026 TRUK 1944-45: The Destruction of Japan's Central Pacific Bastion

1-968026

Examines the rise and fall of Truk as a Japanese air and naval bastion and explains how in two huge raids, American carrier-based aircraft in Operation Hailstone reduced it to irrelevance. Also covers the little-known story of how the USAAF used the ravaged base as a live-fire training ground for its new B-29s -- whose bombing raids ensured Truk could not be reactivated by the Japanese. The pressure on Truk was kept up right through 1945 when it was also used as a target for the 509th Composite Squadron to practice dropping atomic bombs and by the British Pacific Fleet to hone its pilots' combat skills prior to the invasion of Japan.