This fully-illustrated account details all the major battles, decisions and outcomes as the Japanese military sought to collapse the United States' principal military enclave in East Asia and seize a country rich in natural and human resources for their Greater East Asia Prosperity Sphere. The planned 50-day campaign took 133 days because they underestimated the grit of their foes. Despite horrendous conditions, lack of air support, food and medicine, sheer grit compelled the Americans and Filipinos not to give up, even if the rest of the world had given up on them.

Jay Wertz is the author of seven books: D-Day: The Campaign Across France; The World Turns to War; The Pacific, Volume One: Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal; The Pacific, Volume Two: The Solomons to Saipan; The Native American Experience; The Civil War Experience 1861-1865 and co-author of Smithsonian's Great Battles and Battlefields of the Civil War with prominent historian Edwin C. Bearss. He is currently writing additional volumes of War Stories: World War II Firsthand, a twelve-part book series of eyewitness accounts. He has also been a feature writer for America in WWII and Aviation History magazines and is the author of Pearl Harbor and the Day of Infamy, They Called Themselves the Battling Bastards of Bataan and Midway: The Battle that Changed the Pacific War, graphic histories which include installments of a graphic novel, Separated by War. He is the producer-director-writer of the award-winning 13-part documentary series Smithsonian's Great Battles of the Civil War for The Learning Channel and Time-Life Video. He started his 42-year film and TV career in Hollywood working on military projects. He lives in Phillips Ranch, California.