A Magnificent Fight: The Battle for Wake Island

by Robert J. Cressman

Recounts how the Wake Island garrison survived nearly daily bombings and repulsed the first Japanese attempt to take the atoll.

Genres: World War II, Japan, American History, Military Fiction, Military History

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Naval historian Robert J. Cressman lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. His The Official Chronology of the United States Navy in World War II received a John Lyman Book Award (1999) and his body of work on U.S. naval aviation history was recognized by the Admiral Arthur W. Radford Award (2008).

Reviews

[Lawrence Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short account of the 1941 battle for Wake Island, Robert Cressman wastes no time in getting right into the action, recounting details of the epic 15 day defense of the atoll by U.S. Marines, Army and Navy personnel and civilian contractors. The reader will follow the struggle of the defenders coping with the daily raids by Japanese aircraft which slowly whittled away at the island's personnel and equipment followed by an attempted enemy landing on December 11 (handily repulsed with heavy loss to the Japanese) and the second and final assault on December 23, 1941, resulting in the garrison's surrender. Included are informative sidebars regarding weapons and short bios of the island commanders and other notable persons. The maps provided are more than adequate, is nicely illustrated with both American and Japanese photographs and provides a short bibliography for further reading.
However, this work is by no means definitive as there really is no discussion as to how Wake came to be part of America's defense in the Pacific or it's significance. Nor do you really get to know the officers and men who took part in its defense.
This volume is just one of a series of excellent booklets published by the Marine Corps Historical Division during the 50th anniversary commemoration of World War Two. Despite its flaws, I would recommend this as a great start for those interested in this chapter of the Pacific War.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe this is just the way the Navy publishing books are written, but this was a very granular and dry book. I would read pages of point by point information, then pretty much skip over a lot of interesting events.

For example, we had pages and pages talking about how many officers on task force 14 were frustrated and discussing mutiny when told to give up trying to help reinforce Wake Island...in granular and boring detail...but we had four lines mentioning that two contractors managed to avoid capture for 75 days after the surrender.

The mixed metaphors were also rather, um, peculiar. we had tapestry, forged and honed samuri blade and Damoclean sword all in one sentence.

All in all, this one was a slog to read.

[David Elkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid military history of a battle long forgotten and not studied by the general reader. No big movie either. The heroes are all gone. The author did an excellent job by using both American and Japanese sources. I gave a rating of three doe to the special niche it covers.

[frederick haustein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very god

the book was very accurate but it doesn't tell what
happened to them after they were taken prisoner.
the prison ship, China, Korea,Japan,for example.