Going For Broke Chapter Summary

The role of the Japanese in the European theater of World War II is often overlooked. They are often remembered as either the enemy in the Pacific theater or as the victims of harsh U.S. wartime policies that resulted with the widespread internment of many Japanese-American citizens. However, the Japanese also played a crucial role in the European theater, but not as our enemy. These were the men of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a U.S. Army unit that was made up almost entirely of soldiers of Japanese descent. The men were known as “Nisei,” which is a Japanese term that refers to children of native Japanese parents that were born in another country. While most of the Japanese population in the U.S. was interned, those who were not Japanese

McCaffrey, an author for the University of Oklahoma Press, in his historical novel, “Going For Broke: Japanese American Soldiers in the War Against Nazi Germany.” The book describes the unit’s role in the European theater from their training, through all of their subsequent battles, and their eventual return home after the war. McCaffrey often goes into great detail describing the courage and valor that was shown by these Japanese soldiers in their engagements against the Germans. The story of the rescue of the “lost battalion” in no exception. McCaffrey’s recollection of that event truly captures the courageous spirit and fearlessness of the 442nd and demonstrated their crucial role in the rescue of the trapped U.S.

But the fighting did not let up. The Germans continued to put up a stiff resistance and progress slowed to a crawl. By the 29th of October, the operation had come to a complete stop. The 3rd battalion of the 442nd found themselves completely immobilized by German artillery and machine gun fire. Most of the men refused to move from their cover. The stalemate eventually broke thanks to the initiative taken by the commander of the 3rd battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Pursall. He decided that the only way to get out of the mess that he and his unit were in was to push forward. He ran headlong into heavy German fire and began ordering his non-commissioned officers to get the men moving from cover. McCaffrey recalls the words of Technical Sergeant Chester Tanaka as he saw his commanding officer run right into the line of fire, “My God! If that dumb son-of-a-bitch is going to walk up into that fire, I guess we better, too!” (McCaffrey 266). Tanaka rallied the remaining 16 men from his company and began to advance. Surrounding companies saw the initiative taken by these men and began to push up as well. One by one all of the men of the 3rd battalion rose up and began to