The Devil Boats


Book Description

PT boats loom large in the popular imagination of World War II. In March 1942, a PT boat evacuated Gen. Douglas MacArthur, his family, and top staff from the Philippines, which inspired the war movie They Were Expendable, directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. John F. Kennedy became a war hero while commanding PT-109, which collided with a Japanese destroyer and was sunk in August 1943. But the story of PT boats has never been told in the depth and detail that their exemplary service deserves. Naval historian C. J. Skamarakas uses one Pacific PT boat squadron to tell the story of PT boats in action in World War II. Eighty feet long, PT boats were designed to launch torpedoes against enemy ships five and ten times their own size. But defects in the torpedoes and the boats’ speed and maneuverability ultimately shifted the boats’ mission to patrolling and breaking up Japanese shipping and reinforcements. In the waters of the Southwest Pacific as part of MacArthur’s offensives in New Guinea and the Philippines, Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 25 completed these missions and also executed other operations for which they weren’t specifically trained, including inserting commandos behind enemy lines, air-sea rescue, raids on enemy positions, reconnaissance of potential sites for amphibious landings, coordination of air strikes in support of ground forces, meetings with guerrilla leaders, recovery of prisoners of war, diversionary activities, and psychological operations. Today we would call many of their missions “special ops.” The Japanese called PT boats “mosquitoes” and “devil boats.” The Devil Boats recounts the unique contributions of one motor torpedo boat squadron and through it tells the story of PT boats in the Pacific War. With drama and excitement, as well as careful attention to detail, the book fills a void in the history of the U.S. Navy in World War II.




The Devil Boat


Book Description




Devil Boats


Book Description

Mark Rupert traces the relationship between American global power and the rise of mass production. The United States was propelled to the apex of the global division of labor, ensuring victory in World War II and enabling postwar reconstruction under American leadership. Through a study of Ford Motor Company between 1914 and 1952, he examines the political and ideological struggles through which industrial labor was incorporated into the coalition of statesmen and capitalists that constructed the postwar world order.




The Devil's Boat


Book Description

From the day that they buy their own boat, a coral diver and his son sense it is cursed by the devil.




The Devil’s Plan Versus God’s Mercy


Book Description

Known for his wild, rough, and Mafia-like ways, Vernon Goff from Everglades City Florida, was no stranger to the swamp, deep waters, or sawed off shotguns. He eventually found himself on the wrong side of the government and faced the cold hard truths of being an outlaw. In The Devil’s Plan versus God’s Mercy, he tells his story, sharing how despite the devil’s attempt to destroy him, God’s mercy prevailed time and again throughout his life. This memoir chronicles his growing up years, learning to fish and crab in the Everglades and finding a taste for alcohol. Goff tells how drugs and money tempted him and finally undid him. Sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, he had plenty of time to contemplate his past and future. The Devil’s Plan versus God’s Mercy chronicles how Goff fought to overcome his sin and temptation and became a born-again Christian, understanding anyone can serve the devil. It takes a real man to humble himself and serve the living God.




DEVIL'S BACKBONE, THE


Book Description

With a history as dark and bloody as any in our nation, the Natchez Trace has always been more than just a thoroughfare. Growing out of a need for a return route for flatboats that floated down the Mississippi, the Trace winds up from Natchez, Mississippi, through Alabama and ends in Nashville, Tennessee. From the start, the Natchez Trace was alive with rugged pioneers, politicians, ladies of fashion, settlers, soldiers, and robbers. You'll learn about the trail and the notable figures who traversed it, such as Aaron Burr, Andrew Jackson, George Washington, Daniel Boone, and Meriwether Lewis, whose death on the Trace is still a mystery. Leading all the way to Texas, the Natchez Trace was the road for troops going to the Battle of New Orleans, the path walked by the men who were to die at the Alamo, and an escape route for slaves. The Devil's Backbone is chock full of the ever-changing parade of travelers along the Natchez Trace. The author tells the story of the people who built America, crossing a wilderness to create a nation.




The Devil's Playground


Book Description

The Devil's Playground is a timely account of what it is like to serve along perhaps the most dangerous and sensitive strip of land in the world. In recent months two bullet-riddled attempted escapes from North to South brought worldwide headlines. And with Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un exchanging threats, the world hopes for a diplomatic solution, but watches with bated breath. Author Gary L. Bloomfield, a military journalist in what is called “the demilitarized” zone between North and South Korea in the 1970s, combines his personal experience with interviews and historical insights to present a fresh, up-to-date, account of what it is like to serve on perhaps the most contentious strip of land in the world today. The Devil’s Playground combines history with current events that today have the rest of the world watching, hoping there is no explosion, which could lead to a nuclear war. While world attention is focused on the Koreas, few people understand what is at stake and what happens there every day. Here is the unfiltered answer. Formed in 1953 after the Korean War ended in a stalemate, the demilitarized zone is anything but. It is in fact one of the most heavily-armed regions in the world--a powder keg just waiting for someone to light the fuse. There have been more than 40,000 truce violations ranging from minor fisticuffs to brutal killings, from moving heavy artillery into the zone to assassination attempts in downtown Seoul since the Armistice Agreement was signed. The demilitarized zone is also the focus of an intense propaganda war—with thousands of flyers sent across the border each year from both sides. Few people realize that over the years North Korea has trained 100,000 men for guerrilla warfare across the border, and it is unknown how many have already secreted themselves in South Korea. It is the duty of the American and South Korean soldiers there to stop them. Gary Bloomfield presents here the first unvarnished accounts of the tension and the impact serving on the line can bring. Just one example: Though firefights are rare, US soldiers often hear North Korean soldiers and their laughter and the taunts, but they rarely see their tormentors. Life along the demilitarized zone is a war of nerves, a game of cat and mouse, though it’s hard to tell who’s chasing whom. Bloomfield covers it all in unsparing detail and offers fascinating previously little-known details. Life along the demilitarized zone is a war of nerves, a game of cat and mouse, though it’s hard to tell who’s chasing whom. Bloomfield covers it all in unsparing detail and offers fascinating details. Here is Guardpost Ouellette, which some American soldiers call the edge of the world; or Radar Site #4, overlooking the truce village of PanMunJom to the west, a hilltop where the tension is thick 24 hours a day; deadly minefields and miles of razor-sharp concertina wire and the desperate people who try of pass over them. Here also are the trigger-happy, shoot-to-kill sentries along the border on both sides; concrete bunkers with 24-hour guards armed with machine-guns, and spotlights, trip flares and other sensing devices concealed everywhere add to the heavily-fortified barrier against a North Korean attack. And of course the details of the Tree Incident in 1976, which nearly triggered World War III. The Devil's Playground is a living history with the spit of real life and a vivid look at brinksmanship in its most precarious state.




Under a Blood Red Sun


Book Description

During the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, a small group of American sailors in the Philippines were propelled into the forefront of the fighting. They were manned with six small wooden torpedo (PT) boats and led by a courageous, larger-than-life character in Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley. The men of Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 faced insurmountable odds as they conducted a series of heroic operations against the navy and air power of Imperial Japan. As AmericaÕs defense of the Philippines crumbled under the weight of a massive Japanese assault, the courageous activities of BulkeleyÕs men made headlines across the U.S.Ñoften as the only good news coming from the bleak Pacific front. The unit achieved everlasting fame by evacuating General Douglas MacArthur from the front. Then the squadron continued to fight on until all six of its torpedo boats were lost under fire. The fate of the doomed American defenders was sealed when the Japanese won the battle for the islands in the spring of 1942. The exploits of the unit were immortalized in the blockbuster 1945 movie They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, but since then the saga of Bulkeley and his men has slipped into history. Under a Blood Red Sun revives the story of the Philippine PT-boats through the intertwined accounts of Bulkeley and his subordinate officers and men. It is a story of the courage and sacrifice of men thousands of miles from their homeland, representing American gallantry and fighting prowess, while giving the Japanese a taste of what was further to come their way.




THE DEVIL'S ADMIRAL


Book Description

This carefully crafted ebook: "THE DEVIL'S ADMIRAL" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Excerpt: "Captain Riggs had a trunk full of old logbooks, and he said any of them would make a better story than the Kut Sang. The truth of it was, he didn't want me to write this story. There were things he didn't wish to see in type, perhaps because he feared to read about himself and what had happened in the old steamer in the China Sea…" Frederick Ferdinand Moore was an American author, sailor and war correspondent.




The Devil's Captain


Book Description

Born to sail the high seas, young Englishman Bart Roberts shipped aboard the merchant trader Princess, bound for the Dark Continent. But Roberts was headed for another destiny that began when his vessel was waylaid by cruel freebooters off the Guinea Coast. His sword spilling pirate blood on the well-worn decks, Roberts fought long and hard until the brigands overran his ship, killing the captain and shanghaiing him as part of their crew. But he learned the buccaneer craft faster than most and soon he was captain of the Royal Fortune, flying the black flag as the scourge of the Atlantic. His Majesty抯 warships, no match for the twenty-four pounders and nimble speed of his ship, 揃lack?Bart sailed south to the Caribbean, preying upon the rich galleys of treasure headed back from the New World. But when dreaded Don Esteban, commander of the Spanish fleet off Hispaniola, planned to attack the island of Nassau, the commander of the Royal Navy turned to the man he called 搕he Devil抯 Captain?in a bold plan of treachery that ended in a great sea battle with the sea running red with Spanish blood.