Devil Dogs

First in, Last out - King Company from Guadalcanal to the Shores of Japan

Saul David

• Publisher: William Collins
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9780008395780
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World War II
• Index: History

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Maps
• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1 ‘I would’ve followed him anywhere’ Southwest Pacific, 6 August 1942
• 2 ‘Where I’m going will either make or break me’ Southwest Pacific, 6 August 1942
• 3 ‘Will I run? Will I be afraid?’ British Solomon Islands, 7 August 1942
• 4 ‘You think we’ll ever get off this damned island?’ Guadalcanal, 8–11 August 1942
• 5 The Goettge Patrol Guadalcanal, 12 August 1942
• 6 ‘Boy, they were a sight for sore eyes!’ Guadalcanal, 18 August–14 September 1942
• 7 ‘A pesthole that reeked of death, struggle and disease’ Guadalcanal, September 1942
• 8 ‘Thirty hours of pure hell’ Guadalcanal, October 1942
• 9 ‘It was just a crazy thing to do’ The Battle of Point Cruz, 1–4 November 1942
• 10 ‘We’ve got the bastards licked!’ Guadalcanal, 7 November–9 December 1942
• 11 ‘Saviours of Australia’ Brisbane and Melbourne, December 1942–January 1943
• 12 ‘The trick is to run just fast enough’ Camp Balcombe, January–March 1943
• 13 New Arrivals Camp Balcombe, March–June 1943
• 14 Planning for Action Southwest Pacific, March–December 1943
• 15 Green Hell Cape Gloucester, 26 December 1943–2 January 1944
• 16 Suicide Creek Cape Gloucester, 3–4 January 1944
• 17 ‘So long, Dutch’ Cape Gloucester, 3–8 January 1944
• 18 Walt’s Ridge Cape Gloucester, 9–10 January 1944
• 19 Seek and Destroy New Britain, January–February 1944
• 20 Operation Appease Talasea, March 1944
• 21 ‘The sickness, the rain, the spider’ New Britain, March–May 1944
• 22 ‘Whose bright idea was this anyway?’ Pavuvu Island, May 1944
• 23 Changing Places Pavuvu Island, May–June 1944
• 24 Operation Stalemate Southwest Pacific, June–July 1944
• 25 Sledgehammer Pavuvu Island, June 1944
• 26 ‘They really put on a show’ Pavuvu Island, June–August 1944
• 27 ‘This is going to be a short one, a quickie’ Southwest Pacific, July–September 1944
• 28 ‘This is it, boys!’ Palau Islands, 14–15 September 1944
• 29 ‘Move it! Move it!’ Peleliu, 15 September 1944
• 30 ‘They’re Nip tanks!’ Peleliu, 15 September 1944
• 31 ‘Everywhere shells flashed like giant firecrackers’ Peleliu, 16–17 September 1944
• 32 ‘I never saw such agonized expressions’ Peleliu, 20–25 September 1944
• 33 ‘I’m hit! Christ, I’m hit!’ Sniper’s Alley, 25–26 September 1944
• 34 ‘Put the man out of his misery!’ Ngesebus Island, 28–29 September 1944
• 35 ‘Shit, they’re behind us!’ Umurbrogol Pocket, 1–4 October 1944
• 36 Hillbilly and Ack-Ack Umurbrogol Pocket, 5–12 October 1944
• 37 The Lucky Few 13–29 October 1944
• 38 ‘We were worn down and sobered’ Pavuvu Island, October–November 1944
• 39 Where Next? Southwest Pacific, December 1944–February 1945
• 40 ‘The Road to Certain Victory’ Okinawa, March 1944–February 1945
• 41 ‘In some ways it was bigger than D-Day’ From the Solomons to the Ryukyus, March 1945
• 42 Love Day Okinawa, 1 April 1945
• 43 ‘We were euphoric, undisciplined, and stupid’ Okinawa, 2–10 April 1945
• 44 ‘I burned the whole village to the ground’ Okinawa, 13–26 April 1945
• 45 ‘Hit the deck and dig in!’ North of the Asa River, 1–3 May 1945
• 46 ‘We gotta get the hell outta here’ Death Valley, 4–9 May 1945
• 47 ‘Hell’s own cesspool’ Wana Draw and Half Moon Hill, 11–24 May 1945
• 48 ‘Wild-eyed expressions of shock and fear’ Maggot Ridge to Shuri Castle, 25–29 May 1945
• 49 The Final Stretch Tsukazan to Kunishi Ridge, 3–18 June 1945
• 50 End Game Kiyan Peninsula, 18–30 June 1945
• 51 ‘We sure have a lot to be thankful for’ Motobu Peninsula, 27 June–17 August 1945
• Postscript: ‘We’d forged a bond that time would never erase’ Returning home, summer 1944–July 2020
• Picture Section
• Footnotes
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• Also by Saul David
• About the Publisher