"The Siege of Wake Island might not have been the largest or most significant action of the Second World War, but it scores very high on the books-per-combatants scale with several first-hand accounts from American defenders and several more third person histories.  Despite all the ink already spilled over the battle, the new tome from Greg Urwin succeeds as the pre-eminent book on the topic and one not likely to be unseated from that position any time soon. . . .
        "Not only the definitive book on the Siege of Wake Island, but also one of the best books of the year.  Don't miss this one."

        Bill Stone
        Stone & Stone Second World War Books, html review, 24 December 1997,
        http://www.sonic.net/~bstone/archives/971224.html

BEFORE:  A flight of freshly delivered Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters belonging to VMF-211,
circa November 1941.  These planes are so new they still bear their light gray factory paint jobs
and carry no machine guns or sights.  They would be repainted and put into fighting shape
during the squadron's trip to Wake on the USS Enterprise.   (Courtesy National Archives)

        "Larger-than-life stories rarely survive a closer look.  Exceptions deserve pointing out. . . .
        "For once, the facts do not kill a fine story.  University of Central Arkansas history professor Gregory J. W. Urwin's complete account, Facing Fearful Odds, is a complete success. . . .
        "No other recent book on the Pacific War -- none -- makes an easier and more enjoyable lesson out of the difficulty of turning a tiny Pacific atoll into a base.  The American ability to overcome this difficulty later was the biggest surprise for the Japanese, trumping Japan's whole strategy.  'Amateurs talk about strategy.  Professionals talk about logistics,' as the old Army saying goes.
        "Urwin's book effectively shows how being a good mechanic is much better in modern war than fervor over Bushido or other macho concepts.  And he shows how much plain hard work goes into being a hero. . . .
        "Even readers weary of U.S. Marine boasting should be impressed. . . .
        "Virtually every kind of fighting in World War II in the Pacific -- close infantry combat, amphibious invasion, shore defense, air-to-air, bombing raids, submarine attacks, carrier strikes and more -- took place at Wake.  Urwin describes it all well, including Japanese actions.
        "Urwin's book on this little campaign is like the flower in Tennyson's crannied wall.  To understand it, root and all, is to know a very great deal about the Pacific War.  Most important, no better illustration of why giving up should not be an option exits than the Wake Island campaign -- with both positive and negative examples. . . .
        "The failure to relieve Wake's garrison and evacuate the civilians, or even attack the vulnerable Japanese invasion fleet was the low point of the U.S. Navy in World War II -- not the Pearl Harbor debacle -- American naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison has concluded.  Noted historian John Keegan's recent history of World War II mentions that the navy "timorously retreated" from Wake.
        "Urwin's account of the navy's Wake fiasco is the best available. . . ."

        Doug Thompson
        Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 11 January 1998

AFTER:  The graveyard of VMF-211's Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters, most of which were caught
on the ground and destroyed by Japanese bombers on 8 December 1941.  Wildcat No. 11 in the
foreground is the plane Capt. Henry T. Elrod flew to sink the destroyer Kisaragi on 11 December.
(Courtesy U.S. Marine Corps)

        "Urwin describes the siege as the story of a community. . . .  Urwin relies on American and Japanese manuscripts and extensive personal interviews with Wake's survivors, mostly enlisted, Japanese and American.  His story is very much on the man-to-man level. . . .
        "The book reads easily and the maps and photographs are well-selected. . . .
        "His narrative seems to be accurate and well told.  Again and again the leadership of Marine junior officers, noncoms, and privates, cut off from their senior commanders, did what their instincts, finely honed by excellent training and tremendous personal and group pride, told them was best under the circumstances -- and it worked. . . .  Marine marksmanship, for example, was particularly devastating.  The Japanese came out of the battle claiming that each Marine was armed with a submachine gun or an automatic rifle. . . .
        "Urwin's book clearly shows the value of solid, hard, realistic training, personal and unit pride, and the ability to function in a very bad situation with only yourself to rely upon -- right down the Marines' alley. . . .  Worth buying if you have a keen interest in the fight for Wake Island.  If you can't afford it, get it from the base library and read it.  Semper Fidelis!"

        Colonel James W. Wensyel, U.S. Army (Ret.)
        Marine Corps Gazette, June 1998

        "Although Urwin concedes that the battle for Wake Island had little impact on the outcome of the Pacific War, he points out that it had a symbolic and psychological importance far beyond its strategic significance.  In this exhaustive study of the campaign Urwin presents an almost minute-by-minute account of the defense of the island by U.S. Marines against overwhelming odds.  Much of the story is 'from the bottom up' and contains numerous accounts gleaned from interviews and memoirs of American survivors.  Urwin also includes an analysis of strategic decisions made in Washington and Pearl Harbor that affected the fate of the 1,742 personnel, of which only 524 were servicemen, stationed on Wake when the Japanese attacked.  Of particular interest is Urwin's treatment of Admiral Husband Kimmel, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor; Major James Devereux, commander of the Marine unit at Wake; and Commander W. S. Cunningham, overall island commander at Wake.  There is an excellent chapter concerning an unseemly controversy between Devereux and Cunningham after the war about who was responsible for what.  This detailed study is somewhat reminiscent of Richard B. Frank's Guadalcanal. . . .  An excellent work of military history, Urwin's book should be the last word on the subject for quite a while."

        C. J. Weeks, Southern Polytechnic State University
        Choice, May 1998

        "Subtitled 'The Siege of Wake Island' this book will stand as the ultimate reference to that epic battle during the dark early days of the war following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. . . .
        "The author extensively interviewed over 70 survivors from the epic battle as well as visiting numerous archives to weave together a well-written and spell-binding story of courage in the face of adversity. . . .
        "Once started, this is a book that's hard to put down as it vividly recalls those days of national confusion, danger, and heroism on the part of average Americans."

        Fred Roberts
        Air Classics, August 1998

        "One of the better historians of America's military, Urwin has written an impressive account of the valiant defense of a key island in the Pacific.  Coming on the heels of the Peal Harbor fiasco, the siege of Wake Island shows just how much fighting spirit America still possessed.  Against overwhelming odds, 1,742 men held out for 16 days, from Dec. 8-23, 1941, until ordered to surrender.  Marines were the majority of the garrison, but they were ably aided by several hundred American construction workers, and a few sailors and Army radio men.  Using the standard archival sources, Urwin also includes material from more than 70 interviews with Wake defenders, plus a few from the victors in Japan.  Urwin then completes the story by relating the fate of the captured Americans during their 44 months of torment.  The result is compelling military history.  A big book at 727 pages, Facing Fearful Odds is a quicker read than many books half its size."

        Fritz Heinzen
        St. Petersburg Times, 9 August 1998

        "Gregory Urwin reports this story with impressive technical thoroughness, placing it in the framework of the Pacific War's early months.  His discussion of the naval command structure of those days reaches as far as the command strategists at Pearl Harbor who, faced with little choice, were forced to write off Wake Island.
        "Facing Fearful Odds is a well-organized and extremely well-written piece of history."

        Charles D. Gibson
        Sea History, No. 85 (Summer 1998)

        "Gregory J. W. Urwin's book, 'Facing Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island,' is the most detailed and the most gripping account of this strategically situated atoll that proved to be a thorn in the side of the Imperial Japanese Navy.  Beginning with the discovery of Wake Island by the Spanish in the late 16th century, through the eventual occupation of the island by the United States after the war with Spain in 1898, the book weaves a masterful account of the debates during the next four decades concerning the island's importance in the defensive network then being established by the United States.  As 'Facing Fearful Odds' illustrates, Wake Island became an important pawn in the growing antagonism between the United States and Japan and served as the first major test of wills between naval rivals. . . .
        "The following chapters provide the best accounts written on Maj Devereux's 1st Marine Defense Bn, ordered to Wake Island only several months before the first Japanese troops launched their stunning advance across the Pacific. . . .
        "'Facing Fearful Odds' is the book on the Battle of Wake Island. . . .
        "Despite its cost, the book, using first-hand interviews and accounts and American and Japanese sources, is a bargain for all of the information in its 727 pages.  This book is a solid piece of scholarship and reads well and likely will remain as the main reference on the Battle of Wake Island.  Massive in both contents and facts, it is Marine Corps history at its very best."

        Leo J. Daughtery, III
        Leatherneck, September 1998

         "Readers of military and naval history might wonder why a fresh account of this saga is required.  Urwin, a history professor at the University of Central Arkansas, examines in detail . . . the events as they unfolded on the forlorn island.  The hefty size of this study might even alarm potential readers, but once you begin reading it is difficult to lay this fine monograph aside.
         "For historians who still admit that they enjoy reading material of the 'drum and trumpet' variety, Facing Fearful Odds will more than satisfy that passion.  Those who look for analyses and revisionism, will find sustenance aplenty here as well.  And, at times, naval historians in general and drum-beaters for the Marine Corps perspective in particular may be discomfited. . . .
         "Although the narrative follows the unfolding drama hour by hour and day by day, it is far from a dull slog through a well-known scenario for which the outcome is inevitable. . . .
         "The author has mined Japanese accounts of the saga effectively. . . .
         "Perhaps the most intriguing discussion is the author's treatment of the manner in which the respective naval services treated the epic drama once the war in the Pacific had ended. . . .  Urwin attributes this shading of the truth to a variety of causes:  the Navy was unwilling to laud anyone who participated in a defeat after the disaster at Pearl Harbor; and the Marine Corps appeared all too willing to lionize the Leathernecks . . . at Wake."

        Merrill L. Bartlett
        Journal of Military History, January 1999

        "The author does not avoid considering controversies surrounding Marine Major James Devereux and Navy Commander Winfield Cunningham; Admirals William Pye (ill-fated Husband Kimmel's immediate successor) and Milo Draemel; and Marine historian Robert Heinl.  Urwin draws balanced and convincing conclusions. . . .  Urwin is evenhanded with the Japanese, though they appear in rather shadowy fashion. . . .
        "Facing Fearful Odds represents a labor of love; it is written with verve and is well illustrated. . . .   It will attract U.S. veterans (especially Marines) and military buffs and deserves a bulky place on library bookshelves of Pacific war history.

       Alvin D. Coox
       History, Fall 1998

        "At first glance, Gregory Urwin's Facing Fearful Odds:  The Siege of Wake Island seems inordinately long. . . .  Surprisingly, this solid work features a fast-paced narrative that may well make it attractive to history buffs as well as scholars.
        "The research is prodigious.  Urwin . . . has made effective use of archival and secondary sources as well as more than seventy interviews with Wake's American defenders.  In addition, he has interviewed several Japanese [participants] and has utilized interrogatioins undertaken after the war by the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, Southwest Pacific, to relate Japan's side of the fighting.  The result is an operational history that presents not only the view from the top down, but the bottom up. . . .
        "Urwin has organized the book into four parts. . . .
        "Parts III and IV, 'The Siege' and 'The Fall,' cover the combat phase.  Many of the events Urwin describes are undoubtedly familiar to readers of the standard accounts, Robert D. Heinl, Jr.'s The Defense of Wake (1947) and Duane Schultz's popular history, Wake Island:  The Heroic Gallant Fight (1978). . . .  He is not content, however, merely to recount the fighting -- and waiting -- of Wake's defenders, but provides details and personal reactions that add substantially to our understanding of what occurred. . . .
        "Other highlights of the book are Urwin's discussion of the continual praise the defenders of Wake received from the press and film industry during the war to sustain morale at home.  He also analyzes in an even-handed manner a number of the controversies surrounding Wake's siege and the aftermath. . . .  Overall, Facing Fearful Odds may not be the last word on the fighting on Wake Island, but it is close to it.  It deserves a wide readership."

        Alan F. Wilt
       The American Neptune, Summer 1998

Captain Herbert C. Freuler, one of VMF-211's albest and most ingenious pilots, is reunited with his family at Alameida, California,
following his release from a Japanese prison camp in September 1945.  (Courtesy Anne Freuler Loring)

        "An extremely detailed, thorough treatment of the defense of Wake Island.  The author, a professor of history at Temple, actually begins his account with a look at the role of Wake Island in building American morale in the dark days of defeat following Pearl Harbor.  He then goes back literally ages, to set the stage for the events of December 1941.  This permits a deep look at the evolution of American strategy in the Pacific, the unique difficulties of converting so barren an atoll as Wake into a base, and the men who became the backbone of the defense, the Marines of the 1st Defense Battalion and VMF-211, as well as the Navy, Army, and civilian personnel on the island at the outbreak of the war."

        "The actual defense of the island takes up a little less than half the volume, and is treated in considerable detail, with substantial attention paid to the Japanese side, within the limits of available documentation. There is a very thoughtful account of the abortive attempts to relieve Wake, providing the best analysis of this controversial episode that this reviewer has yet seen. A final chapter deals a concluding chapter on the fate of the men taken. An epilogue discusses post-war controversy between the Island’s Navy and Marine commanders."

        "Based on extensive interviews with survivors, including several Japanese participants, Facing Fearful Odds is a valuable contribution to the literature of the Pacific War."

        A. A. Nofi
        The NYMAS Newsletter:  A Publication of the New York Military Affairs Symposium (Autumn 2002).

        "After extensive archival research and interviews with 70 American and Japanese veterans, Urwin, a history professor at Temple University, relates the full saga of Wake Island -- the planning and political struggles that transformed it into a naval air station; the U.S. Navy's 11th hour efforts to garrison and fortify it; the abortive relief convoy attempt; and the air, sea, and land attacks that resulted in the atoll's inevitable capture by Imperial Japanese Navy units.  Hour by hour, Urwin chronicles the doomed defense, highlighting the punishing enemy air raids, the gallant sacrifice of Wake's handful of Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter planes, and the driving off of the initial Japanese landing force on December 11.  This was the only time in the war, and perhaps in history, that coastal batteries repelled an invasion fleet. . . .
    "Distinguished by thorough historical and technical detail, and rich in human color throughout, this is a masterful narrative of 16 grim days and nights when the American spirit gleamed forth."

        World War II History, September 2003

"Using interviews with more than 70 of Wake's American defenders as well as research in archival and other sources, Urwin pieces together the story of the battle from the bottom up, recounting the siege from the perspective of the enlisted men and junior officers who fought so valiantly against overwhelming force.  His book explains clearly how the war in the Pacific, combined with the rising importance of airpower, made the barren coral strip so strategicially important.  Urwin also touches on the impact Wake had on demonstrating anew the combat readiness of the U.S. Marine Corps -- which made up the bulk of the American fighting force.  The contributions of the handful of Sailors, Army radiomen, and civilian construction workers who helped keep the Japanese at bay for 16 days are also fully and fairly detailed.  Facing Fearful Odds ends with an epilogue that centers around what is called the "Cunningham-Devereux controversy" -- an interesting final chapter to the story of the brave men who defended the barren island at a time of maximum peril for their country."

        Sea Power, June 2003

       "Emphasizing individual accounts, the narrative is dramatic and well told.  The desperate courage and determination of these men deserve to be remembered, as they now are.  Urwin does not, however, pull his punches.  Actions are analyzed and mistakes are pointed out and acknowledged, although with a realistic understanding of the situation and options.
        "In summary, this is a long book . . . , but it accomplishes what the author intended -- to tell the stories of the men who were there, warts and all, in an engrossing style.  They and their descendants will treasure this book; the nation they served should also find much of value here.  Lastly, for those with a particular interest in coast defense, this is a detailed account of one of the few actual battles between coast artillery and naval ships.  As such, it is particularly valuable."

        Bolling Smith
        Coast Defense Journal, May 2004