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I have now a collection of over 200 history books on the war.The Battle of Midway was always of great interest. I have been a history buff of WWII for 60+ years. My Dad bought 3 American Legion Books of the pictorial history of WWII and the first two years of the Korean War and I was hooked. Before the release of information of the US breaking Japan's code it was a mystery why, we did what we did.This book is the definitive study of that battle, with Japan's timeline of events driving the narrative. A great way to unroll the historical events of this most of all Great Battles in recorded history.
Then Watanabe calmly ordered Osmus thrown off the stern. But so much of it lingers in the mind that the book really is a priceless contribution.U.S. Lots of new material here, some of it tedious at times. Osmus grabbed hold of the chain rail; hence the sailor with the axe. Navy Ensign Osmus, for instance, has been dead for almost sixty-eight years, but I didn't know about him until I came across his story in Shattered Sword. Now I keep imagining him staring at the Japanese sailor coming at him with an axe as he held onto the chain rail on the stern of Arashi, a destroyer in Nippon's First Carrier Striking Force.Osmus, a TBD Devastator torpedo-bomber pilot from the carrier Yorktown, had crashed in the sea, been plucked out by Arashi's crew and interrogated by Captain Watanabe Yusumasa. Odd that the ensign's Web memorial at the University of Illinois still makes no mention of his murder, though the authors know it well enough and add: "Watanabe did not survive the war. Had he lived, it is likely he would have met the hangman's noose as a war criminal."
Parshall goes to original sources and rebuilds events without bias = revisionism for the best reasons.He shows how important it is to get down to the level of procedures, ship designs etc. while at the same time going into higher level questions such as national/military ethos to find out why things happened the way they did.The Japanese group of four carriers could launch devastating combined attacks but had poor intelligence compounded by weak aerial reconnaissance. In fact they were caught by surprise, and the scrappy uncoordinated and continuous American torpedo plane attacks from different directions distracted and divided their fighter cover + for hours persuaded them not to use their flight decks for an essential retaliatory strike. Also they didn't have experience of aerial defence, and their AA batteries and damage control equipment and systems were inadequate.
I loved the details of the Japanese Navy's machinations as they gathered their forces and sailed east. I must say I have an interest in war in general and the Pacific War in particular, but I do not consider myself terribly well-versed in the history of the Pacific War. I never imagined a hefty 640 page historical book could be so engrossing. The authors fully conveyed the notion that as a fighting force, the Japanese were tactically unstoppable, even unmatched, but strategically they were a mess of errors and poor planning. I have a passing familiarity with the major battles and weapon systems (even less than passing familiarity with the Japanese weapon systems). That said, I dove into this account in spite of myself, hooked from the first sentence. Yamamoto planned using his estimation of the American Navy's intentions rather than their capabilities, and this doomed him from the start. I think even if you're familiar with the Battle of Midway you'll still find this to be a page-turner.
The book itself is much larger than you may think and well presented. Mr Jonathan Parshall can be thankful to The History channel and "Battle 360" series for my purchase of his book. If he writes as he talks, he certainly wrote a fine book. The investigation work made for this book must be fully appreciated and praised. "Shattered sword" is the most exciting and safest way of living trough the Battle of Midway. I must find out." I was right.
If, like me, you like to learn about the Pacific campaign, do buy this book. Anytime I heard him commenting, I tought "well, here's someone who knows about the subject. Mine was received from Amazon in pristine condition and it's one of the books ordered from abroad that I like the most. "Shattered sword" is one of the most interesting and exciting books I've ever read. It will provide you with hours and hours of extremely pleasing reading. It's impossible to be disapointed.
Highly recommended.
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