Customer Reviews

Artillery at the Golden Gate: The Harbor Defenses of San Francisco in World War II

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I bought this book expecting to find a history of the fortifications around the San Francisco area, and I guess I got that, from a social perspective. The book is short, lacks detailed maps, is short on maps in general, and focusses far too much on individual personalities and banal human interest tidbits.

Nowhere in this work is there a comprehensive listing of positions, weapons, or locations, which is what it desperately needs.

I cannot ecommend this book to anyone interested in visiting the coast fortification sites.

Local Bay Area historian Mr. Chin has rightly taken some heavy flak for producing a book about World War II San Francisco Bay artillery defenses that totally omits maps, positions, and similar military visual records. Instead his book is filled from beginning to end with snapshots and photos, many gleaned from the archives of the Presido Army Museum. Given three reprints of a topic unlikely to be reinvestigated, might Mr. Chin consider augmenting his work with some up-to-date photos and a bevy of concise and accurate maps in an addenda?

Having criticized the books blatant shortcomings, I must turn to its virtues, and these are considerable. Taking a chronological path through the events of the day, the reader is given a very close picture of the lives and travails of the multitude of individuals involved, with civilians as well as military personnel. Personal anecdotes of military life at the time predominate, but never quite run riot with the ongoing and fateful storyline. It soons become evident that, far from a mere history of the artillery sites, Chin's narrative encompasses a far wider compass, with a multitude of impressions of pre and wartime San Francisco and environs front and center.

What stands out in the book, and gives it heart, is the remarkably frank reminiscences of those involved. We see first hand the effects of the massive build up of military forces and the shake-up throughout the ranks as Roosevelt moved up junior offices in an attempt to invigorate old-fashioned thinking and obstructionism with fresh views and ideas. New non-professional soldiers' approaches to problem-solving clashes with hidebound established formulas - constantly reminding a reader how dramatic a shift in American society was ongoing. Chin writes of one young lieutenant's experience getting in a ditch to help his men install a plumbing line cannabilized from a burned out road house. An old line General rebukes him, "Officers supervise!" When the lieutenant points out that none of his men understand how to properly afix the valves, a complicated skilled job which he as an enginner understands, the General tells him he should never do the work, but should teach them, however long it may take. Not long after the lieutenant with the can-do attitude is deliberately transferred to a desk job in the city.

Despite the huge investment in men and materials - Roosevelt designates over One Billion dollars for the project of upgrading the military installations about San Francisco Bay - snafus of the most astonishing and unbelievable scale still occur. (Unbeliveable save for anyone who has worked in the government. By the way, things cost WAY less then - for example, gas ran just 12 cents a gallon! Depending on which current government tables you chose to use, that Billion dollars from 1941 would be worth anywhere from 12 Billion to 123 Billion in today's inflated dollars. An estimate of 25 Billion might be most accurate.) Many of the expensive and elaborate preparations go horribly wrong - after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor the city of San Francisco leaves its lights on all night, much to the fury of the Bay Area Commandant. The Golden Gate Bridge - if destroyed a huge nightmare to clear for ship traffic - leaves on its tower and roadway lights glowing full blaze! When an attempt is made to cut the lights, all the Presido power for the military installations is also turned off, rendering the entire defense useless! Meanwhile, the forebdoing 16" gun batteries defending the coast against battleships and invasion - think the Guns of Navarone! - have no infantry defenses - a small handful of Japanese marines could easily have landed and spiked the barrels!

The first sixty pages, a little over a third of the book, covers the pre-war preparations. Most modern readers will be shocked to learn how far commited America already was for war with Japan by mid-1941. A single July vote in Congress passes an extension of the peacetime draftees induction period to three years - and a few weeks later over 90% of Japan's oil supplies are cut off, essentially an act of war when levied against a country that imported all its fuel. Against this larger backdrop Chin dutifully chronicles each month's steps in preparation, whether it be the fund raiser auction during a Seals double header of a bat local boy Joe Dimaggio used in his famous hit streak, or the firing trials of Funston's monstrous 16" guns. The human story behind all the Harbor defenses, all the various camps, and sites, is covered as thickly and closely as the tons of iceplant the men of the 56th Coast Artillery planted about the barracks and grounds of Fort Cronkhite.

Anyone interested in life in the Bay Area at this time can find plenty of value in this fact-filled book. It's a subject rarely treated with so much attention and conscientousness. But the book's anecdotal barrage of small details of day to day life, while projecting a wealth of human interest, eventually wears out its welcome. Chin's book as a whole remains the work of an amateur historian - one whose eye for and love of the details of daily life have a commendable role in the study of the past, but in no way can be taken as a serious study with overarching themes. Anyone who served in any of these groups or lived in San Francisco at the time would probably be the reader best served by this information. But such individuals, who lived at a time when the public participated far more closely in war efforts, are fast passing from the American scene.

Great stories behind the naming and history of the fortifications of San Francisco. Nice period pictues too. Would have loved to see Then and Now photos so one could compare the past with the present day. Overall a good book.

Tom Nelson, Novato, CA 2/20/10-

I wanted to comment on Doug's review.

He felt Japanese Marines could land as no infantry support. The book clearly explains
how each Coastal Unit had full infantry training, as well as the numerous machine
guns, barbed wire. Page 131 notes how they manned their own Guard Posts and patrolled
beaches. On the same page, the 107th Cavalry Group pitched in. Page 35 shows the 155
mm mobile artillery. Page 65 notes the 17th and 53rd Infantry Regiments dispatched
from Fort Ord to Santa Rosa and Sacramento ready to move on landings.

Perhaps the Japanese submarine I15(page 70) could have tried to launch some Marines
and or a float plane, but both would have met instant destruction from the 6" and
smaller guns below the larger ones, AA guns, Coast Guard/Navy, Army Air Force.

The 15" guns would have kept battleships far away.

As we know now, Japan did not have the logistical capability to attack the West
Coast.

Brian Chin showed me all the trenches, MG bunkers and Infantry bunkers all over
the Headlands, Ft. Scott, etc. Doug, take a tour with Brian!.

One last word. Brian traveled to Ohio to personally interview Colonel Usis.
His father, Calvin, was an officer at Ford Ord, later in Europe. Another wealth
of eyewitness information. This was how a good portion of Churchill's World War II
memoirs were researched, including Sir Winston's recollections himself.

Tom Nelson, Novato, Ca 11/10/07-I very much disagree with the gentlemen from Long Beach. I have met Brian Chin. He is our expert on the SF Coast
Artillery. I found all I needed to know in this book. As an amateur
Military Historian,specializing in the Maginot Line, I can say his book equals
Vivian Rowe, the first author to cover the Line. Too many publications
get into technical matters the average reader dislikes. Brian greatly
impressed me with his knowledge of the subject. He also has a big fan club
in France. AALMA(Friends of the Maginot Line of Alsace) made him an honorary member.

We both will visit Battery Townsley tomorrow, Veterans Day, for it's
Grand Opening. How many of us would ever have heard of it if it were
not for Brian. I know I would have not.

Tom Nelson
President
AALMA USA