Customer Reviews

Advance Force Pearl Harbor

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Advance Force Pearl Harbor" by Burl Burlingame. Trade paperback-481 pages from Naval Institute Press in 2002 from the original in 1992.
. This book is outstanding and is the only book detailing the attack on Pearl Harbor by the submarine force of Japan in December of 1941 and specifically by the 5 mini-boats carried there by the larger I boats.
. The detail and the research are superb. From the letters written by the crewmembers to their families in the days immediately proceeding the attack to their life stories. The lone survivor's story is detailed. He did spend some time in a camp in Wisconsin during the war. He was still alive in 1991 after having spent many years in Brazil as an executive for Toyota.
..The book also tells the stories of the USS Ward's attack on the mini submarine outside the harbor entrance and of all the other destroyers and smaller craft that plied those waters during that period.
..In addition, the book is full of pictures of both U.S. and Japanese ships, submarines and personnel. It is strange that the book was released in this edition just before one of the boats was found in the waters off Pearl Harbor this year.
..I rate the book 4 of 5 and recommend it. It is also very easy to read because of its unique columnar format.

Although the author does an exceptional job of detailing the action in and around Pearl Harbor, what I found more interesting were events farther afield. The stories of ships attacked near the other islands and as far away as the West Coast of the United States. A great job of researching a largely unknown aspect of the beginning of America's war in the Pacific. I definitely recommend it.

I purchased this book as a birthday gift for my
brother-in-law. I believe he had it read within a
couple of days and liked it very much. He has
recommended it to the rest of the family.