Bøger om Salomonøerne

Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.The battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its allies in the Pacific War. The three months of air battles between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit arrived on the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt to retake the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important of the Pacific War. "Cactus," the code name for the island, became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, as they experienced losses that could never be made good. For 40 years, the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are still alive. These interviews are the most comprehensive first-person accounts of the battle assembled by any historian. More importantly, they involved the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories were not part of the official history, and thus provide a unique insight. In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.

A compelling account of the failure of Imperial Japan's Operation Ro-Go, intended to take the offensive in the Solomons theater of the Pacific War, but which became Japan's first line of defense against the Allies' Rabaul raids and Bougainville landings.By the midpoint of World War II in the Pacific, Japan was on the defensive. At the end of 1943, after a year of tumultuous air combat around Rabaul and the Solomons, 173 Japanese aircraft were sent to Rabaul. The plan was for them to participate in Ro-Go Sakusen (known as Operation Ro, Ro-Go, or B) to strike Allied air power and shipping in the Solomons and to slow the American advance by severing Allied supply chains. However, instead of challenging Allied air and sea power on their own terms, the operation became unexpectedly embroiled in defensive combat and counterattacks, first to defend Rabaul from Allied air raids, and then to challenge the Allied landings at Bougainville. In one fell swoop, Operation Ro-Go was turned on its head, and transformed into a defensive battle for the Japanese. In this book, the first in English to focus on Operation Ro-Go, Michael John Claringbould uses rare Japanese primary source material to explain how the Japanese planned and fought the campaign, and corrects enduring myths often found in books that rely only on Western sources. He traces the unexpected and tremendous pressures placed on the operation's units at Rabaul as the Japanese dealt with massive, surprise raids from Fifth Air Force bombers, and later US Navy carrier aircraft, concluding with the strategic upset of the Bougainville landings. Packed with previously unpublished photos, spectacular original illustrations, 3D recreations of specific missions, maps and explanatory diagrams, this study tells the previously untold but significant story of Japan's air war in the Solomons.

The US Navy's Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats were used in every theater of WWII, but they are most famous for their daring exploits in the South Pacific, where they were the US Navy's first line of defense against the "Tokyo Express," the nightly attacks of Japanese destroyers against American forces on Guadalcanal. Dark Nights, Deadly Waters tells the story of the first PT boats deployed to the fetid and malarial island of Tulagi, in the desperate early days of America's "island hopping" campaign across the Pacific.

En 1651, Robinson Crusoé quitte York, en Angleterre, contre la volonté de ses parents qui voulaient qu'il devienne avocat, pour naviguer. Le navire est abordé par des pirates de Salé et Crusoé devient l'esclave d'un Maure. Il parvient à s'échapper sur un bateau portugais qui passe au large de la côte ouest de l'Afrique. En 1659, alors qu'il a vingt-huit ans, il se joint à une expédition partie à la recherche d'esclaves africains, mais à la suite d'une tempête il est naufragé sur une île à l'embouchure de l'Orénoque au Venezuela. Il fait la découverte d'une grotte et se construit une habitation. Il chasse et cultive le blé. Il apprend à fabriquer de la poterie et élève des chèvres. Il lit la Bible et rien ne lui manque, si ce n'est la compagnie des hommes.

Berøvet og udmattet vågner en ung mand vågner op på gaden i Shanghai. I hans lomme ligger en flybillet til Papua Ny Guinea, og spørgsmålet er blot: Hvilke oplevelser venter forude i en af verdens fjerneste, vildeste og mindst besøgte regioner? I en sand og grænsesøgende fortælling tager Wokabaut – et utæmmet eventyr dig med på en nervepirrende og rå tur på tværs af Papua Ny Guinea og Salomonøerne i en tilværelse uden penge og i en søgen efter meningen med livet. Det er et møde med menneskehedens bedste og værste sider i en livsbekræftende fortælling om mod og frygt iscenesat af naturens mest utilgivelige vildskab.Uddrag af bogen Vi var omringet. Højlydte råb skød til højre og venstre, da der med ét skete en masse uforståelige ting. Pludselig gik det op for mig, at de her mennesker ikke var kommet til vores undsætning, men i stedet ville os ondt. De fremmede mørke skikkelser begyndte at røve os. Jeg vidste ikke helt, hvad jeg skulle gøre, da mine medpassagerer blev overfaldet med en kniv for struben. Siwi var hurtig til at reagere, og inden vi begge fik en kniv i halsen, kiggede han mig dybt i øjnene og sagde med dødelig alvor: ”Son, we need to get out of here, NOW!” Uanede mængder af energi blev mobiliseret ud i min krop. Jeg vendte ryggen til min bagage og løftede Siwi halvt op på min ene skulder, men idet jeg kiggede mig tilbage, var der en mørk skikkelse i gang med at stjæle mine ting.Om forfatteren David Thing (f. 1991) er opvokset i København og er uddannet pilot. I sin fritid beskæftiger han sig med primitive eventyrrejser til fjerne destinationer, og han har rejst jorden rundt flere gange – ofte på et minimalt budget.