More on the Battle of Saipan

I thought I had left Saipan for new shores, but thanks to my blog, the island and it's history has followed me.  I was recently contacted by the publishers for a new book about the  battle of Saipan, and they asked if I'd like to read an advance copy of the forthcoming book, Their Backs Against the Sea.

When I was in Saipan, I visited the War Memorial Park, which has a small museum and gift shop.  The museum provided a lot of good information about the Battle for Saipan, as one would expect, but I was surprised to find the book selection about the battle was limited to non-existent.   Even their small library of reference material did not contain any books focused on the battle, which really surprised me.  So, you can imagine I was very happy to hear about Bill Sloan's new book, Their Backs Against the Sea.

However, I was a little surprised that a new book about a WWII battle was coming out this long after the war, and wondered what insight he could bring beyond compiling the accounts from other books about the Pacific campaign.  I was surprised to learn that Bill was able to interview some of the men who were involved with the battle!  Additionally, he notes in the Acknowledgements that this may be the last book he writes about the war, "not because there aren't any more stories, but because only a rapidly vanishing handful of the people who lived those stories are still around."

I'm grateful that Bill was able to capture the harrowing accounts from these men before they were lost along with all the veterans of these battles.  Bill account of the battle of Saipan, as well as the follow on battle to take Tinian, is well researched and written.   Often, when one writes or reads about warfare it can become statistical and broad-brushed, removing the humanity, loss, and individual sacrifice.  In Their Backs Against the Sea, Bill litters his account of the battle with the personal stories of the men that did the fighting.  Their accounts bring chaos, fear, loss, and amazing sacrifices to life and keep the reader on the edge of his seat and the pages turning until the Acknowledgements give way to the pages of sources that made this book possible.  Bill's efforts remind the reader that the men who fought the battles were sons, brothers, friends and comrades not merely numbers.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the battle for Saipan is considered the 'Normandy' of Pacific campaign.  It marked the beginning of the end for the Japanese empire, and yet you rarely hear much about it.  Fortunately, we now have a page turning account about the men who answered the call to service and fought this critical battle for God, country and the comrades on their left and right.  If you want to learn more about this battle and the brave men who fought it, I recommend Their Backs Against the Sea by Bill Sloan.