Title: Sealing Their Fate : The Thirteen Days That Decided The Second World War

Author: David Downing

It took the Japanese fleet thirteen days to sail from Japan to Pearl Harbour, the same thirteen days which witnessed the breaking of the German assault on Moscow.  The Germans failed to knock the Soviets out; the Japanese succeeded in bringing the Americans in.  These thirteen days sealed their mutual fate. With each chapter structured around one of the thirteen days, Sealing Their Fate – The Thirteen Days Which Decided the Second World War will narrate the battles, the preparations for battle, the diplomatic manoeuvres and the intelligence wars.  The story will shift from snowbound Russian villages to the stormy northern Pacific, from the North African desert to Europe’s warring capitals, and from Tokyo to Washington. The book will feature a host of ordinary soldiers, sailors and airmen, and those political and military figures who played a key role in the war. Taking the momentum of the Japanese fleet, Sealing Their Fate will work as an exciting countdown.  Other countdowns - the gradual halting of the German advance in Russia, the erosion of Rommel’s resources in North Africa, the institutionalization of the Holocaust - will be worked into this basic structure.  As Winston Churchill memorably remarked ‘Hitler’s fate was sealed.  Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.  All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force’.

UK Publisher: Simon & Schuster

US Publisher: Da Capo

Rights: All other rights available

Schedule: UK Publication 2009