"Attack on Pearl Harbor - Japan Awakens a Sleeping Giant"

[Jennings]

Just got this book this afternoon - very nicely done! It's essentially a D&S style book (the look and feel will be familiar to you), but covering both the Japanese and American sides of the PH attack. It's a very good overview of the attack, the ships (on both sides), and the aircraft (again, on both sides) that took part or were victims of the attack. Don't expect an in-depth scholarly tome like "At Dawn We Slept", but if you're looking for a good overview, this is a nice book.

Lots of interesting photos, some of which I hadn't seen published before (although they may in fact have been). The nicest part to me is good coverage, using very nicely done profiles, of the various types of IJN aircraft and their markings. Apparently not a whole lot is really known conclusively about specific aircraft, but the artist has done a great job of illustrating what is known. At least now I know how to interpret the tail markings, and he's shown two Kates with special leader's markings, one with an orange-yellow painted fuselage! I hope that's really accurate, because it'll make a stunning model.

Definitely worth getting if you're interested in Pearl Harbor.

J

[Fishwelding]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a good reference to have. ( My dog-eared copy of At Dawn We Slept is a favorite, but not terribly useful for modeling!)

Edited December 2, 2010 by Fishwelding

[David_Aiken]

Just got this book this afternoon - very nicely done! J

Aloha Jennings,

Thank you for the promising review. The promise seemed quite well and appreciated.

Cover:

It was sad that the title reflected a "Sleeping Giant" MOVIE quote for which Admiral Yamamoto did NOT say: http://www.pearlharborattacked.com/cgi-bin...ct=ST;f=16;t=18

page 2: Caption to "Title Page Photograph":

The destruction of the USS Arizona is suggested as "....possibly dropped by a Kate, BI-318, from the aircraft carrier SORYU..." This hypothesis is a LONG proved myth.

To repeat the facts...this myth started in the volume "Tora! Tora! Tora!" by Gordon Prange (Tokyo: Readers Digest; 1966) based on the knowledge that SORYU bombardier Petty Officer First Class Noboru Kanai left a diary in his effects detailing his bomb drop on Battleship Row. Prange had not read that diary, yet based on the interviews he made with some primary leaders, he was led to think that Kanai had dropped on the USS Arizona. The year FOLLOWING the release of his TORA volume, the summary of the Japanese combat reports for Pearl Harbor were finally released by the Japanese government which revealed that Kanai had dropped on the paired USS Tennessee/West Virginia.

A unique pair of photos have come to light of Kanai's plane. One over Pearl Harbor and one over the Wake Island area. The first just shows the tail code up to the meatball, the second (photographed moments before that plane was shot down by an F4F) shows the whole plane. The BI-318 artwork, shown on page 19 top, is correct as it is based on the solid research behind artwork posted at: http://japaneseaircraft.multiply.com/photos

The volume is a nice general coverage of the technical and tactical aspects of the attack. There are some good points and, alas, some errors...

IF this volume leads a new generation toward a deeper study of that day, the volume served an excellent purpose. With the errors, please DO that deeper study.

Sincerely thanks, Jennings, for alerting me to the volume.

Cheers,

David Aiken

[SBARC]

That does sound like quite the book.

An interesting footnote in history is Hector C Bywater. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Charles_Bywater

He was a pre-WW2 strategist that predicted much of the war in the Pacific. He wrote a book in 1925 called The Great Pacific War in which he detailed what he thought would happen. It is believed that Yamamato was a fan of Hector C Bywater and thus built his plans around what Hector C Bywater wrote. In his book Hector C Bywater correctly predicted many actions taken by both the Japanese and the Americans, including the Japanese drive to win the "Decisive Battle" and the US island-hopping campaign. He died just before the War in the Pacific began. Conspiracy theorists believe that Imperial Japan had him assassinated to deny the Allied Powers with a potentially important military adviser and strategist during WWII.

[David_Aiken]

Welch or Welsh?

Aside from changing from Welsh to Welch and back to Welsh in the text, the author says that George Welch is said to have '...claimed one victory and one damaged...' on his first sortie...and then on the second sortie, "Welsh shot down two Vals and one Zero..."

Actually Welch claimed both planes he shot at in his first sortie...and only two planes in the second sortie. All the planes Welch attacked, he described as "light bomber, retractible landing gear, rear gunner". For extra details from the Japanese Kodochoshos, see: "Ghosts of Pearl Harbor", FLIGHT JOURNAL, June 2007... as Welch did NOT shoot down ANY plane in his first sortie.

The first plane made it back to its CV with one fuel tank streaming, the gunner on the second 'claim' actually damaged Welch's P-40 and Welch broke combat to check the damge, and Ken Taylor wounded the gunner and shot the plane down.

The plane crashed in the surf off of Barber's Point, the pilot carried the dying gunner ashore, the pilot made a shallow grave for the gunner...and then on the following TUESDAY, the pilot was finally dispatched by a US Army officer.

[SBARC]

There is also the story of the Japanese Zero pilot that was shot down and landed on one of the smaller islands....Niʻihau island. He had a gun and took over the island of 136 island residents.

It's an interesting story and the only incident of Hawaiin territory being captured by the Japanese. Also there were Japanese residents on the island that helped the pilot and their anti-American actions ended up in a navy report and possibly influenced the decision to inturn Japanese Americans.

Here's the whole story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_Incident

The remains of Nishikaichi's Zero and the intact but antiquated tractor used to transport him to the boat landing are on permanent display at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, which had its grand opening on December 7, 2006.

[David_Aiken]

"Love Died In Pearl Harbor"

TBS-TV (the Turner CNN News Network in Japan) aired "Love Died In Pearl Harbor", a short version on Dec 7-8, 2010; the one hour longer version (alas only the KANTO region of Japan) aired on 12 Dec 2010.

The short 9 minute broadcast is on Utube at:

This program details the visit of Miss M. Nakano, the fiancee' of "Yoshio Shimizu", radioman/gunner and aircraft commander of HIRYU D3A VAL coded BII-214 serial 3186. The plane was hit during its dive on USS Maryland.