Customer Reviews

The Last Mission: The Secret History of World War II's Final Battle

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

 

 

This book describes the last bombing mission by the B-29's of the 315th wing of the 20th Air Force. This is an important piece of history mainly because this mission took place after the 2nd A bomb was dropped . . . the time most historians claimed the war with Japan ended. The research that was done to write this book was done by Jim Smith, who was on this mission and knew there was more to it than just another raid on Japan's oil refineries. What came out of the research and is presented in this book is a story so important that it had to be told. What might have happened if this mission had not been flown could have cost the lives of millions of Americans and Japanese. In addition to being a good and exciting story, this is history that has not been reported before in anywhere near as much detail and with as much accuracy. I flew this mission also and have waited nearly 60 years for this story to be told. It is done well and with a high concern for accuracy by Smith and McConnell. Read it if you care anything about history as it really happened.

What a great book! The author makes this small piece of history read as a fiction novel. It gives the detailed account of a night bomber group and the powerbrokers of the Japanese Empire. The stories, very well researched and written, never collide; yet parallel to weave a splendid story. The action is tense and faced paced, and you will not be able to put it down. The authors cite many other works on my bookshelves that I am more eager to read. The stories of the night modified B-29B, flying from Guam points the roots of US strategic air power. The story of the inner turmoil of Japan's surrender are also well done and cited. The book covers (for me) new ground on the use and policy of the decision to drop the atomic bombs. The third story told, the US fear of a prolonged campaign on the Japanese home islands, and the use of more atomic weapons was very interesting. This book is for serious and casual history reader packs an atomic punch!

The Last Mission is subtitled "The secret history of World War II's final battle". This subtitle is a little misleading, in my opinion, as the book really focuses on late war (1945) bombing runs over Japan.

One of the two authors of the book (Jim Smith) was on a B-29B bomber at the conclusion of the war, including what he calls "The Last Mission", which was a bombing run to attack a strategic oil refinery at Akita, with the routing taking the bombers directly over Tokyo.

It is the routing of the bombers that leads Smith and McConnell to write that this mission was the final battle of the war, and perhaps their mission succeeded in ending the war by preventing the attempted coup d'etat from achieving its mission in Tokyo during that final night of August 14-15, 1945. With a full blackout in effect in Tokyo (because of the stream of American bombers passing overhead), the rebels were unable to accomplish their goals of destroying the Emporer's surrender message and convincing the armed forces of Japan to carry on the fight through the final Ketsu-go, or invasion of the Japanese home islands, where the military intended to cause heavy casualties on the Allied forces.

There is no doubt that that had the coup succeeded, the war would have continued and Allied casulaties would have been enormous during Operation Olympic (the invastion of the Japanese islands), but I do not believe that this bombing mission single-handedly prevented those casualties). I agree that the timing & routing of the bombers did indeed hamper the rebels' efforts, but I think that the war would still have ended at the same time regardless of whether this mission was conducted or not.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit; the personal history interwoven with the known history of the war makes for very interesting reading. The only reason I gave the book just 3 stars is because I disagree with the author's conclusions. I recommend the book for anyone that is seeking to understand the American bombing missions over Japan at the end of the war, but I recommend that each reader carefully draw his or her own conclusions from the text rather than simply accepting that this mission of August 14-15 made as much difference as is suggested in the manuscript.

This book provides a detailed examination of the last B-29 bombing mission against the Japanese Empire, as well as a very good description of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and a compelling discussion of the attemped coup by junior Japanese military officers against the Japanese government.

By the summer of 1945, the Japanese government was on its knees. Months of stinging defeats coupled by the continuous bombing of the homeland had brought the Japanese to a state of near extinction. Some factions of the Japanese were ready to surrender, citing the mounting losses from the American bombings, but most in the military favored continuing the war while preparing for the inevitable Allied invasion. Japan would strike at the Allies with massed kamikaze attacks while fighting to the last man on the invasion beaches.

Meanwhile, the Americans had perfected the world's first atomic bombs. After a successful test in the New Mexico desert, two bombs were shipped to the Marianas for eventual drops on Japan. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, while the second was dropped on Nagasaki. Even after the atomic bombings, Japan refused to surrender. The Japanese were still holding out for the final battle on the Japanese mainland. However, Hirohito and members of his cabinet were discussing the acceptance of the Potsdam Decleration, the Allied message to Japan stating the Allies would only accept unconditional surrender from the Japanese. This caused the Japanese great concern, for they wanted the freedom to disarm their own troops, prosecute their own war criminals, maintain the emperor, and have no Allied occupation. All of these terms were considered unallowable by the Allies.

At the same time, Russia had entered the war against the Japanese, and they were sweeping through Manchuria with their sights set on Northern Japan and a chance at being allowed as part of the post-war occupation force. The Allies wanted to avoid this possibility.

After a moratorium on bombing raids over Japan, the raids began again. Since most important targets had been destroyed, the target selected was the Akita Oil Company refinery in Northern Japan. Was this a coincedence, or did the Americans specifically select this target so it wouldn't fall to the Russians in the event they advanced into Northern Japan?

Radar picked up the B-29s as they were heading North, and a total blackout of Tokyo was ordered. It was feared by the Japanese that the Allies were prepared to drop a third atomic bomb on Tokyo, thus the city was blacked out. It just so happened that the blackout occurred precisely when the scheduled coup was supposed to start. The main objective was to find the wax disks that Hirohito had used to make his surrender recording on. The militants wanted to destroy these disks and make their own broadcast stating the continuance of the war. However, due to the blackout, the militants had a very difficult time finding their way around the Imperial Palace, and the coup failed. Hirohito's broadcast went on as planned. Is it possible that this one final mission indirectly lead to the failure of the coup due to the blackout order? There is compelling evidence in this book to support this argument.

I found this book to be good overall, but the title is a little misleading. Most of the book deals with the coup plotting, while only a chapter or two actually deals with the "last mission". However, I did learn some things that I didn't know before. I do recommend this book. It contains excellent information on the coup, as well as the atomic bombings, and the information that is presented about the final ission is interesting. Read this book and learn about a turbulent period in August, 1945.

This book covers an important time in history, with events toward the end of WWII, leading up to Japan's surrender.

What makes the book unique is the tie-in of author Jim Smith's bombing missions with the final events of the war, which is interesting in its own right.

But of even more interest to me was the coverage of the general events leading to the end of the war. While this material is covered in other sources, and the author includes a number of references, it is material that I was never taught in any high school or college history classes. This material is crucial to, and generally omitted from, the debate about the atomic bombings of Japan.

In my college history classes 20 plus years ago, there was a definite tilt in what we were taught, that Japan was ready to surrender, dropping the bombs was unnecessary, and it was a pretty mean-spirited thing to do.

This book shows that many in Japan were quite willing to fight on, even despite the atomic bombings. The author does a nice job weaving the tale of his final bomb run over Japan with events on the ground, and how his mission affected these events.

There is an earlier version of this story by author Smith, "The Last Mission - An Eye Witness Account by Jim B. Smith: The B29 Raid that Ended WWII." This is essentially the same story, but told in first person, and including more of a personal perspective. I also enjoyed this book, and would recommend it as well.

Engaging. This is the stuff movies are made of. I hope Steven Spielberg gets a hold of this. I would be more than happy to do the adaptation and take a deferred pay.