Hell's Anvil: The Forging of a Fanatic Fighter

About the Book

What happens to a relaxed and friendly poet and artist put in command of three dozen comrades and subjected to weeks of relentless combat? This is true story of such a man, a Japanese platoon leader in the Philippines in 1945, told in his own words in a setting of material from U.S. and other Japanese sources for background against which the action takes place. His battlefield journal, distinguished by expressive prose and poetry in classic form, is anonymous, but the book tells how his identity is ultimately discovered, his diary restored to his family, and describes the warm reaction in Japan.

About the Author

During W W II, 1st Lt. Edward Rasmussen served in Military Intelligence as a translator o f J ap anese at Washington Document C enter. After the war, he resumed his career as insurance broker. In time, he increasingly served as insurance consultant to Japanese corporations doing business in the U.S. Since retirement, he writes military history and does translation for other military historians. His recent book, “Hell’s Anvil, the Forging of a Fanatic Fighter,” is available from Xlibris Corp. Based on his translation of a Japanese platoon leader’s journal of fighting on Luzon, P.1., it includes eyewitness accounts of the action from the American side.