MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 03934mam a2200481 a 4500
001 3324132
005 20221020041932.0
008 020214s2002 nyuabf b 001 0deng
010 $a 2002022336
020 $a0767907787
035 $a(OCoLC)ocm49260550
035 $9AUX1484CU
035 $a(NNC)3324132
035 $a3324132
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dSJP$dC#P$dOrLoB-B
043 $aa-ja---$an-us---
050 04 $aD790$b.S65 2002
082 00 $a940.54/4973$221
100 1 $aSmith, Jim B.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88276514
245 14 $aThe last mission :$bthe secret story of World War II's final battle /$cJim B. Smith and Malcolm McConnell.
250 $a1st ed.
260 $aNew York :$bBroadway Books,$c2002.
300 $axix, 346 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates :$billustrations, maps ;$c25 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
500 $aExpanded and rev. version of Jim B. Smith's 1st person account: The last mission. 1995.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [326]-332) and index.
520 1 $a"How close did the Japanese come to not surrendering to Allied forces on August 15, 1945? The Last Mission explores this question through two previously neglected strands of late-World War II history. On the final night of the war, as Emperor Hirohito recorded a message of surrender for the Japanese people, a band of Japanese rebels, commanded by War Minister Anami's elite staff, burst into the Imperial Palace.
520 8 $aThey had plotted a massive coup that aimed to destroy the recording of the Imperial Rescript of surrender and issue orders, forged with the Emperor's seal, commanding the widely dispersed Japanese military to continue the war.
520 8 $aIf this rebellion had succeeded, the military would have proceeded with large-scale kamikaze attacks on Allied forces, inflicting many casualties and possibly provoking the Americans to drop a third atomic bomb on Japan - and continue to drop more bombs as Japanese resistance stiffened.".
520 8 $a"Meanwhile, in the midst of an "end-of-war" celebration on Guam, B-29B crewmen, including radio operator Jim Smith, received urgent orders to begin a bombing mission over Japan's sole remaining oil refinery north of Tokyo. As a stream of American B-29B bombers approached Tokyo, Japanese air defenses, fearing that the approaching planes signaled the threat of a third atomic bomb, ordered a total blackout in Tokyo and the Imperial Palace, completely disrupting the rebel's plans.
520 8 $aSmith and his crew completed the mission, and a few hours later the Emperor announced the surrender over Japan's airwaves, dictating the end of the war. Did this final bombing mission of World War II literally, if inadvertently, prevent months of accelerating carnage on both sides?"--BOOK JACKET.
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$xAerial operations, American.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008113567
610 10 $aUnited States.$bArmy Air Forces.$bBombardment Wing (VH), 315th.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88021581
650 0 $aB-29 (Bomber)$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85010699
651 0 $aHiroshima-shi (Japan)$xHistory$yBombardment, 1945.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh95003738
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$zJapan$xArmistices.
651 0 $aJapan$xPolitics and government$y1926-1945.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85069554
651 0 $aNagasaki-shi (Japan)$xHistory$yBombardment, 1945.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh96007157
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$vPersonal narratives, American.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008113356
650 0 $aWorld War, 1939-1945$zJapan.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2006009048
700 1 $aMcConnell, Malcolm.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80080225
852 00 $boff,glx$hD790$i.S65 2002g