In the Tarawa atoll lies the tiny islet of Betio. In November of 1943, the men of the 2nd Marine Division watched as bombardments destroyed the island's Japanese defenses. But when the Marines landed, the Japanese poured out of their protective bunkers and began one of the most brutal encounters of the war.

Drawn from sources such as participants' letters and diaries and interviews with survivors, One Square Mile of Hell is the riveting true account of a battle between two determined foes, neither of whom would ever look at each other in the same way again.