The Last Mission by Malcolm Mcconnell

The Last Mission by Malcolm Mcconnell

A gripping account of the final American bombing mission of World War I and how it prevented a military coup that would have kept Japan in the war.

How close did the Japanese come to not surrendering to Allied forces on August 15, 1945? The Last Mission explores this question through two previously neglected strands of late--World War I history, whose very interconnections could have caused a harrowing shift in the course of the postwar world. On the final night of the war, as Emperor Hirohito recorded a message of surrender for the Japanese people, a band of Japanese rebels, commanded by War Minister Anami's elite staff, burst into the palace. They had plotted a massive coup that aimed to destroy the recordings of the Imperial Rescript of surrender and issue false orders forged with the Emperor's seal commanding the widely dispersed Japanese military to continue the war. If this rebellion had succeeded, the military would have proceeded with large-scale kamikaze attacks on Allied forces, costing huge casualties and just possibly provoking the Americans to drop a third atomic bomb on Japan over Tokyo-and continue to drop more bombs as Japanese resistance stiffened.

Meanwhile, in the midst of an end-of-war celebration on Guam, Air Force radio operator Jim Smith and his fellow crewmen received urgent orders for a bombing mission over Japan's sole remaining oil refinery north of Tokyo. As a stream of American B-29B bombers approached Tokyo, Japanese air defenses, fearing the approaching planes signaled the threat of a third atomic bomb, ordered a total blackout in Tokyo and the Imperial Palace, completely disrupting the rebels' plans. Smith and his fellow crewmembers completed the mission, and a few hours later, the Emperor announced the surrender over Japan's airwaves, dictating the end of the war.

The Last Mission is an insightful piece of speculative investigation that combines narrative storytelling with historical contingency and explores how two seemingly unrelated events could have profoundly changed the course of modern history.

From the Hardcover edition.

Malcolm McConnell is the author or coauthor of over twenty books, including the number-one New York Times bestseller American Soldier, with Tommy Franks. General Richard B. Myers retired as the fifteenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in October 2005, after serving more than forty years in the U.S. Air Force. Currently, he sits on several public and nonprofit boards and lectures nationally on national security issues and leadership.
Arthur Morey has recorded over two hundred audiobooks in history, fiction, science, business, and religion, earning a number of AudioFile Earphones Awards and two Audie Award nominations. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780767907798
ISBN 10	0767907795
Title	The Last Mission
Author	Malcolm Mcconnell
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Crown Publishing Group (NY)
Year published	2003-05-06
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable