An epic saga of hubris , cruelty, and redemption, Now the Hell Will Start tells the remarkable tale of the greatest manhunt of World War II. Herman Perry, besieged by the hardships of the Indo-Burmese jungle and the racism meted out by his white commanding officers, found solace in opium and marijuana. But on one fateful day, Perry shot his unarmed white lieutenant in the throes of an emotional collapse and fled into the jungle. Brendan I. Koerner spent nearly five years chasing Perry's ghost to the most remote corners of India and Burma. Along the way, he uncovered the forgotten story of the Ledo Road's GIs, for whom Jim Crow was as powerful an enemy as the Japanese-and for whom Herman Perry, dubbed the jungle king, became an unlikely folk hero.

In a theater of war long forgotten and barely even known at the time, James Harry Hantzis and his fellow soldiers labored at a thankless task under oppressive conditions. Nonetheless, as Rails of War demonstrates, without the men of the 721st Railway Operating Battalion, the Allied forces would have been defeated in the China-Burma-India conflict in World War II. Steven James Hantzis’s father served alongside other GI railroaders in overcoming danger, disease, fire, and monsoons to move the weight of war in the China-Burma-India theater. Torn from their predictable working-class lives, the men of the 721st journeyed fifteen thousand miles to Bengal, India, to do the impossible: build, maintain, and manage seven hundred miles of track through the most inhospitable environment imaginable. From the harrowing adventures of the Flying Tigers and Merrill’s Marauders to detailed descriptions of grueling jungle operations and the Siege of Myitkyina, this is the remarkable story of the extraordinary men of the 721st, who moved an entire army to win the war. For more information about Rails of War, visit railsofwar.com.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 secured for Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese Nationalist forces what no amount of pleading had been able to produce: an influx of U.S. supplies. This volume explores the strategies of the Allies in China, Burma and India in World War II and the politically charged campaign waged in that theater. After an overview of the Allied situation in early 1942, the work presents the personal accounts of six individuals who served as part of the resupply effort in the CBI theater: Captain Edward Goodman, Captain David C. Hall, Staff Sergeant Robert Boehm, Corporal Anthony R. Silva, Corporal Alexander McVean and Tech Sergeant Kenneth R. Quigley. The service of African Americans in the CBI theatre is also discussed in detail. Appendices contain information on the organization of a motor transport truck regiment in Persia during World War II and an extract from a December 1944 log of an Air Jungle Rescue Unit in Burma.

THERE'S A WAR TO BE WON is the landmark story of one of the greatest armies in history, a conscript force of amateur soldiers who had an unparalleled record of combat success. Here -- for the first time in one volume -- is the chronicle of the United States Army's dramatic mobilization and stunning march to victory in World War II. In a lively and engrossing narrative that spans theaters of operations around the world, Geoffrey Perret tells how the Army was drafted, trained, organized, armed, and led at every stage of the war. Beginning with the prescient military planners of the 1930s, he offers vivid warts-and-all profiles of the farsighted commanders who would lead the way, men like Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Ridgway, Bradley, and Patton. Drawing heavily on important new source material in major archives throughout the United States, THERE'S A WAR TO BE WON offers new insights into the wartime Army, its commanders, and its battles. A major work of American military history. "An immensely readable, well-researched history . . . Dramatic." -- Chicago Tribune

"One could not choose a worse place for fighting the Japanese," said Winston Churchill of North Burma, deeming it "the most forbidding fighting country imaginable." But it was here that the fledgling Office of Strategic Services conducted its most successful combat operations of World War II. Troy Sacquety takes readers into Burma's steaming jungles in the first book to fully cover the exploits and contributions of the OSS's Detachment 101 against the Japanese Imperial Army. Functioning independently of both the U.S. Army and OSS headquarters-and with no operational or organizational model to follow-Detachment 101 was given enormous latitude in terms of developing its mission and methods. It grew from an inexperienced and poorly supported group of 21 agents training on the job in a lethal environment to a powerful force encompassing 10,000 guerrillas (spread across as many as 8 battalions), 60 long-range agents, and 400 short-range agents. By April 1945, it remained the only American ground force in North Burma while simultaneously conducting daring amphibious operations that contributed to the liberation of Rangoon. With unrivaled access to OSS archives, Sacquety vividly recounts the 101's story with a depth of detail that makes the disease-plagued and monsoon-drenched Burmese theater come unnervingly alive. He describes the organizational evolution of Detachment 101 and shows how the unit's flexibility allowed it to evolve to meet the changing battlefield environment. He depicts the Detachment's two sharply contrasting field commanders: headstrong Colonel Carl Eifler, who pushed the unit beyond its capabilities, and the more measured Colonel William Peers, who molded it into a model special operations force. He also highlights the heroic Kachin tribesmen, fierce fighters defending their tribal homeland and instrumental in acclimating the Americans to terrain, weather, and cultures in ways that were vital to the success of the Detachment's operations. While veterans' memoirs have discussed OSS activities in Burma, this is the first book to describe in detail how it achieved its success—portraying an operational unit that can be seen as a prototype for today's Special Forces. Featuring dozens of illustrations, The OSS in Burma rescues from oblivion the daring exploits of a key intelligence and military unit in Japan's defeat in World War II and tells a gripping story that will satisfy scholars and buffs alike.