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The Second Pearl Harbor - The West Loch Disaster, May 21, 1944 (Paperback)
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The Second Pearl Harbor - The West Loch Disaster, May 21, 1944 (Paperback)
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In May 1944, with American forces closing in on the Japanese
mainland, the Fifth Fleet Amphibious Force was preparing to invade
Saipan. Control of this island would put enemy cities squarely
within range of the B-29 bomber. The navy had assembled a fleet of
landing ship tanks (LSTs) in the West Loch section of Pearl Harbor.
On May 21, an explosion tore through the calm afternoon sky,
spreading fire and chaos through the ordnance-packed vessels. When
the fires had been brought under control, six LSTs had been lost,
many others were badly damaged, and more than 500 military
personnel had been killed or injured. To ensure the success of
those still able to depart for the invasion - miraculously, only
one day late - the navy at once issued a censorship order, which
has kept this disaster from public scrutiny for seventy years. The
Second Pearl Harbor is the first book to tell the full story of
what happened on that fateful day. Military historian Gene Salecker
recounts the events and conditions leading up to the explosion,
then re-creates the drama directly afterward: men swimming through
flaming oil, small craft desperately trying to rescue the injured,
and subsequent explosions throwing flaming debris everywhere. With
meticulous attention to detail the author explains why he and other
historians believe that the official explanation for the cause of
the explosion, that a mortar shell was accidentally detonated, is
wrong. This in-depth account of a little-known incident adds to our
understanding of the dangers during World War II, even far from the
front, and restores a missing chapter to history.
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