"On November 20, 1943, one of the most ferocious battles in U.S. history began. The target was the tiny island called Tarawa, which had an strategically vital airfield. Naval bombardment proved ineffective, landing craft got stuck on the reef, and Marines waded ashore facing deadly Japanese fire. It got worse. PACIFIC: THE LOST EVIDENCE reveals how Japanese troops boasted that a million Americans couldn't take the island in a hundred years, and the battle showed why: snipers hid in trees, the enemy buried themselves underground, and Banzai attacks came in the dead of night. It became a war of extermination - 5,000 Japanese and more than a 1,000 Marines died in 76 hours of intense conflict. Using cutting-edge techniques, Oscar-winning archival film, reenactments, and interviews with men who were there, TARAWA tells the story of this overlooked but extraordinary battle." Publisher's review