SEVENTY DAYS TO SINGAPORE - The Fall of Britain's greatest Fortress and the sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse by Falk, Stanley L

New York 1975, Putnam's, 1st US edition, hard bound in dust jacket, VG/VG-( dj medium chipping and wear ) 6x9, 301 pages, illus, maps, notes, bibliog, appendice, index.  ----------------------------------------------- Here is the definitive story in fresh, thrilling detail of how the British Empire's last and greatest fortress, Singapore, fell in 1942. Novelistic in its drama and in the telling, SEVENTY DAYS TO SINGAPORE IS the superb achievement of the chief historian of the United States Air Force, Stanley L. Falk, the celebrated civilian author. It draws upon sources from both the Japanese archives-many previously unused-as well as the British and American. A highlight of the story is the integrally related sea action that saw the disastrous sinking of the two greatest Allied warships in the western Pacific, the British battle cruiser the Repulse and the battleship the Prince of Wales. Stanley Falk is first of all a compelling writer and storyteller. He fully exploits new information disclosing Japanese plans, their secrets, their fears and their new military technology. We also read of the aftermath of the Japanese attacks and their reaction to their stunning victories. The book is alive with anecdotes. These are accounts of battle and courage, of men under fearful pressures.-----------------------------------------------------Especially valuable is Dr. Falk's mastery of military history, for one can relish his obvious expertise on tactics, logistics, strategy, arms, and equipment. His grasp of detail is astonishing. Nowhere is this more vividly evident than in this telling of the two hour air-sea battle, one of the war's most consequential. Here was established incontrovertibly the superiority of air power and of the then unmatched prowess of the Japanese torpedo bombers. This