Merrill's Marauders

by Edwin P. Hoyt

Book Overview

Book by Hoyt, Edwin This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• ISBN: 0523406711
• ISBN13: 9780523406718
• Release Date: June 1980
• Publisher: Pinnacle Books
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

a good read, not a detailed history

When I left home, I threw an old paper back book into my briefcase. It was a World War II history--my favorite reading--but it was not the type that I normally read. This looked like a fringe history, a shoot em up gore book or a romance novel except that the cover did not have a bikini clad hero/vicitim (or even shirtless hunk). From the look of the book, at first I thought that it was from the 1940s possibly still during the war. The short length, thin margins, and yellowed pages fooled me. It was published in 1980 and I could not find any indication that it had been published earlier. Still the old (very old) ranger in me was attracted by the subject and title, Merrill's Marauders, by Edwin P. Hoyt. I did not know much about the famous unit nor its area of operations (Burma) and wanted to know more about both. Here is the blurb from the back cover: "They began as an anonymous group of misfits and inexperienced soldiers, the 5307th Composite Brigade (Provisional), training in the blistering heat of India. They'd been toughened under the command of Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill and readied for battle against the Japanese deep inside North Burma. An American newsman christened them Merrill's Marauders. "It was March of 1944 and the Allies' poorly equipped Chinese forces were exhausted from months of fighting superior Japanese units. The Maraudres would have to bear the brunt of the campaign. They'd march 500 miles through terror-filled jungles and suffer the ravages of malaria, dysentery, typhus, and Japanese snipers. But they fought like lions, somehow achieving their mission, opening the way for the famed Burma Road...and the end of the Japanese war machine." This description seems about right. The book mostly describes the operations of the Marauders. The battle descriptions are not overly graphic while not glossing them over either. The operations are difficult to follow if you are not very familiar with Burmese geography (a failing of mine). Even a simple sketch map would be helpful. The book is an easy read as I guessed from its look and I enjoyed it and I recommend it. My biggest reservation is that no references, documentation, or even claims of research are included. A very short statement on the cover says that it is a true story otherwise it might be taken as fiction. Only near the end of the book did the author make a few statements indicating some of the sources that he used. Specifically, he mentions General Stillwell's biography and some official reports. Other than that, the reader is left wondering what sources were used. Even now I would like to know if Hoyt had interviewed any Marauders. I found only one place that indicated that the author did not know what he was talking about. It was one of those pesky little details that drive authors crazy (I know about these). At one point Hoyt says that a soldier was firing his M-1 rifle in semi automatic. That is no surprise since the M-1 could only be fired in semi automa