During 1944-45, in the war against Japan, the most significant names of world leaders and generals were involved: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin; Nimitz, MacArthur, LeMay, Slim, Mountbatten; Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. The war drama that culminated in Japan's defeat was set against the backdrop of Asia. Battles on land, sea, and air were fought over millions of square meters: from Imphal and Kohima in northeastern India to Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa in Japan. Max Hastings wrote NEMESIS as a counterpart to his previous book, ARMAGEDDON, THE BATTLE FOR GERMANY (1944-1945). Once again, he matches the history of strategic decisions and hostilities with the experiences of British, American, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese soldiers who participated in some of the bloodiest battles of the war against a ruthless enemy. He describes the slaughter of the Russian army in August 1945 and Slim's remarkable campaign in Burma. He analyzes Australia's internal politics, which did not allow its army to reap the laurels of war, as well as the decision-making process that led to the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Through the testimonies and personal stories of American sailors, Chinese communist guerrillas, Japanese fighter pilots, and British soldiers in the jungles of Burma, `Nemesis` gives the true dimensions of an epic that spawned one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century. [Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]