The German offensives which crushed Poland in 1939 and swallowed most of Western Europe in less than two months in 1940 have been well documented and heavily studied, however, the overall picture of the remarkable Japanese offensive land campaign in 1941-42 has received less attention. In this fascinating new book, Bill Yenne documents the years when the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) was conducting its equally unstoppable ground campaign in the Far East, and unlike other books on this subject, he studies the campaign from the Japanese point of view. He reveals how the IJA were able to conquer huge swathes of Southeast Asia in a little over eight weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Using first-hand accounts from Japanese sources, Yenne reveals the tactics and mindset of the IJA during their offensive, detailing the capturing of Manila, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies. Exploring the infrastructure and technical challenges of waging war across such a huge area, Yenne delves into the hardships that faced individual Japanese soldiers in theatre and explains how the Japanese were able to remain undefeated and establish the aura of invincibility that marked their campaign between 1941-42.

Author Biography

Bill Yenne the author of more than three dozen nonfiction historical works, many of them concerning World War II aviation, and he was a contributor to encyclopedias of both world wars. His previous works on World War II air aces include his 2009 work Aces High, a dual biography of Richard Bong and Tommy McGuire (the top scoring American aces) and the earlier work, Aces: True Stories of Victory & Valor in the Skies of World War II. Yenne also has several published novels to his credit. Yenne is founder of AGS Book Works, and he is a member of the American Aviation Historical Society (AAHS), the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) and the American Book Producers Association (ABPA). He and his work have been featured in such media as Booklislt, Library Journal, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The History Channel and The National Geographic Channel.