Customer Reviews

Battle of the Bismarck Sea

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McAulay goes into great detail about this defeat the Japanese suffered in March, 1943. The Japanese were trying to supply and reinforce their New Guinea forces with the addition of 6,000 troops. Instead, the Australians and Americans had created an air force specializing in low level strafing and skip bombing. Out of the 14 ship convoy, the Japanese lost all their transports and only two destroyers managed to escape. McAulay talks in detail how the Allies managed to sink this convoy, even detailing the strafing details of the Japanese soldiers and sailors in the water.
The book was an alright read, but with so many pilots and air crews giving their own stories, this led to confusion. If five different aircraft hit the same ship, there were five different stories on how the ship was sunk. Thus if one read this book, one would think the Japanese lost a hundred ships, rather than the 12 which they did lose. I commend the author on shedding light on a little known battle.

This is a superb book telling of a vital battle between Australian and American aircraft and pilots and the Japanese who were attempting to reinforce their forces in Lae with the prospect of attacking the allied forces in this area of New Guinea. The result of this battle was vital for the allies as a positive reinforcement could have seen real problems for the Allies who would have been outnumbered at any given point.
The author relies to a very large extent on diaries and personal remembrances, along with unit histories, to tell his tale. He focuses on the individual planes to a large extent and takes you into the cockpits with the crews and also sees the battle from the point of view of individual Japanese soldiers who are undergoing attack. This makes the description riveting, enthralling and very personal.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an exciting retelling about this pivotal battle.