Books On The War In The Pacific

[mark24]

Hi all,

I'm currently scanning Amazon for a good, DETAILED, book on the war in the Pacific. The whole shabang 41-45 (Or '37 to '45 to inc the Chinese). Price no object.

Any recommendations?

My previous military reading has a Germany first bias. Time to rectify that, methinks

This game has really fired my interest in the Pac War!

Mark

[Drongo]

Try this.

showthread.php?s=&threadid=22160

[BPRE]

Try 'The Big E' Edward P. Stafford if you can find it. I bought it 25 years ago already and I think it was written in 1962.
It's the story of Enterprise through the war so it covers all the carrier battles in this area except Coral Sea.
It's Ballantine Books and SBN number 345-23659-9-195 and Library of Congress number 62-17168. Hope that helps.

Regards
BPRE

[Supervisor]

Originally posted by BPRE
Try 'The Big E' Edward P. Stafford if you can find it. I bought it 25 years ago already and I think it was written in 1962.
It's the story of Enterprise through the war so it covers all the carrier battles in this area except Coral Sea.
It's Ballantine Books and SBN number 345-23659-9-195 and Library of Congress number 62-17168. Hope that helps.

Regards
BPRE

It's just been reissued by Naval Institute Books (Bluejacket Books), ISBN 1-55750-998-0

[John Carney]

For an American look John Costello "The Pacific War 1941-1945"
A pretty standard American view, but very well written.

For a more European view, with both theaters Robert Leckie "Delivered from Evil". A good look at the inner department and Country rivalries that effect the war conduct and production.

A good British view point James Dunnigan and Albert Nofi "Victory at Sea" (WWII in the Pacific).

Great thing about long deterent patroles is time to read. For those bubble heads "War Beneth the Sea" by Peter Padfield is great reading.

[ATENTOKO]

Hello Mark,

Look also the web of OSPREY. Quite a lot of military subjects and very good the CAMPAIGN SERIES.

By by
ATENTOKO

[Drex]

Morrison's "History of US Naval Operations in WWII" has been reprinted. It covers everything. Don't know how it compares to the others in detail but is reads really well. I picked it up at Costco for a good price.

[Matt Erickson]

I found a bizarre book the 'us naval ins press' on the war in the pacific not much on text but it has got maps galore in it:D cant remember where i stowed it away:(

[mark24]

Thanks for your time & input, folks.

Mark

[dtx]

A book much more interesting than its staid title is: The Fall of Japan. It delves into great depth the Japanese view of the war and in doing so, strongly refutes the history reconstructists who claim that Japan was ready to surrender and the atomic bombs weren't needed. For example, after the bombs were dropped and the Emperor was planning to surrender a group of young military officers attempted a coup so that Japan would continue the war.

Another aspect of the war that the book brought to light was the infighting amongst the Jap armed forces. E.g., The navy would try to sabotage manufacting at Army-related and Air force facilities and these armed services did the same to each other and the navy.

[rdcotton]

I'd like to second the "Costello" recommendation. I'm currently
reading that one myself. It is a fairly easy read and covers the
entire WiP in one volume (although not in excruciating detail).
I'm up to the Battle of Midway and have enjoyed it up to this point.

Anyway ... just an opinion.

Ray

[chrisp]

Originally posted by dtx
A book much more interesting than its staid title is: The Fall of Japan

Along the same lines is Frank's Downfall (the same guy who wrote the Guadalcanal book). Frank concentrates not only on what was happening, but on what Magic intercepts Truman was seeing -- in other words, what he knew of the situation. There is a long discussion of casualty estimates, how they were arrived at, and how they were "spun" (Marshall seems to have purposely underestimated the numbers for some reason). Frank is also aware of the difference between "casualty" and "killed."

The book generally concludes that Japan had collapsed by August 1945 and was facing widespread starvation (as witnessed by the massive amounts of food that had to be shipped to Japan after the surrender). However (and this is an important point that some people can't seem to comprehend), "collapse" is not the same as "surrender." The reaction of the Japanese military to Hiroshima was basically "so what?"

An excellent read.

Chris P.

[Spooky]

Thank you for all these suggestions

I just added all these books to the book section of the UV Fansite. BTW, I also used some of your comments - if you want them to be removed, please send me a mail (or a PM) and I will remove them.

Thanks

Spooky

[zed]

Originally posted by Drex
Morrison's "History of US Naval Operations in WWII" has been reprinted. It covers everything. Don't know how it compares to the others in detail but is reads really well. I picked it up at Costco for a good price.

The maps and ship listings on each engagement are fantastic. At $12 a piece they are a good buy. My favorite is "BREAKING THE BISMARK BARRIER"

[chrisp]

Originally posted by Drex
Morrison's "History of US Naval Operations in WWII" has been reprinted. It covers everything. Don't know how it compares to the others in detail but is reads really well. I picked it up at Costco for a good price.

While Morrison is an extremely interesting and valuable source, it is dated. He did not know of the code-breaking efforts and so could not give an accurate picture of some of the operations. Similarly, I don't think he used Japanese sources much.

ChrisP.

[chrisp]

And as long as I'm at it: the best three books I've ever read on the Pacific theater:

With the Old Breed at Pelilieu and Okinawa - E. B. Sledge
I think this book has already been mentioned. Sledge was a young Marine mortarman during these two campaigns.

Goodbye, Darkness - W. Manchester
An intensely personal account of the author's experiences in the Pacific (he was wounded at Okinawa). Manchester intersperses his own experience with visits to the major battlefields.

Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atom Bomb - G. Feifer
One of the most affecting books I've ever read. It details the battle of Okinawa from the perspective of the U.S., the Japanese, and the Okinawans (150,000 of whom died during the battle; their culture was virtually destroyed). The story of a battle beyond hell.

I don't think you'll ever be the same after reading these three books. Too much of the literature of war has been sugar-coated. I wouldn't classify these as anti-war books per sec. True "anti-war" literature is incredibly simplistic: war is bad. Duh! Rather, these are unflinching descriptions of what war is.

Chris P.

[corbulo]

Originally posted by chrisp
True "anti-war" literature is incredibly simplistic: war is bad. Duh! Rather, these are unflinching descriptions of what war is.

Chris P.

Some people can come out of combat seemingly without scars, others never recover from the horror. James Jones says that whatever horror he saw in Guadalcanal was dwarfed by coming back to the states on a hospital ship. The broken bodies that never would be the same. Young men whose lives were broken and ended by war. France during ww1 sent all the disfigured and maimed to towns off by themselves so the populace would not lose heart.

[chrisp]

Originally posted by corbulo


Some people can come out of combat seemingly without scars, others never recover from the horror.

Sledge (who went on to become, I believe, a university professor of entomology - bugs) says he wrote Old Breed in 1981 to end the nightmares. Manchester, in his first chapter, talks of sitting back in his airline seat and remembering the first man he killed.

Chris P.

[dtx]

Chris P. - Thanks for the interesting distinction between Jap being ready to "collapse" vs. "surrender." A Japanese guy I used to work with who was alive during the war noted to me that the Japanese pysche needed something like the a-bomb in order for them to admit to defeat. Their country was being burned to the ground with conventional bombs, their navy and merchant marine sunk, and their air force, ineffective - yet the military wanted to fight on. His was very much an old generation mentality not held by those born after the war.

I think we would have less wars if people really knew how horrific they were. As a supplement to Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg, whose dad was a B-25 pilot in the Pacific, said he did the movie both as a tribute to soldiers and to show how horrible war really is. - dtx

[chrisp]

Originally posted by dtx
Chris P. - Thanks for the interesting distinction between Jap being ready to "collapse" vs. "surrender." A Japanese guy I used to work with who was alive during the war noted to me that the Japanese pysche needed something like the a-bomb in order for them to admit to defeat

My father, on the other hand, was in one of the divisions that set out to invade Japan in Nov. 1945. He got the news of the surrender on the boat and served in the occupation force. How much difference one year made at that time!

The Japanese military was prepared for national suicide. They fully intended to kill as many Americans as possible while dying in the process. They intended that civilians do the same. After the second bomb, the Emperor could claim that that tactic would no longer be viable -- that the Americans could destory the Japanese without dying themselves.

Ultimately, the decision to surrender belonged to Hirohito, a figure I still don't understand.

Chris P.