Customer Reviews

Attack on Yamamoto:

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

 

 

The attack on Yamamoto is considered to be one of the finest acheivements and most fascinating epsiodes of World War II. Caroll Glines brings the authoritative and final word on the events leading up to and the subsequent downing of the Admiral's plane over Bougainville Island.

This book is a focus on the controversy that has erupted over who officially shot down Yamamoto. Going against what the Official Military Record says about who shot down Yamamoto, Glines, through interviews, letters, reports, testimonies, and expert analysis, brings a balanced approach to the controversy. Glines examines all the evidence, and provides that evidence so the reader may decide for himself who they believe actually shot down Yamamoto, although Glines clearly favors one side of the argument.

Attack on Yamamoto also contains useful discussions into the intelligence and code-breaking capabilities of the US during World War II, and it portrays the desperations and absolute necessity of accomplishing this mission and it's overall impact on the Japanese Fleet's ability to continue fighting.

A killer book, this is a must read for anyone who enjoys history, World War II, and a "sit on the edge of your seat" story.

This book does a very good job of covering the mission, as well as exposing how Tom Lanphier tried to get credit for shooting down Yamamota when in fact he did not. Lanphier almost caused a major security breach by going around the country while the war was still going on, telling people his mission knew they were after Yamamota, which could have tipped off the Japanese that their codes were broken. Fortunately, the Japanese never got this information.

I highly recommend this book because of the facts it presents.

Glines reports on every aspect of the Yamamoto mission in painstaking detail, particularly on the decades-long debate regarding who actually shot down the admiral's plane. Indeed, barely half of the book covers the mission's planning and execution; the rest consists of in-depth analysis of every conceivable piece of information and speculation on the buring question as to who should get credit for the kill. If the reader just wants a comprehensive, overall history of the mission and its background, there may be better choices. "Get Yamamoto," by Burke Davis fills that bill nicely. But if you want a book that is thorough to the last possible detail with regard to the post-mission controversy, this is the one.

The short book delves into the attempt to kill Admiral Yamamoto while on a flight of Japenese aircraft in the South Pacific during WWII in the Spring of 1943.

The book gives very good detail on the preflight planning by the US Marine Corp who was given the task because it was felt that the P38 Lightning was the only plane that could make the long trip from Guadalcanal. Great planning and help came from many sources shows the teamwork needed to make the plan work to perfection.

Perhaps more effort should be given to show the total lack of security. It seemed that everyone on the Island knew what was going on and the task to suppress after the fact by leadership of the Navy was too late.

Effort was made to show that the Navy made poor effort to debrief pilots after each mission. This would later prove that a great effort by one self promoting pilot with political aspirations to be President was allowed to set the record for all. No other pilot was interviewed after the flight. The Navy should done a more complete job with debriefing flights after the fact. This is especially true after such an important effort was made on this day.

I found this book to be well written and well researched. It pretty obvious that the author went through a great deal of trouble to get the complete picture behind the operation which caused the death of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto. I think this book easily surpassed the dated effort by Burke Davis and gives credit where credit is due. In some ways, Glines' effort create an almost soap-opera like situation as to dealing with who really shot down the Japanese admiral.

While great credit goes to the Americans who planned this operation, I can't help but to realized in hindsight what a great blunder this operation was in our effort to win the war against Japan. Admiral Yamamoto was a known quality to the American intelligence, his moves, mannerism, his style of operation were well known to us. As popular as he was to the Japanese troops, he was also popular with the American intelligence who was understanding him better as the time went on. Yamamoto as a naval commander was grossly overrated. His only real victory since the war began was at Pearl Harbor and even that, he didn't do a very good job. Yamamoto lost every battle and campaign since then. Yamamoto's death was unfortunate since he was replaced by series of unknown Japanese admirals and their varies abilities. And that ironically helped prolonged the war in the Pacific.

This was probably an operation that should have never taken place, no more then we wanted Hitler dead in Europe. Hitler alive was an asset to the Allies, Yamamoto alive was an asset to the Americans. It may have been good for American morale and bad for Japanese morale but more of them died for it in the long run.

Good book, great researching and highly readable material. For now, the definite book on the subject. It could used a little more insightful perception of the consequences of this operation instead of glorifying its success. This operation in hindsight, was not a good thing for the Americans.