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FROM THE BACK COVER:
Leader of the Pack
recounts the incredible history of USS Batfish, a
record-setting American World War II fleet submarine.
Batfish entered the pantheon of military lore during its
famous sixth patrol in February 1945, where it sank a record
three Japanese submarines in seventy-six hours.
In addition to offering a rousing and meticulously
researched account of the famous sixth patrol, author and
military historian Mark W. Allen unravels a nautical mystery
that had gone unresolved for over sixty years: the identity
of the first Japanese submarine sunk by Batfish skipper John
K. Fyfe. Controversy has surrounded the identity of the
first submarine almost since the day of the sinking, but
Leader of the Pack, through a diligent recreation of the
events that unfolded in the days leading up to the sixth
patrol, solves the mystery once and for all.
Lastly, Allen shares a personal story, never told before in
such detail, of Batfish’s rescue of three downed aviators
who were forced to ditch their B-25 Mitchell bomber after it
was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire during a bombing mission
on the Japanese homeland.
Mark W. Allen is the Batfish Historian and Volunteer
Coordinator for the War Memorial Park museum in Muskogee,
Oklahoma. He earned a master’s degree in military history
from the American Military University and is the founder of
the submarine/museum website: www.ussbatfish.com. He and his
wife currently live in Collinsville, Oklahoma. |
