The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It
Written by Robert Gandt
Narrated by John Pruden
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Derived from interviews with and newly discovered memoirs, journals, and correspondence of Okinawa veterans from both the American and Japanese sides, The Twilight Warriors provides a thrilling you-are-there narrative. Like the HBO series The Pacific, this book combines thrilling action with human stories of courage and sacrifice and triumph. It's Band of Brothers at sea and in the sky.
Robert Gandt
Robert Gandt is a former naval officer and aviator, an international airline captain, and a prolific military and aviation writer. He is the author of thirteen books, including the novels The Killing Sky and Black Star Rising and the definitive work on modern naval aviation, Bogeys and Bandits. His screen credits include the television series Pensacola: Wings of Gold. He and his wife, Anne, live with their airplanes in Spruce Creek, a flying community in Daytona Beach, Florida. You may visit his website at www.gandt.com
Related to The Twilight Warriors
Related audiobooks
A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lions of Iwo Jima: The Story of Combat Team 28 and the Bloodiest Battle in Marine Corps History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rising Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Challenge for the Pacific: Guadalcanal: The Turning Point of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hell from the Heavens: The Epic Story of the USS Laffey and World War II's Greatest Kamikaze Attack Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Morning Star, Midnight Sun: The Early Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign of World War II August–October 1942 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fighting the Flying Circus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Silver State Dreadnought: The Remarkable Story of Battleship Nevada Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devil Dogs: From Guadalcanal to the Shores of Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rocky Boyer's War: An Unvarnished History of the Air Blitz that Won the War in the Southwest Pacific Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSink ‘Em All: Submarine Warfare in the Pacific Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ship That Wouldn't Die: The Saga of the Uss Neosho - a World War II Story of Courage and Survival at Sea Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Aleutian Islands Campaign: The History of Japan's Invasion of Alaska during World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pacific Thunder: The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle for Hell's Island: How a Small Band of Carrier Dive-Bombers Helped Save Guadalcanal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Frozen Chosen: The 1st Marine Division and the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Canada Won the Great War Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Heart of Hell: The Untold Story of Courage and Sacrifice in the Shadow of Iwo Jima Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/582 Days on Okinawa: One American’s Unforgettable Firsthand Account of the Pacific War’s Greatest Battle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tin Can Sailor: Life Aboard the USS Sterett, 1939-1945 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Red Blood, Black Sand: Fighting Alongside John Basilone from Boot Camp to Iwo Jima Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Measureless Peril: America in the Fight for the Atlantic, the Longest Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paratrooper Generals: Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and the American Airborne from D-Day through Normandy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouth Pacific Destroyer: The Battle for the Solomons from Savo Island to Vella Gulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan 1942-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5U.S.S. Seawolf: Submarine Raider of the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Wars & Military For You
American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Stepping on My Cloak and Dagger Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Diary of Anne Frank Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Kill Anything That Moves Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5On Palestine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Korean War: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin - Book Summary: How U.S. Navy SEALS Lead And Win Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Founding Mothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make It Home Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Twilight Warriors
31 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert Gandt does a fine job retelling the oft-described Battle for Okinawa through the stories of the Twilight Warriors. These men were late to WW2 and were quite concerned that they might be missing it. The conflict for this Pacific Island was the most savage and costly battle ever for the US Navy. For the first time, the Japanese defenders had all the elements for fighting a well-equipped battle against American military. power. They had 100,000+ troops, artillery, food and ammunition as well as a new and devastating air weapon, the Kamikaze. Amazingly, he was able to interview survivors in 2009 testifying to how young they were during this difficult time.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5At times, this book becomes rather tedious. The same facts seem to be repeating themselves over and over with little progress. From this and other sources, one has to raise the question: was it necessary to fight this battle? It is clear that while the top brass of Army and Navy saluted the same flag, they weren't always on the same course. Once into the battle, for fear of igniting another episode of Navy vs. Army leadership, a World War I type general was allowed to plod along in his own way.But as one reads the same scenario over and over, one begins to see a foretelling of what the next step (the invasion of Japan proper) would be like. The things that might provoke a western-style leadership to think of ending the war were utterly foreign to the Japanese mind. Briefly, there was in Japanese thinking a sense that dying for the Emperor was the highest honor a person could achieve. Where the western mind would call for great sacrifice to protect home and family, the Japanese mind seems all that can possibly be done for the Emperor should be done.If there ever was an object lesson for Harry Truman to convince him to use the Atomic Bomb, Okinawa provided that lesson. Our losses there were extraordinary for the end achieved. One would have to be very gullible indeed to think that at this stage of the war with Japan that Japan would suddenly reverse itself. The morality of dropping the bomb has to be measured against the morality of not dropping the bomb. It is argued that Japan was on its last legs and that it couldn't prosecute the war much longer -- one need only study the use of a device utterly foreign to western thinking: the kamikaze. Every type of aircraft that could get a man into the air with a bomb was used and this even included bi-planes! Okinawa proved beyond doubt that Harry Truman did the right thing.