Stephen L. Moore

Stephen L. Moore’s “As Good As Dead” is a stunningly frank depiction of eleven American POW’s survival and escape from the Palawan prison camp in the waning days of WWII’s Pacific campaign. Following the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in the early days of WWII, American POWs were famously marched along the Bataan peninsula to Camp O’Donnell, a distance of some sixty miles. From there, the Japanese command sent a detachment of prisoners to Palawan Island to build a landing strip, show more and it is here the body of the story takes place.
The American prisoners struggled as they endured a series of increasingly harsh base commanders and sadistic guards. They survived impossibly harsh working conditions and a grossly inadequate diet, which included “whistle-weed” soup and whatever scraps their Japanese guards would leave them. The story peaks in 1944 when it is clear Japan would lose the war and the order is given to exterminate the remaining prisoners by any means necessary including machine-gunning and burning alive in hand-dug air raid shelters after being doused with gasoline.
That anyone survived the Palawan Massacre is amazing. That these eleven survived the slaughter and then, with the help of Pilipino gruella fighters, eluded their Japanese hunters is the stuff of legend. Stephen L. Moore lays out the gruesome facts in splendid detail wrapped in an engaging narrative. A good read and an absolute must for any serious student of WWII. Three and a half stars for “As Good As Dead.” show less

That one has this work is due to Moore's opportunity to interview the last American survivors of this campaign, and, for the most part, the author seems to have made the most of his chance. What this means is that the main point of this work is covering the nitty-gritty of fighter sweeps and combat air patrols, with digressions dealing with the main anti-shipping strikes. The other main point is to cover the Japanese special attack operations, and how they were experienced by the U.S. naval show more forces supporting the battle of Okinawa. Any other topic covered is basically to provide some context.

Apart from that, about the only complaint I have about the book is that the author could have made some acknowledgement of the parallel British naval contribution to this campaign. One realizes that the line has to be drawn somewhere in writing a fairly long book, but the reader might not otherwise know that the Royal Navy had its own war with the "Thunder Gods." show less

Another disappointing WWII book for me. Stephen Moore tells the stories of the dive bomber pilots from Enterprise, Yorktown, and Hornet who sank 4 Japanese carriers during the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Certainly it's a story that deserves telling, but I didn't like how Moore plain out got facts wrong, wrote some paragraphs that simply didn't make any sense, jumped around from character to character within paragraphs (making it very confusing to read), and really never answered "why" show more questions. I would have liked to have seen more analysis and less talk of which plane and which pilot got jumped by Zeros during their dive and what they thought of it. Not to take anything away from the courage of these men, or the other fliers off the carriers, but the US won the Battle of Midway partially by good luck. Several times in this book, Moore raises an issue where people acted poorly, but then never explores those issues, instead talking about the next person in line. show less

For more reviews and bookish posts please visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Patton’s Payback: The Battle of El Guettar and General Patton’s Rise to Glory by Stephen L. Moore tells of the way Lieutenant General George S. Patton shaped, and beat, Erwin Rommel’s German troops in North Africa. Mr. Moore is an author who writes about World War II and Texan history.

Overall, book introduces the readers to General Patton, as seen through the North African battlefield, and throughout the show more theater. Patton was put in charge of the 2nd Armored Division, becoming a prominent, indeed, the prominent, warrior in the US armor doctrine.

Patton’s Payback: The Battle of El Guettar and General Patton’s Rise to Glory by Stephen L. Moore tells of the events which lead to Patton successfully turning around a losing battle, as well as becoming the face of the US Army in the African campaign. How Patton shook up the troops, restored discipline, and earned the men’s respect by leading from the front, particularly not afraid to face danger himself.

I especially enjoyed reading about the overall viewpoint of the campaign from different aspects, which certainly gave me great insight. We see the campaign through the eyes of Eisenhower, Patton, field commanders, soldiers in the trenches, as well as the Germans.

The high and low overviews, however, are also the weakness of the book. The author goes into great detail about the fighting, introducing dozens of men, and narratives. Nevertheless, this is a well-written, well-researched historical account of the events which led to the victory of the Allied forces, led by Patton, over the Axis forces, led by General Erwin Rommel.

Strangely, George Patton himself is very little in this book, because the author concentrates more on how his command affected the battlefield, then worrying about biographical information. Former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and politician, Rafael “Raful” Eitan (רפאל “רפול” איתן) used to say that “discipline starts at the shoestring”. I have a feeling that Eitan and Patton would get along famously together. show less