The Doolittle Raid: America's Daring First Strike Against Japan Review

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(More customer reviews)This book, I believe, is a very good account of a relatively forgotten event during the Second World War in the Pacific theater. Sandwiched between two intensely covered events such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway, the Doolittle raid often gets overlooked. The author did a good job to provide a detailed account of the events leading up to the raid as well as an excellent account of the experiences of each of the sixteen bomber crews as they made their raid over Japan. Other lesser-known areas concerning the raid were covered such as the voyage of the carrier task force and just how close they came to being attacked by Japanese aircraft and surface forces. Also the technical challenges that occurred to the aircraft were elaborated on as well as an account from the Japanese standpoint pertaining to their preparedness for such an air raid. To complete this telling of the Doolittle Raid the author explains the fate of the aircrews that either survived the raid to continue the fight or those that were captured by the Japanese. Finally the plight of the Chinese people as a result of their part of the raid was not forgotten or overlooked, as is often done by history. Overall, for a person generally interested in World War II history this book would rate a 4 out of 5. If you are particularly interested in the Pacific war against Japan this book is definitely a 5 of 5.

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It was the biggest gamble of World War II, but Lt. Co. ""Jimmy"" Doolittle's legendary bombing raid on Tokyo gave America the morale boost it needed in the wake of Pearl Harbor. This is the full story as told by the Doolittle Raiders' official historian. Carroll Glines is also the author of Attack on Yamamoto.

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Clear the Bridge : The War Patrols of the U.S.S. Tang Review

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(More customer reviews)I could not put this book down. O'Kanes writing puts the reader inside the sub taking part in every detail of the Tang's patrols during WWII. I found myself refering to the maps every time he gave a description of the Tang's approach to enemy shipping and being able to see his detailed discriptions of the area thru the periscope. O'Kane's memories of details of shooting setups and the details of men at their stations in time of war is uncanny. This is truly a book that takes the reader to the dark days of WWII and the frustration of fighting with defective torpedos and equipment and the "jury-rigging" the crews had to do to make things work and in most cases make equipment better than what was issued. O'Kane was not only a great leader of men he is one of the great heros of WWII. It would be an honor to shake his hand.

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Tang carried the war to the enemy with unparalleled ferocity. This is her story as told by her skipper.

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World War II: The Pacific Review

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(More customer reviews)This book on tape was well done and informative. Using personal accounts as well as historical record, it gives the listener or reader a relavent glimpse into what it took to win World War II. Those of us born after truly do not have an accurate understanding of what happened during that time. This will help the reader begin to comprehend. The stories move smoothly and effectively convey the information in such a way as to hold the readers interest. Riveting, compelling and heartbreaking.

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Miracle at Midway Review

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(More customer reviews)Just how fortunate the United States was in winning the closely contested navy engagement at Midway in the central Pacific in mid 1942 is evident to any reader ofthis very well documented and quite balanced account of one of the largest and most famous exchanges between the US navy and their Japanese counterparts during the course of World War Two. By using extensive inputs from both Japanese and American participants and observers of the sea battle, the authors thread together a memorable and engaging narrative of the events leading up to and involving both sides during the summer months of that fateful year. It was one for the record books, and one that demonstrated conclusively that the rules of war at sea had changed forever from one dominated by capital ships like battleships and cruisers to one dominated by aircraft carriers and attack airplanes.
In the devastating aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the American Navy was looking for an opportunity to engage the Japanese in a "mano-a-mano" confrontation, hoping to even the odds and shorten the war by using what we felt would be surprise and tactics to overcome the numerical advantage the Japanese enjoyed in numbers of both ships (especially in terms of aircraft carriers) and launchable aircraft. Even though the Japanese had blundered badly at the battle of the Coral Sea, they left the scene believing the fracas had been won, and that they had further damaged the American fleet by sinking three carriers. And though the U.S. Navy did in fact limp away having lost some of its few carriers either through sinking or damage, in actuality they had inflicted more damage than they had incurred. Furthermore, soon one of the badly damaged U. S. Navy carriers (the Yorktown) would be repaired and ready to sail in support of the Midway engagement.
Also, by cracking certain aspects of the Japanese Navy's wireless communication codes, the Americans were able to determine not only what the Japanese were ostensibly planning in terms of a strategy to take Midway, but also what the specific positioning and disposition of the various aspects of the Japanese naval force would be. Obviously, this information added to the element of surprise gave the Americans a huge tactical advantage, and made victory much more possible. Yet it did not guarantee anything. It was the tactical brilliance and contemporaneous innovation of the on-site commanders in the American force that won the day. In a series of engagements that did not change the course of the battle until the last few remaining waves of American aircraft suddenly sank or damaged the majority of the Japanese carriers, the Americans succeeded both through their own daring and a few fatal tactical errors on the part of the Japanese commanders.
The results were devastating for the Japanese, who never again could muster the kind of raw carrier power, or just as importantly, ever replace the huge number of experienced carrier-based aircraft pilots needed to successfully engage and threaten the expanding American task forces that within another 12 to 18 months would virtually transform the character of the war in the Pacific, leading the Japanese into waging an almost suicidal war of attrition which they had no chance to win. This is a well-written, well-documented, and entertaining book that helps the reader to understand just how critical to both the Americans and the Japanese the fateful naval engagement at Midway was, and how the results determined the course of the rest of the war in the Pacific. Enjoy!

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Here is the definitive history of the battle of Midway, an American victory that marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific during World War II. Told with the same stylistic flair and attention to detail as the bestselling At Dawn We Slept, Miracle at Midway brings together eyewitness accounts from the men who commanded and fought on both sides. The sweeping narrative takes readers into the thick of the action and shows exactly how American strategies and decisions led to the triumphant victory that paved the way for the defeat of Japan. "A stirring, even suspenseful narrative . . . The clearest and most complete account so far." (Newsday) "Something special among war histories . . . No other gives both sides of the battle in as detailed and telling a manner."(Chicago Sun-Times) "A gripping and convincing account." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

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The Pacific War: The Strategy, Politics, and Players that Won the War Review

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(More customer reviews)Hopkins has assembled a commendable work that links the most important battles of the Pacific with the US strategy, the politics, and the personalities that shaped the Pacific theater. He provides the backgrounds for each major step and takes you through the events at a level sufficient to put it into the broader perspective.
You won't find content regarding technology or the tactics of specific battles. Hopkins puts a timeline to these seemingly disparate events of this theater to give the reader appreciation for the decisions of MacArthur, Nimitz, Halsey, Marshall, and Roosevelt. But he does it in a very readable way. The many maps help as well. I also enjoyed the brief descriptions of the smaller battles which haven't yet warranted their own books (which made me feel sorry for the many who perished fighting these battles without any real historical recognition).
Having read individual personal recounts of individual battles or campaigns in the Pacific, I was pleased that Hopkins has delivered a very readable history that brings it all together. I'm not a historian who remembers each fact, so I can't comment on Hopkin's accuracy. But its sufficient for a reader to "get" the US Pacific strategy and timeline, and to enjoy doing so.
I've avoided other books spanning the Pacific theater that are tomes with small print and too much detail, or those which seem to have the authors political slant. "Retribution" comes to mind. If you've enjoyed reading books about Tarawa, Guadacanal, Peleliu, Okinawa, Iwo, then you'll appreciate what Hopkins has accomplished.

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Once the stories have been told of battles won and lost, most of what happens in a war remains a mystery. So it has been with accounts of World War II in the Pacific, a conflict whose nature is only obscured by the linear narrative. In this book, a veteran and respected military author opens the story of the Pacific War to a broader and deeper view.

Going beyond the usual accounting, William B. Hopkins investigates the strategies, politics, and personalities that shaped the conduct of the war. His regional approach to this complex war conducted on land, sea (and significantly by America, undersea), and air offers a more realistic perspective on how this multifaceted conflict unfolded--in many ways, and on many fronts. As expansive as the immense reaches of the Pacific, and as focused as the most intensive pinpoint attack on a strategic island, this account offers a whole new way of understanding the hows--and more significantly, the whys, of the Pacific War.

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One Square Mile of Hell: The Battle for Tarawa Review

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Most of us live 76 hours with little thoughts of danger, but as readers of this book will quickly find out, the 3 days the U.S. Marine 2nd Division spent on Tarawa atol, and especially Betio, was just about the most dangerous place a person could ever be.
Several people have said, including the two commanding generals of this operation, that next to Iwo Jima, Betio was the most fortified war zone they had ever seen. In fact General Smith said he had never experienced anything in WWI to compare to how the Japanese had fortified the island. The commanding Japanese Admiral Shibasaki, later killed in the battle, expressed his opinion just prior to the battle that "A million men cannot take Tarawa in a hundred years." Several thousand Marines from the 2nd Division at great cost would soon prove the Japanese admiral wrong.
The U.S. Navy bombarded the island prior to the landings, but not as much as the Marine generals would have liked. However, after the battle, it would be seen that no amount of shelling would have been able to destroy the defending Japanese troops, they were just too well fortified. In the end, it took the combined efforts of the U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, and the air force to take and hold, as Robert Sherrod said, an island no larger than 1 square mile.
I served with the Navy & USMC so this book immediately caught my attention, though I have two others on the subject, also. My opinion after reading this heart rending book is that it very well may be the best of recent times, and may be the best of any future books on the subject. The author has written a very readable book, whereas some books of military subjects are not; and he has built his book not only on individuals that were there, but also on their statements today, 60 plus years after the battle. And as anyone who has read this book can testify, two of the main characters in the drama: the activities of Gene Seng and Charles Montague may never be forgotten. Along with Stanley Bowen, Norman Hatch, William Hawkins, and William Chamberlin, among many others, their heroics will be forever burned into one's mind.
Out of the thousands of Japanese who defended Tarawa, only 17 lived past the battle; while the American losses were 1,027 killed, 2,292 wounded, and 88 recorded as missing. On Tarawa's D-Day the losses of the Marines were close to the 30% range, out of 5000 landed, the losses were 1500.
This Central Pacific island saw much hand-to-hand fighting with bayonet, KaBar knife, and close in shooting. The only way to dislodge the Japanese from their spider webs and pill boxes was with explosives and flame throwers. Snipers existed all thoughout the battle, and even after the island was considered 'secure' fatalities from snipers still occurred by the burial details. The Marines were at times very surprised to see Japanese standing well over 6 feet in height, for these Japanese were special naval landing forces much on a par with our Marines. There was no where to run, no where to hide, and for a large part of the battle we were at times close to being thrown back into the sea. It got so bad that towards the end no prisoners were taken.
Much went right by training and luck, and more went wrong; with both the Navy and Marines learning from this battle. Since it differed from the earlier Guadalcanal fighting both USN/USMC were surprised at it ferocity and casualties. One of the main issues during the critical hours of the battle was logistics: supplies, especially ammo could not reach the Marines due to tides and reef. Later when such a necessary item as water made it ashore in 55 gallon drums, it was discovered that the drums, used prior for gasoline storage, were not properly cleansed so the water both tasted and smelled of gasoline.
This is such a fact filled book that a reviewer could almost seemingly go on forever, but this review is long enough. I give this book a high rating where military and line of departure books are concerned. One doesn't have to have served to read this book and come away with a feeling what it was like to be on Tarawa for three days in November, 1943. And sadly the American public of that time was kept in the dark about the battle and did not find out what WWII island fighting would be like until weeks after the battle.
Semper Fi.

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Battlefield Angels: Saving Lives Under Enemy Fire From Valley Forge to Afghanistan (General Military) Review

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(More customer reviews)A fascinating blend of courageous corpsmen & medic profiles from the Revolutionary War to the Middle East. I had no idea how much of civilian healthcare has been pioneered or validated by military medicine: anesthesia, blood banks, plasma transfusions, air medevacs, etc.
But the strength of this book is the riveting stories of corpsmen who volunteer to become WWII POWs in order to treat wounded soldiers; who race TOWARD the enemy when the fighting erupts; or who find ways to conduct an appendectomy in a WWII submarine while on enemy patrol. This book will surprise, inspire, and move you to tears. You'll never watch a war movie or combat news report the same way again.

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"The night air chilled Caspar Wistar as he walked alongside a wagon filled with medical supplies, part of an eleven-thousand-man army creeping toward a small Pennsylvania hamlet. He wondered if General George Washington's medical corps would again run short of wound dressings when battle met the sunrise."Thus opens the magisterial new book from Scott McGaugh, author of Midway Magic. In Battlefield Angels, McGaugh pays homage to the cadre of medics, corpsmen, nurses, doctors, surgeons, and medical technicians who have provided succor and healing to the more than 40 million warriors who have served in America's armed forces since the nation's founding.Scott McGaugh tells the story of Jonathan Letterman, a Union surgeon during the Civil War who is considered the father of American combat medicine. Letterman designed the first battlefield evacuation system after an unprepared medical corps at Bull Run left thousands of soldiers to die in the place where they were wounded. We also learn about Wheeler Lipes, a young navy corpsman and submariner with minimal medical training who on September 11, 1942, conducted the first-ever appendectomy at sea. And, we hear the story of Pfc. Monica Brown, the young army medic who was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing fellow soldiers from a disabled Humvee during an ambush in the Paktika province of Eastern Afghanistan in 2007. Brown is only the second woman in sixty years to receive the prestigious award. Through these stories and many others, McGaugh traces the captivating evolution of battlefield care, from the Revolutionary War to today's battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.In Battlefield Angels, McGaugh captures the in-the-trenches moments during which medics and corpsmen fought to save the lives of their comrades. Along the way, readers will learn the fascinating history of battlefield medicine and how it has benefited both military and civilian medical practice throughout American history. McGaugh also looks ahead to the future, where telemedicine and robotic surgery promise to transform the battlefield once again. In the end, Battlefield Angels both chronicles and pays homage to the men and women in arms who fight every day to save the lives of their fellow soldiers, sailors, and Marines.

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The Twilight Warriors Review

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(More customer reviews)By the spring of 1945, the Japanese had been driven west across the Pacific by the ever-increasing strength of the American Navy. Okinawa, only 350 miles from mainland Japan, was to be the final battle leading up to the invasion of Japan. Okinawa would serve as a major staging area as well as a base for aircraft. But before these preparations could be made, the Japanese garrison needed to be defeated. On April 1, 1945, the Americans stormed ashore. What laid ahead was the most costly naval battle of the war. Author Robert Gandt describes the naval aspect of the battle for Okinawa in "The Twilight Warriors".
I've read several books about the battle for Okinawa, and this one is unique from the previous ones I've read. This book focuses specifically on the naval aspect of the fighting, while only mentioning the land battle in broad terms. Gandt pays particular attention to the kamikaze attacks, the suicide mission of the battleship Yamato, and the numerous air battles that took place in the area. The pilots who flew the planes were called "Tail-End Charlies", due to their status as late-comers to the war. These men also flew at the back of formations, stood at the end of chow lines, and even had their own sleeping quarters called "boys' town".
Perhaps the area of greatest danger was the destroyer picket stations. These ships would intercept incoming kamikazes and radio ahead to the main fleet. The Japanese were soon setting out to destroy these ships, and many American destroyers were lost as a result of the kamikaze attacks.
I felt Gandt did an especially good job of describing the suicide mission of the Yamato. He devotes several chapters to this story, and I was amazed at the possibility of this ship actually reaching the beaches at Okinawa, beaching itself, and firing on the American soldiers and ships. Fortunately, the "Tail-End Charlies" and other flyers sank the ship before it was too late.
This is a fine work of World War II history. The writing is very good, and Gandt has done a thorough job of researching the aspects of the battle. Highly recommended.

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Flyboys: A True Story of Courage Review

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(More customer reviews)The publisher deserves some criticism for misrepresenting this book on the cover, dust jacket copy and all that stuff. I thought I was picking up an Ambrose-like narrative kind of story of the WWII fighter pilots. Instead, the book starts with a "big picture" historical view of what the author clearly views as two imperial powers colliding, with little understanding of each other. In other words, US - Japan relations went from Perry's opening of Japan (a destructive act, in the author's view, that was necessary because Chichi Ima, the centerpiece of the story, was needed for US merchant shipping purposes) to total, savage, unconditional war by 1941. (Of course, Japan had been at war already in China and elsewhere in the region; and the US and Britain had been playing behind-the-scenes roles that mattered a great deal in those years.)
"WWII" is thought of as one big thing when it was also, and perhaps more so several linked disputes and hostilities. So, the author provides an interesting and important view, helping readers see the historical line of sight in terms of Japan and the US. The sort of moral equivalency (some other reviewers here called it "liberal guilt") that grows out of this analysis is disturbing -- and unexpected, because nothing about the book's packaging hints at this tone. I felt like I was reading something of a piece with, well, most US history books written these days that are not forgiving or "patriotic" about any of the brutality that's occurred since Europeans hit the shores.
However, having set up the book this way, the author has given himself the breadth to write eloquently about the horrors experienced by both sides of the conflict. The book may spin off into too many directions -- for example, trying to determine whether the atomic bombs were even worth it since the destructive power of the napalm bombing of Tokyo and other cities may have been worse. There are other writers and other books that are more thorough and thoughtful about this topic, although the images the author creates of the taciturn, cigar smoking Curtis LeMay letting loose the incendiary raids is unforgettable -- and does cause an American to have to look in the mirror.
The personal accounts are really the heart of the book and are important on many levels. This has to be one of the first books to put together historical sources to tell a narrative like this. And that narrative is gruesome, so be prepared.
Finally, Bradley may be right that Hirohito should've been prosecuted as a war criminal, not set up as a titular, spiritual head the way MacArthur did it. How would history have been different? I'm definitely interested in reading more about this from other authors.




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This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing truestory of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. The fate of the others-an explosive 60-year-old secret-is revealed for the first time in FLYBOYS.

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The Bravest Man: Richard O'Kane and the Amazing Submarine Adventures of the USS Tang Review

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(More customer reviews)The title of The Bravest Man refers to Richard O'Kane, the most successful American submarine commander in the Second World War. While this book focuses on O'Kane's wartime career on the submarines USS Wahoo and USS Tang, it also examines the careers and exploits of other successful American submarine commanders in the Pacific War. A reader might wonder why another book on O'Kane's career is necessary, given the availability of O'Kane's own book, Clear the Bridge in 1977, as well as Clay Blair's Silent Victory and Theodore Roscoe's US Submarine Operations in World War II. The justification for a new book on O'Kane is provided both by the style and the manner in which the author chooses to deliver this story. Unlike other accounts, which tend to be rather meticulous but dry, the author succeeds in painting a wartime sea saga on a vivid canvas, with the protagonist contending not only against the enemy, but the sea itself, an interfering shore-based naval bureaucracy and even defective torpedoes. In these pages, O'Kane and his peers appear as human beings, not just ciphers in a tonnage-sunk chart.
O'Kane started his rise to prominence in the submarine community while serving as executive officer under the legendary "Mush" Morton in the USS Wahoo in 1943. Morton was one of the first sub skippers to break with the over-cautious, unimaginative pre-war US submarine doctrine and embrace a more freewheeling and aggressive combat style. Tenacity was Morton's trademark, and O'Kane later adopted this mindset when he was given his own command on USS Tang. The author effectively demonstrates the deadly efficiency of the Morton - O'Kane combat team on Wahoo; the real weapon system was the well-trained and aggressive crew, not the submarine itself. After O'Kane left Wahoo for his own command on Tang, Morton's efficiency declined and he began to take more chances. In October 1943, Wahoo was lost off Japan and O'Kane's mentor was gone. However, in five patrols on USS Tang in 1944, O'Kane more than avenged the loss of Morton by sinking 27 Japanese vessels. The author details how O'Kane was innovative as well as brave, introducing efficient tactics for recovering downed US pilots at sea and daring shallow-water attack tactics. At the conclusion of his fifth patrol in October 1944, Tang was sunk off Formosa by one of its own torpedoes. O'Kane and eight of his crewmen were the only survivors and spent ten months in Japanese captivity. The final patrol of Tang is probably the best part of this book and the author details the sinking and incredible underwater escape of several crewmen in riveting detail. The brutal details of O'Kane's interrogation and captivity, which are usually not provided in other accounts, are revealed here. Interestingly, the Marine fighter pilot "Pappy" Boyington was in the same POW camp as O'Kane.
This account also addresses the torpedo malfunctions, command problems and doctrinal deficiencies that plagued the US submarine force in the first eighteen months of the Pacific War. It still seems incredible that the US Ordnance Bureau ignored repeated evidence of torpedo malfunctions for so long, and the bureaucratic obtuseness that blocked technical improvements now appears almost criminal. A divided command structure, based partly in Australia and partly in Hawaii, also degraded US combat performance. US pre-war submarine doctrine, which focused on reconnaissance for the fleet rather than independent anti-commerce warfare, was another impediment to a successful submarine campaign. However, all the technical and bureaucratic hurdles had been overcome by 1944, which is when the US submarine force achieved its greatest results.
While focusing on O'Kane, the author also examines the exploits of other top US submarine commanders in this period. These men, mostly US Naval Academy graduates, are followed at sea and ashore to give a complete picture of the special type of independent leaders that were required for this most demanding form of warfare. Unlike their surface counterparts, the US submarine skippers usually fought alone and deep inside the Japanese Empire. The author notes that fully 30% of submarine commanders were relieved in 1942 and 15% in 1943. Even good skippers suffered "burn-out" from continuous combat patrols. Furthermore, more than 20% of US submariners were lost in action, which was the highest loss rate for any combat arm. However the leaders and crews that emerged from this crucible of war, like O'Kane, Morton and Ned Beach, were top-notch. While this book offers little new in terms of operational details about submarine operations in the Pacific, it adds a vital human dimension that is often ignored in more standard accounts.

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"There's no margin for mistakes in submarines. You're either alive or dead."–Richard O'KaneHailed as the ace of aces, captain Richard O'Kane, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his consummate skill and heroism as a submarine skipper, sank more enemy ships and saved more downed fliers than anyone else.Now Pulitzer Prize—winning author William Tuohy captures all the danger, the terror, and the pulse-pounding action of undersea combat as he chronicles O'Kane's wartime career–from his valiant service as executive officer under Wahoo skipper Dudley "Mush" Morton to his electrifying patrols as commander of the USS Tang and his incredible escape, with eight other survivors, after Tang was sunk by its own defective torpedo.Above all, The Bravest Man is the dramatic story of mavericks who broke the rules and set the pace to become a new breed of hunter/killer submariners who waged a unique brand of warfare. These undersea warriors would blaze their own path to victory–and transform the "Silent Service" into the deadliest fighting force in the Pacific.

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USN Carriers vs IJN Carriers: The Pacific, 1942 (Duel) Review

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(More customer reviews)The epic duel in the Pacific Ocean in 1942 between the carriers of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Kido Butai (Mobile Force) and the carriers of the United States Navy makes for dramatic history and this story is told with great verve and insight by Commander (ret.) Mark Stille. USN Carriers vs IJN Carriers is the sixth volume in Osprey's new Duel series and readers need not fear that this is a repackaging of material from other Campaign and New Vanguard series titles. Rather, this volume provides a fresh look at four carrier vs. carrier battles (Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz) in 1942, fought when the odds were fairly even and in the context of two rival weapon systems. Both the graphics and text were highly engaging and I would strongly recommend this volume for readers interested in the Second World War in the Pacific.
The initial section on design and development focuses on carrier doctrine, carrier design and carrier construction programs for both the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy. Herein, the author notes that the U.S. carriers were aided by earlier introduction of air-search radar, heavier anti-aircraft armament, better damage control and larger air wings. On the other hand, the Japanese opted for smaller aircraft with longer range, but otherwise the author views their carriers as generally inferior technically to their main U.S. counterparts. Color plan forms of the USS Enterprise and the IJN Zuikaku are included. The Strategic Situation section outlines the U.S. Navy's vulnerabilities after Pearl Harbor and the effort to mass a sufficient number of carriers to oppose the Kido Butai at a favorable moment. In the technical specifications section, the author details the U.S. Lexington and Yorktown class carriers, as well as the F-4F Wildcat fighter, the SBD-3 Dauntless dive-bomber, the TBD-1 Devastator and TBF-1 Avenger torpedo bombers for the U.S.N., and the 6 fleet and 4 light carriers for the IJN.
The well-written section on combatants discusses each sides' command personnel, naval aviators and anti-aircraft gunnery. Here the author notes that the U.S.N. was actually more selective in pre-war pilot training than the IJN, which found 90 percent of its aircrew from the enlisted ranks. Only 22 percent of U.S. naval aviators in 1942 had more than two year's flying experience. The author provides full-page plates on Vice-Admiral Nagumo and Rear-Admiral Fletcher, and a half-page each on aviators Lieutenant Richard Best (Dauntless pilot from USS Enterprise who bombed Akagi at Midway) and Lieutenant Tomonaga Joichi (Kate pilot from Hiryu who almost torpedoed Yorktown).
The 18-page section on combat sequentially covers the battles of Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz. Although the Japanese made costly mistakes in the first two battles, he notes that they increased the size of their fighter wings and added radar to their carriers, which enhanced their performance in the last two battles. This section also has a color battle scene, depicting Ensign George Gay floating in the water, watching the destruction of Akagi, Kaga and Soryu. The real meat in this volume is the 5-page section on statistics and analysis, which lays out the results of these four battles. While Midway was a clear U.S. victory and Eastern Solomons was a draw, the author views Coral Sea and Santa Cruz as costly Japanese tactical victories. He notes that of the 6 U.S. carriers committed in the Pacific in 1942, 4 were sunk, versus 6 of 10 for the Japanese (plus nearly every one of the survivors was damaged in 1942 - a tough year on carriers). The author makes several key points: (a) the Japanese had superior offensive anti-ship capabilities based upon their superior Type 91 air-launched torpedo -"in every 1942 battle, once an American carrier was torpedoed, it was eventually sunk," (b) the USN had persistent problems coordinating multi-carrier air group attacks in 1942 and Midway was the lucky exception, (c) the Japanese improved their air-search techniques after Midway and were not surprised again and (d) the U.S. continued operating single-carrier task forces throughout 1942 - which weakened their offensive and defensive capabilities - but was gradually moving toward multi-carrier task forces. The author concludes that both sides learned a great deal from these four carrier battles, but only the USN had the resources to build and train large carrier strike groups. Japan struggled to replace its losses from 1942, but was forced to convert merchant ships into carriers and its pilot training program could only produce a trickle of trained pilots. On the other hand, the U.S. mass-produced both the excellent Essex-class carriers and thousands of new pilots. The result was that the one carrier battle after 1942 - the Battle of the Philippine Sea in 1944 - was a decisive victory for the USN, which finally resolved the carrier vs. carrier duel for control of the Pacific.


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The Imperial Japanese Navy was a pioneer in naval aviation, having commissioned the world's first carrier, which was used against the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Americans followed suit, initiating huge aircraft carrier development programs. As the Pacific war escalated into the largest naval conflict in history, the role of the carrier became the linchpin of American and Japanese naval strategy as these rival vessels found themselves locked in a struggle for dominance of this critical theater of war. This book provides an analysis of the variety of weaponry available to the rival carriers, including the powerful shipborne guns and embarked aircraft.Study the design and development of these revolutionary ships, discover the pioneering tactics that were used to ensure victory and "live" the experiences of the rival airmen and gun crews as they battled for victory in a duel of skill, tenacity and guts.

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Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan Review

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(More customer reviews)Good books devoting themselves to the overall scope and breadth of Pacific campaign against the Japanese during World War Two are hard to find, but this book solves the reader's problem nicely. It is a comprehensive, entertaining, and fair-minded book that careful details both Japanese and Allied perspectives before, during, and at the conclusion of the war. This book is truly a carefully constructed, exhaustively researched and quite well documented one-volume history that everyone should love. I first discovered it on the syllabus of a graduate-level Harvard history course, and have had it on my shelf ever since. Written in a very accessible style that allows the reader to stream through as though one is reading a novel, and it is filled with interesting anecdotes and new insights that keep the reader entertained and interested throughout the nearly 600 pages of the book. My own personal favorite was an actual complaint filed immediately after the attack at Pearl Harbor by a Hawaiian resident of a dog who was allegedly barking in Morse code to the Japanese ships offshore. It is also offers a number of new thought provoking and intriguing ideas about aspects of the war against Japan for the reader.
The author engages in an active reinterpretation of the war based on declassified intelligence files, archival material, Japanese documents and an impressive collection of interviews with principals involved in the almost five year struggle to defeat the Japanese after the events at Pearl Harbor. It is interesting to learn that the U.S. planned to wage a wide-ranging campaign of submarine attacks against enemy shipping even before the start of the war, and also indicates that MacArthur was lucky not to be unceremoniously dumped after his bad bungling of the defense of the Philippines and also because of his active disregard for a number of important intercepts of Japanese messages that could have saved literally thousands of American and other lives. Spector also reveals that U.S. decisions were often more influenced by the nature of our stormy relationship with our British allies and our own inter-service rivalries than by strategic concerns.
The author vividly conjures up accurate and spell-binding accounts of the major battles of the war, and provides a number of intriguing descriptions of lesser known aspects of the Pacific campaign, as well. He takes the reader on a fascinating whirlwind tour of the war, leaping from details of critical meetings between war planners in the Pentagon to social, economic, and political aspects of the engagement to excellent on-the-scene coverage of the battlegrounds. He shows us how the war against the Japanese was different from that being waged in Europe, and how this intensely naval type of conflict was in a number of ways much more risky and innovative on our part than its European counterpart. I was particularly fascinated by his interesting argument that the most critical Japanese mistake of the war was in allowing itself to be drawn into fighting the war of attrition we had always preferred to wage based on its defeat at Midway. This is an important, magisterial, and comprehensive book that is undoubtedly the single best one-volume treatment of the war against Japan and it belongs on every serious World War Two student's bookshelf. Enjoy!

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Sinking The Rising Sun: Dog Fighting & Dive Bombing in World War II Review

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(More customer reviews)Autobiographies of World War II Navy fighter pilots are pretty rare. In this 2007 volume from Zenith Press, William Davis, an F6F Hellcat pilot who served in the Pacific, offers a rare, from-the-cockpit look at carrier combat in the latter stages of the war. Fans of the Hellcat and the Pacific air war will enjoy his engaging memoir.
Davis joined the Navy in early 1942. After various misadventures in Training Command, which are detailed in the book, he joined VF-19, commanded by Hugh Winters, in August 1943. In the typical hurry-up-and-wait military tradition, the eager Hellcat pilots of VF-19 weren't sent into the war zone until July 1944, embarked on USS Lexington.
In the coming months VF-19 saw much hard combat, resulting in the squadron claiming 155 air kills and almost 200 ground kills. Davis' share of the action included scoring a bomb hit on the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, being shot down off Luzon and scoring a number of kills. In the book Davis claims at least seven kills but apparently only four were officially confirmed, his name not being found on any USN Aces list. Air Group 19 returned stateside in December 1944, Davis subsequently working for Bell Aircraft in the postwar period.
SINKING THE RISING SUN is exciting and fun reading. Davis writes in an easy, engaging style, detailing the funny, exciting and boring events that made up the life of a Navy fighter pilot in the mid-war years. Recommended.

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'Neither honor nor glory rode that Hellcat down to the deck, just duty.Navy fighter pilot Lt. Bill Davis was about to bomb the last ship remaining from the attack on Pearl Harbor - and in so doing was about to write the greatest untold story of World War II. Sinking the Rising Sun is that story- a memoir of World War II that traces the path of a young man graduating from the Ivy Leagues to deadly combat in the Pacific in a richly textured story you won't soon forget."In October of 1944, a young Navy lieutenant nosed over his F6F Hellcat and began a dive towards a Japanese aircraft carrier below. "I screamed down on the carrier which now completely filled my gunsights," the pilot wrote in his memoir Sinking The Rising Sun . "I rested my finger on the bomb release button. I kept going." And go he did. U.S. Navy fighter pilot William E. "Bill" Davis had no idea of it then but he was just seconds from taking his place among the many great Americans that have worn a Navy uniform. The ship filling his gunsights was no less than the Japanese carrier Zuikaku, the last of the fleet that had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Unlike today, back in 1941 no one sent out a fleet directive to hunt down those ships but every sailor had a mental list and as each ship was sunk, one name was checked off. Zuikaku was the last. With his F6F Hellcat insanely past the redline, Davis triggered the release, pulled back on his stick, and promptly slumped down into unconsciousness. No, he never saw his bomb but it squarely hit its mark, the beginning of the end for the Zuikaku, closure you might say, but Bill had little time to think about any of that. When his eyes fluttered open, his off-the-charts F6F was headed squarely into the side of the light cruiser Oyodo. Today, 69 years after Pearl Harbor, Bill's bombing run may be the last untold story of Pearl Harbor. He managed to pull his F6F above the gunwales of the Oyodo and he flew through an impossibly small space between the forward gun turret and the bridge; he remembers the white uniform of a Japanese admiral and perhaps he saw his life flash before his eyes as he twisted his plane into a 500-mile-per-hour knife-edge pass and cleared the destroyer. Of course this is the stuff of the Navy's highest honor but none of this had anything to do with why Bill nosed over into a hail of anti-aircraft fire and held steady until his bomb found its mark. Neither honor nor glory rode that Hellcat down to the deck, just duty. Bill did his duty and the reward he fought for was the reward men in World War II wanted more than any medal or ribbon. They wanted to go home. That Bill could do that and provide a measure of closure for the sailors that went down on December 7th was merely the added satisfaction of a job exceptionally well done.

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Graveyards of the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Bikini Island Review

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(More customer reviews)This book purports to take the reader "on a tour" of Pacific warship shipwrecks. What a complete crock.
There are probably not a dozen wrecks covered here; all the photos save one are very small and mostly boring (unless you're really keen to see portholes underwater). Two photos come from the Japanese merchant wrecks at Truk, some of the most-photographed wrecks in the world (and offered in exceptionally better quality in other publications). The only large wreck illustration is a lovely Tom Freeman painting of the YORKTOWN wreck. Nice, but by no means worth the space on your bookshelf.
If you're someone who knows nothing about the Pacific war, then this is a reasonably good primer of some of the major actions. If you already know what the Battle of Midway was and have some idea that the Americans and Japanese each had aircraft carriers, this book will tell you nothing about the war you don't already know, and the photos, while nice, are available in dozens of other books. If you're looking for some interesting views of the shipwrecks Ballard has made his reputation on finding, you will find nothing of interest here.
Save your money, and pass this one up.

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Remembering Pearl Harbor: Eyewitness Accounts by U.S. Military Men and Women Review

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(More customer reviews)Veritas - the truth. That is what this book presents from the best evidence possible - eyewitnesses. While this volume does not address the precursor events that led to this milestone event in world history, the accounts from the eyewitnesses are riveting. If your imagination can put you in their place, a cold sweat is sure to follow. The accounts are congruent with the personal stories my dad has related. He was aboard the USS Dale DD-353 on that fateful day, and thankfully was not even injured. Drs. Marcello and LaForte must be congratulated for compiling and chronicling such important recollections while they are still available. Their work on the Oral History collection at the University of North Texas will be a gold mine for those interested in avoiding the mistakes of the past. Keep America alert! - Remember Pearl Harbor

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from soldiers, sailors, airmen, nurses, chaplains, and wives who were at Pearl Harbor describe their horrible experiences at the scene of the inferno of battleship row. Reprint. PW.--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War, 1941-1943: Pearl Harbor through Guadalcanal Review

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(More customer reviews)Having read extensively on the subject matter within this book previously, it was nice to read a build up to Pearl Harbor (making the subtitle of the book somewhat of a misnomer) and not just diving into the war in the first chapter. I had read the history of SE Asia preceeding WWII in bits and pieces mainly, but had never read anything where the author skillfully and successfully put it all into a compelling narrative before.
Additionally, the author frequently added small biographies of many important historical figures. Some last less than a page, others up to five pages of information (like McArthur). Regardless, these are revealing and convey excellent information to the reader regarding motivations, personalities, and mannerisms.
In several cases the author presents evidence about such historical figures in a somewhat objective manner and lets the reader form their own opinion before either lambasting or praising the actions of such figures. Never over the top however.
Largely, the author doesn't get into much minutiae regarding combat operations and instead concentrates on policy decisions and operational history and the people that made or reacted to these events. That's not to say there aren't any reference to combat and it's impact, however it's just not a history intended to be that detailed in this regard. Regardless, it is still compelling and highly informative about the personages and policies of the period in question.
Overall, a highly regarded operational history with detailed information on the people who made the deicions at the time. Maps are decent, but not detailed and the bibliography is well documented as well. Not an unflawed history by any means, but certainly full of relevant and detailed information in the areas specified earlier.

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The Washington Conference, 1921-22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Harbor (Diplomacy & Statecraft) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a collection of ten papers on the Washington Naval Limitation Conference in the early 1920's. The emphasis of each paper is on the position of each of the participants of the conference. Since the book is rather short ' 319 pages ' the papers are not very detailed. These papers primarily stress the political and strategic aspects as they affected each participant. There is little on the technical effects although these were rather important (see A. D. Baker III's 'Battlefleets and Diplomacy' at www.warships1.com/W-INRO/INRO_Battlefleet.htm). The coverage of the U. S. and British positions offers little that is new, but the material on those of France and Italy is not so well known. There is a tendency to interpret the arms control negotiations from the viewpoint of Cold War arms control negotiations which leads to rather anachronistic interpretations.

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The Washington Conference regulated the inter-war naval race between the world powers. In the era when it was still believed that battleships were the epitome of naval power and a sign of a country's strength, this conference led to limitations on the building of such weapons by the naval powers of Britain, the USA and Japan. This collection of essays deals with many aspects of the conference; the factors that caused it, the interests of the participating nations both present and future, and the results.

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