From the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of No Easy Day
comes a thrilling World War II story of the American airborne soldiers
who captured a Japanese-held island fortress
"Rock Force is a beautifully told story of war: the friendships, the
courage and despair, and the terror... One of the most exciting books
ever written about the Pacific War."--Mitch Weiss, New York Times
bestselling coauthor of Countdown 1945
In late December 1941, General Douglas MacArthur, caught off guard by
the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, is forced to retreat to
Corregidor, a jagged, rocky island fortress at the mouth of Manila Bay.
Months later, under orders from the president, the general is whisked
away in the dark of night, leaving his troops to their fate. It is a
bitter pill for a fiercely proud warrior who has always protected his
men. He famously declares I shall return, but the humiliation of
Corregidor haunts him, even earning him the derisive nickname Dugout
Doug.
In early 1945, MacArthur returns to the Philippines, his eyes firmly
fixed on Corregidor. To take back the island, he calls on the 503rd
Parachute Infantry Regiment, a highly trained veteran airborne unit.
Their mission is to jump onto the island--hemmed in by sheer cliffs,
pockmarked by bomb craters, bristling with deadly spiky broken tree
trunks--and wrest it from some 6,700 Japanese defenders who await, fully
armed and ready to fight to the death.
Drawn from firsthand accounts and personal interviews with the battle's
surviving veterans, acclaimed war correspondent and bestselling author
Kevin Maurer delves into this extraordinary tale, uncovering astonishing
accounts of bravery and heroism during an epic, yet largely forgotten,
clash of the Pacific War. Here is an intimate story of uncommon soldiers
showing uncommon courage and winning, through blood and sacrifice, the
redemption of General MacArthur.
