Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon; Japanese Mandated Islands, An Account of "Operation Hailstone", February, 1944

Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., Inc, 2001. Sixth Printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. William H. Stewart (several illustrations). 132 pages. Includes Foreword by Erhard Aten, Governor, 1978-1986, State of Truk. Also includes Preface, Chapter 1: Chronology for War; Chapter II: Red Sun in the Morning, Sailors Take Warning--Storm Over Truk; Chapter III: Death in a Far Place; Chapter IV: Submarine I-169; Chapter V: The Brutality of War--Starvation; Chapter VI: Surrender, Reflections On Defeat, War Crimes Trials; Chapter VII: Epilogue: After the Smoke Cleared. Also includes Appendices: Important Islands in the Truk Lagoon, Shipwrecks: A Selected List of Combatant and Non-Combatant Vessels Lost at Truk; Task Force 58; History Mission and Operations--Army Ships Sunk; Truk Defense Districts and Their Commanders; References For Further Reading; and Special Thanks. Includes 17 Black and White Maps and Documents, and 5 Color Photographs. In recalling the intrigue and devastation of World War II, one might say that the author has described the events at Truk from the point of view of the fox rather than that of the hound, and that he has exhibited an unusual interest in the footnotes of history. The author spent eight years as an administrator in the Office of the High Commissioner, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (formerly the Japanese Mandated Islands), and in 1970 undertook a cartographic inventory of the shipwrecks in the Truk Lagoon. The maps included herein of artillery positions on Moen, the Eten airfield and the submarine base on Dublon are accurate reproductions of those prepared after the war by the Office of Naval Intelligence and including in the Field Survey of Japanese Defenses of Truk.