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| Southeast Asia |
| Book Review: Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 |
| 2023-05-10 |
| I originally bought this book to gain more detail on early US naval operations before Midway and the Guadalcanal Campaign, focusing on the Japanese Java Sea campaign. The book instead focused on four battles: Pearl Harbor Raid, the Marshall Islands carrier raids in early February, the Coral Sea operation, and Midway. Still, this book was a real page turner. The author spent a good deal of the text on personalities of the allied and Japanese civilian and military leadership. This was helpful in understanding how those four battles were tied together, but I think he wrote just a bit too much on it. That said, I never realized just how much US Admiral Chester Nimitz's decisions were tied to US Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Earnest King, Nimitz's senior. His contention that Midway was basically an intelligence war is apt, but he doesn't leave out the grit and bravery of the many men who fought in that and the previous battles. I knew from other books, and the Kings and Generals youtube video series about the Marshall Island raids, but did not read about them in great detail. This book fills in that gap well. Those raids weren't just something for a crippled navy to do as the fleet rebuilds. The intelligence gathered by cryptanalyst US Commander Joseph Rochefort, in part enabled US carrier commanders to conduct air operations with some ease in order to gain early, valuable experience in carrier tactics. In fact, during one phase of the operation, US carriers were within 90 miles of their intended targets, something they would not have been able to do with confidence. I recommend this book about the early months of the war in the Pacific. It falls short in that the author doesn't discuss the Guadalcanal Campaign. But, still, it is well worth the time and expense. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #5 Thanks for the recommendations, magpie. |
| Posted by: badanov 2023-05-10 16:25 |
| #4 Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 by Alvin Coox(1997). Excellent operational-level coverage about the border skirmish and the months long campaign that concluded in Zhukov's Double Encirclement of Khalkin Gol(the winners get to name the battles). The author also covers various social, diplomatic and political events preceding and following WW2 that are quite interesting. For example: why would the Japanese commander order thousands of soda s from Korea? The troops drank the soda and the empty bottles were made into incendiary anti-tank weapons (Molotov cocktails). Or the fate of Japanese MIA/POWs that were deliberately forgotten because they shamed themselves by not 'dying with honor'... |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-05-10 15:06 |
| #3 Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific by Eric M. Bergerud(1997). Excellent book. Several observations in the book (and his other book Fire In The Sky) about how the Japanese military-industrial complex dictated some of their actions in WW2, for example: the heavy diesel engine production bottleneck meant freighters or destroyers DD), which meant logistics required emphasizing light infantry training and organization instead of the heavier equipment they wanted to field... |
| Posted by: magpie 2023-05-10 14:54 |
| #2 So noted. |
| Posted by: badanov 2023-05-10 13:44 |
| #1 I recommend this book about the early months of the war in the Pacific. It fall[sic] short in that the author doesn't discuss the Guadalcanal Campaign. Falls short? Guadalcanal literally isn't the early months. Anything after Midway isn't. Part 2 of the book discusses everyone's favorite Guadalcanal. Why, I've no idea because there is no shortage of books about Guadalcanal. Bookshelves literally groaning under the weight of them. But, I guess a book falls short unless it retreads well-worn territory. This book is about lesser-known parts of the war. That's literally why it was written. I used to wonder why sitcoms and sequels were so popular. Why did people like to watch the same things over and over again? Well, I don't wonder any more. |
| Posted by: Hupainter Peacock1045 2023-05-10 06:04 |