One Square Mile of Hell

In November 1943, the men of the 2nd Marine Division were instructed to clear out any token Japanese resistance on the Pacific island of Betio and return to their waiting ships. But when the Marines landed, the surviving Japanese poured out of their protective subterranean bunkers and began one of the most brutal and bloody battles of World War II. For three straight days, attackers and defenders fought over every square inch of sand in a battle with no defined front lines, and where there was no possibility of retreat---because there was nowhere to retreat to. It was a clash that would leave both side stunned and exhausted, and prove both the fighting mettle of the Americans and the fanatical devotion of the Japanese.