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Rising Sun, Falling Skies

The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II

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About this listen

Few events have ever shaken a country in the way that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the United States. After the devastating attack, Japanese forces continued to overwhelm the Allies, attacking Malaya with its fortress of Singapore, and taking resource-rich islands in the Pacific - Borneo, Sumatra, and Java - in their own blitzkrieg offensive. Allied losses in these early months after America's entry into the war were great, and among the most devastating were those suffered during the Java Sea Campaign, where a small group of Americans, British, Dutch, and Australians were isolated in the Far East - and directly in the path of the Japanese onslaught. It was to be the first major sea battle of World War II in the Pacific.

©2015 Jeffrey Cox (P)2021 Upfront Books Armed Forces Asia Japan Military Naval Forces War Suspenseful Programming
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I'm no expert on early WW2 Pacific Theatre. But have fairly good knowledge generally on WW2. this audio book unravelled all the Allied early defeats very well..

easy voice on the ears. compelling story

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This is a superb, moving and inspirational book that tells a complex story very well. The emotional impact of many of the descriptions of action is very powerful. The narration is in the main excellent but is let down by the ludicrous pronunciation of Dutch names of people, ships and places. This is so bad in some cases that this Dutch-speaking listener was sometimes unable to understand what or who was being referred to until the context clarified it. The narrator is effective and talented but for future audio-books should seek advice on pronunciation from native speakers of languages he is not familiar with..

Great Book but let down by pronunciation s

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A deep dive into a fascinating part of WW2 history. Well worth the investment.

Informed and interesting

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I enjoyed this book overall, learning a lot about the Japanese conquest of the DEIs and loss of Force Z. The huge tactical and strategic mistakes made by the Allies are quite distressing to swallow but I suppose that’s war.

The narrator was fine, even if the criticism of his pronunciation of Dutch names is apparently amateur. But I do find the book contains a huge amount of waffle and hyperbole. The author seems to adorn many of the characters with extra emotions or thoughts which he seems to make up. Perhaps the written version of the book includes references to where these opinions are to be found in eye witness accounts.

However, I still enjoyed the book.

Good book, seemingly well researched

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It's a great, very well written and well narrated (apart some geographic names) audiobook about a bit forgotten part of WWII history.
Being a fan of history, I have read about a dozen of books about the first months of war in this part of the world. But this book is arguably the best one dealing with the subject as everything is written in a perfect way, providing technical details and timing of action, and everything is served in a form of good and interesting story.

The beginning of WWII in Far East

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