SURVIVING THE SWORD: PRISONERS OF THE JAPANESE

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INTRODUCING SLPL'S WWII FILM SERIES

See it for free on a big screen! Screening includes discussion led by Kit Freudenberg, Acting Director of the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri.

THE BATTLE OF IWO JIMA: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

The Battle of Iwo Jima (aka Operation Detachment) was a major battle in which the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps made an amphibious landing on the island of Iwo Jima and captured it from the Japanese. The intent of the American invasion was to gain control of the island's three airfields that (it was hoped) could be used to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese homeland. This five-week battle (19 February–26 March 1945) included some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

Wikipedia article—Battle of Iwo Jima:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Iwo_Jima

LIBRARY LOCATIONS

HG: History, Geography, & Travel Room (Central Library)
ELB: Entertainment, Literature, & Biography Room (Central Library)
SS: Social Sciences (Central Library)
ST: Stacks (Central Library)

BU: Buder Branch
CP: Carpenter Branch
DA: Julia Davis Branch
KI: Kingshighway Branch
MA: Machacek Branch
SC: Schlafly Branch

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Title: American Spartans: the U.S. Marines: a combat history from Iwo Jima to Iraq.
Author/Compiler: Warren, James A.
Local Call Number: SS [359.960973]
Publication Date: 2005.
Format: Books.

Title: Finding my father: the lifelong quest by an Iwo Jima Marine's son to know the man who was his father.
Author/Compiler: Pace, Robert Sidney.
Local Call Number: CP [306.8]
Publication Date 2009.
Format: Books.

Title: Indestructible: the unforgettable story of a marine hero at Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Lucas, Jack; and D. K. Drum.
Local Call Number: ELB [B LUCAS JACK]
Publication Date: 2006.
Format: Books.

Title: Island of terror: Battle of Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Hama, Larry; Erksine, Gary; and Anthony Williams.
Local Call Number: BU [940.5425213]
Publication Date: 2006.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima. Foreword by Harry Schmidt.
Author/Compiler: Newcomb, Richard F.
Local Call Number: ST [940.92]
Publication Date: 1965.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima: legacy of valor.
Author/Compiler: Ross, Bill D.
Local Call Number: ST [940.5426]
Publication Date: 1985.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima: monuments, memories, and the American hero.
Author/Compiler: Marling, Karal Ann. Wetenhall, John.
Local Call Number: ST [940.5426]
Publication Date: 1991.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima, springboard to final victory.
Author/Compiler: Henri, Raymond.
Local Call Number: ST [940.92]
Publication Date: 1945.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima: World War II veterans remember the greatest battle of the Pacific.
Author/Compiler: Smith, Larry Earl.
Local Call Number: HG, MA [940.542528]
Publication Date: 2008.
Format: Books.

Title: Iwo Jima: the young heroes.
Author/Compiler: Muscarella, Tony.
Local Call Number: ST [940.5426]
Publication Date: 1989.
Format: Books.

Title: Never in doubt: remembering Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Kessler, Lynn. Bart, Edmond B.
Local Call Number: ST [940.5426]
Publication Date: 1999.
Format: Books.

Title: The quiet hero: the untold medal of honor story of George E. Wahlen at the battle for Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Toyn, Gary W.
Local Call Number: HG [940.542528]
Publication Date 2006.
Format: Books.

Title: Red blood, black sand: fighting alongside John Basilone from boot camp to Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Tatum, Charles W.
Local Call Number: HG [940.542528]
Publication Date: 2012.
Format: Books.

Title: Shadow of Suribachi : raising the flags on Iwo Jima.
Author/Compiler: Albee, Parker Bishop; and Keller Cushing Freeman.
Local Call Number: ST [940.5426]
Publication Date 1995.
Format: Books.

THE RAPE OF NANKING

A massacre of horrific proportions took place beginning on 13 December 1937 when the Japanese army overthrew the ancient city of Nanking, China. Japanese soldiers then proceeded to rape, torture, and murder an estimated 200,000-300,000 Chinese civilians. Thousands more would likely have been slaughtered if European and American civilians working in Nanking had not created a “Safety Zone” where survivors could take shelter.

LIBRARY LOCATIONS

Central—Entertainment, Literature, & Biography (ELB)
Central—History, Geography, & Travel (HGT)
Central—Stacks (ST)
Buder Branch (BU)
Carondelet Branch (CO)
Carpenter Branch (CP)
Julia Davis Branch (DA)
Kingshighway Branch (KI)
Machacek Branch (MA)
Schlafly Branch (SC)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1997. HGT,BU,CO,CP,KI,MA—951.042

Chang, Ying-Ying, and Iris Chang. The Woman Who Could Not Forget: Iris Chang Before and Beyond the Rape of Nanking. New York: Pegasus, 2011. CP,DA,SC [B—CHANG]

Fogel, Joshua A. The Nanjing Massacre in History and Historiography. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. HGT—951.136

Honda, Katsuichi, Frank Gibney, and Karen E. Sandness. The Nanjing Massacre: A Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 1999. HGT—951.042

Kamen, Paula. Finding Iris Chang: Friendship, Ambition, and the Loss of an Extraordinary Mind. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2007. ELB [B—CHANG]

Piccigallo, Philip R. The Japanese on Trial: Allied War Crimes Operations in the East, 1945-1951. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979. ST—341.69

Rabe, John, and Erwin Wickert. The Good Man of Nanking: The Diaries of John Rabe. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1998. ST,DA,KI—940.5308

Tanaka, Toshiyuki. Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1996. ST—940.5405

Zhang, Kaiyuan. Eyewitnesses to Massacre: American Missionaries Bear Witness to Japanese Atrocities in Nanjing. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2001. CP—940.53

WAR BENEATH THE WAVES

INTRODUCTION

Sometime in the spring of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Navy to patrol shipping lanes to Europe. By July, U.S. warships were convoying for protection against German U-Boats, and by September were attacking German submarines when necessary (see the book below by Michael Gannon for more information). In November, the Neutrality Act was partly repealed to allow continuing U.S. military aid to Britain.

Submarine Warfare (Wikipedia article): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_warfare

ABBREVIATIONS

DA—Julia Davis Branch
HGT—History, Geography, and Travel (Central Library)
MA—Machacek Branch
ST—Stacks (Central Library)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bekker, Cajus. Hitler's Naval War. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1974. ST—940.5459

Calvert, James F. Silent Running: My Years on a World War II Attack Submarine. New York: J. Wiley, 1995. ST—940.5426

Fluckey, Eugene B. Thunder Below! The USS Barb Revolutionizes Submarine Warfare in World War II. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992. ST-940.545974

Galantin, I J. Take Her Deep!: A Submarine Against Japan in World War II. Chapel Hill, N.C: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1987. ST—940.5451

Gannon, Michael. Operation Drumbeat: The Dramatic True Story of Germany's First U-Boat Attacks Along the American Coast in World War II. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. ST—940.5451

Lowder, Hughston E, and Jack Scott. Batfish, the Champion "Submarine-Killer" Submarine of World War II. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1980. ST—940.5451

O'Kane, Richard H. Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous World War II Submarine. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1987. ST,MA—940.5451

Ruhe, William J. War in the Boats: My World War II Submarine Battles. Washington [D.C.: Brassey's, 1994. ST—940.5426

Werner, Herbert A. Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969. ST—940.5421

Wheeler, Keith. War Under the Pacific. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1980. DA—940.5451

THE BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA (6 AUGUST 1945)

Note: Wikipedia article on the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki:

LINK

Abbreviations include:

Library branches:

BU: Buder Branch
KI: Kingshighway Branch
SC: Schlafly Branch

Central Library locations:

HG: History, Geography, & Travel Room
ST: Stacks

Alperovitz, Gar. Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam: The Use of the Atomic Bomb and the American Confrontation with Soviet Power. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965. ST—327.73047

Barker, Rodney. The Hiroshima Maidens: A Story of Courage, Compassion, and Survival. New York, N.Y: Viking, 1985. ST,BU—940.5426

Hachiya, Michihiko, and Warner Wells. Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, August 6-September 30, 1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1955. ST,BU—940.92

Hersey, John. Hiroshima. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1989. BU,KI,SC—940.5425

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Physical, Medical, and Social Effects of the Atomic Bombings. New York: Basic Books, 1981. ST,BU—940.5426

Kurzman, Dan. Day of the Bomb: Countdown to Hiroshima. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986. ST,BU—940.5425

Lifton, Robert J. Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima. New York: Random House, 1968. ST—155.935

Maddox, Robert J. Weapons for Victory: The Hiroshima Decision Fifty Years Later. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1995. ST—940.5425

Rotter, Andrew J. Hiroshima: The World's Bomb. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ST—355.825119

Walker, Stephen. Shockwave: Countdown to Hiroshima. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2005. ST,BU—940.5425

Wyden, Peter. Day One: Before Hiroshima and After. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. ST—940.5426

JFK AND THE MOSQUITO FLEET

PT (Patrol Torpedo) boats were small fast vessels used by the U.S. Navy during World War II to attack larger Japanese naval vessels and cargo barges. Navy men called them the Mosquito Fleet; the Japanese called them Devil Boats. PT boats were armed with several torpedoes and two .50 caliber machine-guns, plus (in some cases) a 20 mm cannon. The crews of 12-17 men relied on the element of surprise, their vessel’s speed, and its small silhouette to avoid being targeted by the enemy.

Duty on a PT boat could be hazardous indeed; 99 of 531 (19%) were sunk by the Japanese, including PT 109 (famously commanded by Lt. [jg] John F. Kennedy). Kennedy’s boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and cut in half during the night of August 2, 1943. Of his crew of 13, two men died during the collision, while one was badly burned (but survived).

Abbreviations include:

Library branches:

BU: Buder Branch
CB: Cabanne Branch
MA: Machacek Branch

Central Library locations:

BG: Business, Government, & Law Room
EL: Entertainment, Literature, & Biography Room
HG: History, Geography, & Travel Room
ST: Stacks

Ballard, Robert D, and Michael H. Morgan. Collision with History: The Search for John F. Kennedy's PT-109. Washington, D.C: National Geographic Society, 2002. ST--940.545973

Breuer, William B. Devil Boats: The PT War Against Japan. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1987. HG--940.5426

Bulkley, Robert J. At Close Quarters: PT Boats in the United States Navy. Washington, D.C: Naval History Division, 1962. ST--940.92

Donovan, Robert J. PT 109: John F. Kennedy in World War II. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. ST--940.92

Dunnigan, James F, and Albert A. Nofi. Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific. New York: William Morrow and Co, 1995. MA,ST--940.5426

Marston, Daniel, and Daniel Marston. The Pacific War Companion: From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Oxford: Osprey, 2005. HG-940.5426

O'Brien, Michael. John F. Kennedy: A Biography. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2005. BU,EL--B KENNEDY JOHN

Polmar, Norman, and Samuel L. Morison. PT Boats at War: World War II to Vietnam. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub, 1999. BG—359.3258

Strahan, Jerry E. Andrew Jackson Higgins and the Boats That Won World War II. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994. ST—B HIGGINS

Tregaskis, Richard. John F. Kennedy and PT-109. New York: Random House, 1962. CB—940.92

THE BATTLE FOR TARAWA (20-23 November 1943)

In this first major U.S. offensive in the critical central Pacific area, the Marine Corps and Navy faced stubborn resistance by well-prepared Japanese defenders. In 76 hours of fighting, the Marines incurred 1,009 KIA and 2,101 WIA, while the Navy suffered 687 KIA. The Japanese suffered 4,690 KIA (only 17 Japanese soldiers surrendered).

Abbreviations include:

Library branches:

BU: Buder Branch
CP: Carpenter Branch
KI: Kingshighway Branch

Central Library locations:

HG: History, Geography, & Travel Room
ST: Stacks

Alexander, Joseph H. Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 1995. CP, ST—940.5426

Baldwin, Hanson W. Battles Lost and Won: Great Campaigns of World War II. New York: Harper & Row, 1966. BU—940.92

Chatfield, Gail. By Dammit, We're Marines!: Veterans' Stories of the Heroism, Horror, and Humor in World War II on the Pacific Front. Paragould, AR: Wyndham House Pub., Div.of Cloud Peak Pub, 2008. BU—940.54526

Drez, Ronald J. Twenty-five Yards of War: The Extraordinary Courage of Ordinary Men in World War II. New York: Hyperion, 2001. BU, KI—940.5308421

Rogal, William W. Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Beyond: A Mud Marine's Memoir of the Pacific Island War. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co, 2010. HG—940.545973

Russ, Martin. Line of Departure: Tarawa. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1975. ST—940.5426

Stockman, James R. The Battle for Tarawa. Washington: Historical Section, Division of Public Information, headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, 1947. ST—940.92

Werstein, Irving. Tarawa, a Battle Report. New York: Crowell, 1965. ST—940.92

Wheeler, Richard. A Special Valor: The U.S. Marines and the Pacific War. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. ST—940.5426

Wukovits, John F. One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa. New York: NAL Caliber, 2006. HG—940.5426681

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT-- PART I

The Manhattan Project: a Selected, Annotated Bibliography of Books in the Collection of St. Louis Public Library

PART I

Albright, Joseph and Marcia Kunstel. Bombshell: the Secret Story of America's Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy. New York: Times Books, 1997. 399 p. Photographs; bibliography; index. Central-HU 327.1247073

Story of the Soviet atomic bomb spy ring that focuses on Ted Hall, a physics prodigy who joined the Manhattan Project when he was only 18 years old. Although he worked as a spy for the Soviets for years, he managed to avoid detection until part of the Soviet archives became public in the 1990s, by which time he was retired and living in England.

Astor, Gerald. Operation Iceberg: the Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II. New York: Donald I. Fine, 1995. 480 p. Photographs; maps; bibliography; cast of characters; index. Central-HG 940.5425

Persons wishing to justify the avoidance of an invasion of the Japanese homeland by any means necessary need look no further than the invasion of Okinawa in May 1945. Okinawa, an island approximately halfway between the Philippine Islands and Tokyo, was a perfect jumping-off point for either an invasion of Japan or for saturation bombing of the Japanese mainland. Capturing the island from its 100,000 Japanese defenders resulted in 7,700 American soldiers KIA and 31,800 WIA, with further damage to the American fleet of 5,000 sailors and 34 ships lost, and 5,000 seamen wounded. Invasion planners used the examples of Iwo Jima and Okinawa to help them project estimates of the number of American casualties an invasion of Japan might produce (estimates ranged from a low of 250,000 to a high of 1,000,000). Such a potentially high cost in American lives was a major factor in President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and thus avoid an invasion of the Japanese homeland.

Bernstein, Jeremy. Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2004. 223 p. Photographs; illustrations; index. Central-HU, BU B

Biography by a man who knew Oppenheimer when he was teaching at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton in the late 1950s. The author has uncovered some remarkable stories about his subject, including the fact that other campers at a summer camp Oppenheimer attended while a teen painted his bottom and genitals green and locked him naked in an icehouse overnight. A life that included both that experience and the Trinity explosion on July 16, 1945, must have been an interesting one, indeed, and Bernstein does a great job of illuminating in a relatively small number of pages the life of a most complex individual.

Bird, Kai, and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus: the Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. NY: Alfred Knopf, 2005. 721 p. Photographs; bibliography; index. Central-HU, BU, CP, KI

The Pulitzer Prize-winning full-length biography of Oppenheimer is the first to tackle all aspects of his life: scientific, political, and personal. The authors read through thousands of pages of archival records, including massive FBI files, and interviewed one hundred Oppenheimer relatives, friends, and associates. The results of their hard work are visible on every page.

Conant, Jennet. 109 East Palace: Robert Oppenheimer and the Secret City of Los Alamos. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2005. 424 p. Photographs; maps; bibliography; index. Central-HG, BU 623, 45119

A study of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos facility that takes as its main characters J. Robert Oppenheimer, Los Alamos project director, and Dorothy McKibbin, receptionist and "gatekeeper" at Los Alamos. The author is the granddaughter of James B. Conant, a scientist and Manhattan Project top administrator. The book includes a look at the 1950s hearings during which Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance due to past association with known Communists, and describes the sad fates of Oppenheimer, his wife, and his daughter.

De Groot, Gerard J. The Bomb: a Life. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. 397 p. Photographs; bibliography; index. Central-HG, HU 623.4511909

An entertaining (yet highly critical) look at the development of nuclear weapons, including lengthy sections on the Manhattan project and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. The author's lengthy research includes lots of interesting details about the period, including the fact that when Paul Tibbets, pilot of the plane that dropped the Hiroshima bomb, tried to show a film of the Trinity bomb test to his flight crew, the projector jammed. Tibbets then had to attempt to describe to the crew the contents of the film. A crewman who witnessed Tibbets' talk said, "It was like some weird dream," although, at that time, he could not have known how right he was. We also learn that, at the time of the atomic bombing, the population of Hiroshima included approximately 5,000 American citizens- the children of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent who had been detained for security reasons by the American government.

Copyright © 2009 by St. Louis Public Library. All rights reserved.

See a complete list of bibliographies and indexes on the St. Louis Public Library website:

http://previous.slpl.org/libsrc/lisindex.htm

Thomas A. Pearson
Special Collections Department
St. Louis Public Library