person account of a young journalist's experience during World War II, Sevareid records both the events of the war and the development of journalistic strategies for covering international affairs. He also recalls vividly his own youth in North Dakota, his decision to study journalism, and his early involvement in radio reporting during the beginnings of World War II.

Clara Barton: Founder of the American Red Cross


Augusta Stevenson - 1946
    With these lively, inspiring, fictionalized biographies - easily read by children of eight and up - today's youngster is swept right into history.

The Roosevelt I Knew


Frances Perkins - 1946
    Cabinet. When Frances Perkins first met Franklin D. Roosevelt at a dance in 1910, she was a young social worker and he was an attractive young man making a modest debut in state politics. Over the next thirty-five years, she watched his career unfold, becoming both a close family friend and a trusted political associate whose tenure as secretary of labor spanned his entire administration. FDR and his presidential policies continue to be widely discussed in the classroom and in the media, and "The Roosevelt I Knew" offers a unique window onto the man whose courage and pioneering reforms still resonate in the lives of Americans today.

Mr. Lincoln's Camera Man: Mathew B. Brady


Roy Meredith - 1946
    With his assistants and his horse-drawn photographic wagon, Brady accompanied the troops and recorded the war firsthand. His war pictures are among the greatest war photographs ever taken, and constitute a prized pictorial record of American history.A photographer much in demand by statesmen and celebrities, Brady amassed a gallery of distinguished portraits. Most famous of these is the "Brady Lincoln," the photograph used for the engraving of the Lincoln head on the five-dollar bill. There are even photographs of Brady himself. But the heart of the book is the Civil War photographs: Battle Smoke, Union Wounded at Fredericksburg, Burnside's Bridge over the Antietam, Death of a Rebel Sniper, Remains of the Dead at Chancellorsville, Embalming Surgeon at Work, Atlanta Ga. Just After Its Capture, and others. Meredith's text tells the story behind many of the photographs and gives a lively account of Brady's life and times.In this Dover edition almost all the photographic prints have been reproduced directly from negatives and photographs on file at the Library of Congress — they are sharper and clearer than the reproductions in the first edition; numbers for all negatives are now included — a great boon to Brady picture research; and corrections have been made in the attributions of some of the photographs.

Voyage to Somewhere


Sloan Wilson - 1946
    Homesick for his wife, he has no choice but to accept the assignment and a crew of twenty-six landlubbers whose last names all begin with W. Their first load of cargo? Pineapples destined for Hawaii. Life aboard the one-hundred-eighty-foot SV-126 is never dull. When Barton isn’t battling gale-force winds and monstrous waves, he is coping with seasick sailors and budding rivalries that threaten to turn mutinous. Hanging over the ship like a storm cloud is the knowledge that the world is at war and the enemy is never far away. Whether Lieutenant Barton and his crew are fighting torpedoes and typhoons or writing letters to loved ones, Voyage to Somewhere offers a unique and page-turning perspective on what the Second World War was really like.

Eddie Rickenbacker


Hans C. Adamson - 1946
    A daredevil from an early age, he was fascinated by machines of all kinds but especially aeroplanes. He enlisted in the U.S. army as early as he could in 1917 and arrived in France in June 1917, initially he was thwarted in his efforts to get his ‘wings’ by officers who wanted to retain him as a ground based mechanic. However, his rise to ‘ace’ status was rapid once he got into the air. Having only shot down his first enemy aircraft on the 29 April 1918, by the end of the war he had claimed 26 victories and become commander of the famous ‘Hat-In-the-Ring’ squadron. The inter-war years saw Rickenbacker cement his relationship with Eastern Air Lines, which he would one day lead, and a number of forays into motor racing. His service in World War II saw him range far and wide on missions across America and further afield to Russia; during one of his inspection tours his B-17 Flying Fortress was forced to ditch in the Pacific Ocean. In his most famous death-defying feat Rickenbacker, Adamson and a few of the crew survived adrift in life rafts for 24 days; held together by Rickenbacker’s leadership they were rescued on November 13 off the coast of Nukufetau in Tuvalu.A highly recommended biography of one of American Aviation’s greatest heroes.

The Pictorial History of the Second World War, Vol. 4


W.H. Wise and Co. - 1946
    

The Last of the Bandit Riders


Matt Warner, Murray E. King - 1946
    The life and exploits of Matt Warner, Utah highwayman and outlaw, fill this volume with drama as enthralling as anything to be found in the famous career of Jesse James.

Combat History of the Second Infantry Division in World War II


U.S. Department of the Army - 1946
    Overseas: 10 October 1943. Campaigns: Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland. Days of combat: 303. After training in Ireland and Wales from October 1943 to June 1944, the 2d Infantry Division crossed the channel to land on Omaha Beach on D plus 1, 7 June 1944, near St. Laurent-sur-Mer. Attacking across the Aure River, the Division liberated Trevieres, 10 June, and proceeded to assault and secure Hill 192, the key enemy strongpoint on the road to St. Lo. With the hill taken 11 July 1944, the Division went on the defensive until 26 July. Exploiting the St. Lo break-through, the 2d Division advanced across the Vire to take Tinchebray 15 August 1944. The Division then moved west to join the battle for Brest, the heavily defended fortress surrendering 18 September 1944 after a 39-day contest. The Division took a brief rest 19-26 September before moving to defensive positions at St. Vith. The German Ardennes offensive in mid-December forced the Division to withdraw to defensive positions near Elsenborn, where the German drive was halted. In February 1945 the Division attacked, recapturing lost ground, and seized Gemund, 4 March. Reaching the Rhine 9 March, the 2d advanced south to take Breisig, 10-11 March, and to guard the Remagen bridge, 12-20 March. The Division crossed the Rhine 21 March and advanced to Hadamar and Limburg, relieving elements of the 9th Armored Division, 28 March. Advancing rapidly in the wake of the 9th Armored, the 2d Division crossed the Weser at Veckerhagen, 6-7 April, captured. Gottingen 8 April, established a bridgehead across the Saale, 14 April, seizing Merseburg on the 15th. On the 18th the Division took Leipzig, mopped up in the area, and outposted the Mulde River; elements which had crossed the river were withdrawn 24 April. Relieved on the Mulde, the 2d moved 200 miles, 1-3 May, to positions along the GermanCzech border near Schonsee and Waldmunchen, and attacked in the general direction of Pilsen, reaching that city as the war in Europe ended. Nickname: Indian head; Slogan: Second to none. Shoulder patch: An Indian head on a white star superimposed on black shield.

Lincoln's War Cabinet (History - United States)


Burton J. Hendrick - 1946
    

Pictorial History of the Second World War: Volume 5


W.H. Wise and Co. - 1946
    

The Bitter Season


Robert M. Coates - 1946