Wonderful continuation of the Men at War series!!!
Thomas F. (hardtack) -
I was a bit annoyed with this book. The cover description is all about Colonel Wendell Fertig and his role in fighting the Japanese in the Philippines. But the book was mostly about events in the U.S. or Europe.
Colonel Fertig eventually commanded 30,000 fighting men and women, but was never promoted above colonel due to jealously from MacArthur and his Bataan Gang. As Griffin points out at the end of the book, 30,000 men is equal to two American infantry divisions, each of which would be commanded by a major general.
If you wish to know the story of Wendell Fertig's accomplishments, see his Wikipedia page, most of which I wrote. If that gets you interested, find a copy of "They Fought Alone" by John Keats. It is a truly amazing story of the Filipino resistance, probably the greatest guerrilla resistance in history.
Colonel Fertig eventually commanded 30,000 fighting men and women, but was never promoted above colonel due to jealously from MacArthur and his Bataan Gang. As Griffin points out at the end of the book, 30,000 men is equal to two American infantry divisions, each of which would be commanded by a major general.
If you wish to know the story of Wendell Fertig's accomplishments, see his Wikipedia page, most of which I wrote. If that gets you interested, find a copy of "They Fought Alone" by John Keats. It is a truly amazing story of the Filipino resistance, probably the greatest guerrilla resistance in history.
In The Fighting Agents, W.E.B. Griffin retells the story (previously told in Behind the Lines) of Wendell Fertig, a U.S. Army officer who promoted himself to general and led a ragtag guerrilla force against the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines in 1943. This time, however, Griffin focuses his attention on the OSS, which, among other things, was tasked with resupplying Fertig and reinforcing his efforts to undermine the Japanese war machine. In this fourth volume of a bestselling series featuring the American intelligence service during World War II, James Whittaker, a rakish, romantic army air corps captain who happens to be a close family friend of OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan, is assigned to sneak into the Philippines by submarine and bring gold, arms, and war materiel to the renegade general.
Philippines, 1943. The American forces have fled into the mountains. Led by Lt. Col. Fertig, an army of troops and Philipines soldiers must stand against the imperial Japenese Army.
