What do you think?
Rate this book
X-Day: Japan: Front Line Reporting at the Greatest Invasion and the Dawn of Nuclear Warfare
In November of 1945 over a million fighting men clashed in the greatest amphibious invasion of human history. 400,000 American soldiers and Marines forced their way ashore. They were outnumbered by the Japanese but brought unprecedented firepower.
This Pacific “D-day” was called X-Day. Walter F. Tuttle was there as a front line reporter. This is his account. It is not a parade of military hardware and tactics, nor is it a political thriller. It is the story of fighting men, their field commanders, and the nation which supported them.
Nuclear weapons stood ready to join the battle. No one on the ground knew anything about atom bombs, until the world was turned upside down around them.
Additional information and the official preview can be found at the project web site, www.xdayjapan.com.
This Pacific “D-day” was called X-Day. Walter F. Tuttle was there as a front line reporter. This is his account. It is not a parade of military hardware and tactics, nor is it a political thriller. It is the story of fighting men, their field commanders, and the nation which supported them.
Nuclear weapons stood ready to join the battle. No one on the ground knew anything about atom bombs, until the world was turned upside down around them.
Additional information and the official preview can be found at the project web site, www.xdayjapan.com.
310 pages, Paperback
First published June 22, 2015
30 people are currently reading
295 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 28, 2015
This is an entertaining alternative history of the end of the Second World War. It is written from the perspective of front-line reporter Walter F. Tuttle.
It is deceptive, I was initially taken in after winning a review copy in a Goodreads First Reads draw. The action starts with Tuttle on shore-leave in California before returning to the Pacific. This coincides with the first Atomic Bomb test at Los Alamos.
He follows the American invasion, recounting the personal stories of the soldiers he encounters along the way. This fleshes out the detail and gives a personal touch to the story. The accounts work well and have the feel of other books written of a similar time, "The Thin Red Line" comes to mind.
The book attempts to describe what may have happened had the decision not to drop atomic bombs on civilian centres. The book appears to be well-researched and plausible. The ending was surprising to me and had me researching MacArthur's alternative scenarios for the planned invasion.
It is deceptive, I was initially taken in after winning a review copy in a Goodreads First Reads draw. The action starts with Tuttle on shore-leave in California before returning to the Pacific. This coincides with the first Atomic Bomb test at Los Alamos.
He follows the American invasion, recounting the personal stories of the soldiers he encounters along the way. This fleshes out the detail and gives a personal touch to the story. The accounts work well and have the feel of other books written of a similar time, "The Thin Red Line" comes to mind.
The book attempts to describe what may have happened had the decision not to drop atomic bombs on civilian centres. The book appears to be well-researched and plausible. The ending was surprising to me and had me researching MacArthur's alternative scenarios for the planned invasion.
October 18, 2017
Amazing read
Very well written account of the fictional invasion of Japan. This author struck good pace and kept going. A great read!!!
Very well written account of the fictional invasion of Japan. This author struck good pace and kept going. A great read!!!
March 17, 2016
What if the initial tests on the A-Bomb in New Mexico in 1945 were a bust? The U.S. would have had to try to defeat Japan the conventional way with boots on the ground in an invasion of Japan. This book reports very realistically what that scenario would have been like. At times you forget that this is a fictional account of fighting on Kyushu, the southern island of Japan. Over a six month period, nearly 400,000 US Army and Marines invade and clear out Japanese forces on their home island. There are tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. If you've ever wondered what an invasion of Japan would look like, this is the mirror into that event. Very well written through the eyes of a combat reporter who visits different US units in the battle.
November 7, 2015
It is strictly a chronicle of a possible landing in Japan , as if the Japanese did not surrender and the Atomic bomb were not launched over Hitoshima and Nagasaki.
The invasion takes place in November after a furious hurricane hits the invasion force and delivers a lot of damage.
Afterwards the invasion is told by a journalist, who has the excuse to look at most of what happened, but from a slightly more detached point of view.
If you like a good recounting of what could have happened, it is a good book. Be prepared to use a map of Japan to understand what is happening where. If you do not like a chronicle of a war then this book is not for you
The invasion takes place in November after a furious hurricane hits the invasion force and delivers a lot of damage.
Afterwards the invasion is told by a journalist, who has the excuse to look at most of what happened, but from a slightly more detached point of view.
If you like a good recounting of what could have happened, it is a good book. Be prepared to use a map of Japan to understand what is happening where. If you do not like a chronicle of a war then this book is not for you
August 18, 2015
This is a marvelous discourse on the events that led up to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. It’s not tech heavy like Clancy, a given since it’s from a reporters viewpoint. But what it is an honest look at soldiers and sailors with some very heartfelt and amusing stories at the beginning and some dramatic and intense stories as the author gets closer to the action.
Free review copy.
Free review copy.
October 5, 2015
Does not know anything about what might have happened.
No way the Japanese military could have put up the types of defense that the author suggests. MacArthur would have planned an attack much like he did in Korea.
No way the Japanese military could have put up the types of defense that the author suggests. MacArthur would have planned an attack much like he did in Korea.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews