One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa

The riveting true account of the first American offensive in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

In November 1943, the men of the 2d Marine Division were instructed to clear out any token Japanese resistance on the Pacific island of Betio and return to their waiting ships. But when the Marines landed, the surviving Japanese poured out of their protective subterranean bunkers—and began one of the most brutal and bloody battles of World War II.

For three straight days, attackers and defenders fought over every square inch of sand in a battle with no defined frontlines, and where there was no possibility of retreat—because there was nowhere to retreat to. It was a clash that would leave both sides stunned and exhausted, and prove both the fighting mettle of the Americans and the fanatical devotion of the Japanese.

Drawn from new sources, such as participants’ letters and diaries and exclusive firsthand interviews with survivors, One Square Mile of Hell is the true story of a battle between two determined foes, neither of whom would ever look at the other in the same way again.