From the bestselling historian Saul David, a dramatic tale of the first American soldiers to take the fight to the enemy in the Second World War.
In this history, Saul David follows one extraordinary troop across the course of the Second World War. The ‘Devil Dogs’ of K Company, Third Battalion, 5th Marines were part of the legendary first Marine Division. They landed on the beaches of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in 1942 - the first US ground offensive of the war - and fought their way across the Pacific. A band of unexpected and singular characters - ordinary men from very different backgrounds, drawn from cities, towns and settlements across the United States - they were bound together by an extraordinary mission, and an unshakeable belief that however damaging the turmoil they faced might be and however terrible the war, it was worth fighting.

For fans of Stephen E. Ambrose’s legendary Band of Brothers, this is the first attempt to follow a band of men across the Pacific. Through David’s deep research into the men’s own outstanding writing and records published and unpublished, private and official, we see these epic, dangerous, transformative, supremely challenging years through the eyes of the troop. Gripping, intimate, authoritative and far-reaching, this is a unique and incredibly personal narrative of the war.