“40 Thieves on Saipan: The Elite Scout-Snipers in One of WWII’s Bloodiest Battles,” written by Joseph Tachovsky of Sturgeon Bay and Cynthia Kraack won the 2020 Best Book Award in the History: Military category from the recently held American Book Fest.
The true story of the platoon led by Tachovsky s father, former Sturgeon Bay mayor and postmaster Frank Tachovsky, also was named a finalist in the History: United States category by the festival.
Published in June by Regnery Publishing, 40 Thieves focuses on the action Frank Tachovsky s unit saw in Saipan, one of the Mariana Islands, which American forces won from the Japanese in a battle that ran from June 15 to July 9, 1944 with more than 3,400 U.S. and 24,000 Japanese troops and civilians killed. It also tells the stories of the men who came together to perform some of the most dangerous work during the battle.