Central Kansas Library System

As the war in Europe winds down in the wake of the Normandy invasion, the United States has turned its vast military resources toward an all-out effort against the Japanese. In the spring of 1945, Japan's empire has been pressed slowly back toward its home islands, and the Americans mount a furious assault on the last great stepping-stone to Japan itself--the heavily fortified island of Okinawa. The three-month battle will feature some of the most...

P. T. Deutermann's previous novels of the US Navy in World War II - Pacific Glory, Ghosts of Bungo Suido, and Sentinels of Fire - have been acclaimed by reviewers and readers for their powerful drama and authentic detail. In The Commodore, the Navy in 1942-1943 is fighting a losing battle against Japan for control of the Solomon Islands. Vice Admiral William "Bull" Halsey is tasked to change the course of the war. Halsey, a maverick, goes on the offensive...

1945 is not about heroes. By 1944, every man in his twenties or thirties had already been conscripted. Subsequently, almost all draftees at this stage of the war were eighteen years of age. To put this in perspective; in today's world they would not be considered sufficiently mature to buy a can of beer or a pack of cigarettes. No parent likes to see their son go to war, but these were children. In Januaryry 1945, everyone knew the war didn't have...

"Spring 1945, the Japanese fleet is virtually destroyed and they react by dispatching suicide bombers against the Allied fleet surrounding Okinawa. One destroyer, the USS Malloy, faces an even more pressing issue when Executive Officer Connie Miles realizes the ship's much-admired Captain Pudge Tallmadge is losing his mind under the relentless pressure of the attacks"--

"Louis L'Amour's long-lost first novel, faithfully completed by his son, takes readers on a voyage into danger and violence on the high seas. Fate is a ship. As the shadows of World War II gather, the SS Lichenfield is westbound across the Pacific carrying eighty thousand barrels of highly explosive naphtha. The cargo alone makes the journey perilous, with the entire crew aware that one careless moment could lead to disaster. But yet another sort...

"Based on a true story--P.T. Deutermann's Trial by Fire is a dramatic WWII novel of attack, survival, and triumph on board an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. March 19, 1945: The war in the Pacific approaches its apocalyptic climax. The largest wartime armada ever assembled, Task Force 58, is closing in on Okinawa; once taken, it will finally put American B-29 bombers in range of the home islands of Japan--and victory. At the heart of the fleet are...

A collection of dramas and documentaries about World War II.