BATTLE FOR THE PACIFIC

The War in the Pacific, from the attack on Pearl Harbor, the 'Day of Infamy' on 7th December 1941 to the Japanese surrender in August 1944, was the most intensive amphibious struggle the world has seen, with the naval and military aspects closely interlocked. Captain Macintyre's accounts of the major sea battles, the long distance assaults by naval aircraft upon carrier-centred fleets and the defensive aerial fighting above them, together with the supporting surface actions, is enthralling military history a its best. The Japanese torpedo of vast range was a deadly weapon, as was the efficiency of men and material of their naval air arm; and the chief surprise to the Americans was the superiority of the Japanese carrier-borne fighters and torpedo planes over their own, both in quality and quantity. But the Americans did hold the key to the enemy's naval codes, and hence his intentions, and so could deploy their limited forces in the right areas until the vast American industrial capacity could build an enormously superior carrier fleet. Not by sea-power alone, but mainly because of it, Japan was effectively defeated even before Hiroshima. This absorbing study encompasses the attack on Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the cruiser HMS Repulse, the 'miracle of Midway', the greatest naval victory since Trafalgar, the aerial massacre of the Japanese in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf and the Kamikaze attacks.