Overview
Albright reviews the decisions made by Japanese commanders of the strike force, and examines the battle of Midway in the light of his findings. He also considers how a third Japanese attack on Oahu might have crippled the US Navy substantially, and characterizes their failure to do so as the fatal blunder that cost them the war. Photographs of the attack and aftermath have been added to the 1991 edition. There is no index or bibliography. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, ORSynopsis
Albright reviews the decisions made by Japanese commanders of the strike force, and examines the battle of Midway in the light of his findings. He also considers how a third Japanese attack on Oahu might have crippled the US Navy substantially, and characterizes their failure to do so as the fatal blunder that cost them the war. Photographs of the attack and aftermath have been added to the 1991 edition. There is no index or bibliography. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Publishers Weekly
The ``swift and ruthless'' policy of the Japanese navy in World War II was due to the military genius of Adm. Heihachiro Togo, whose strategies during the Sino- and Russo-Japanese wars, the author asserts, provided a model for Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto in his attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Albright, an intelligence officer at Army headquarters on Oahu at the time, tells the familiar story of the failure of the U.S. command to heed the warnings of impending disaster. He also argues that neither Gen. Walter Short nor Adm. Husband Kimmel deserves the degree of blame for the Pearl Harbor disaster that historians have placed on their shoulders. Albright tells, as well, of the planning, preparation and execution of the two-wave Japanese assault. He contends that the Japanese could have caused far greater damage had they exploited their initial success with a third wave, a carrier-baiting landing on Oahuand he speculates on how this might have turned out. The study concludes with an examination of the devastating Japanese naval defeat at Midway six months after Pearl Harbor and the death of Yamamoto. (July)