Customer Reviews

Midway 1942: Turning Point in the Pacific (Campaign)

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

 

 

Midway 1942 provides an acceptable overview of the battlebut some of the illustrations are improperly captioned,the author also duplicates some charts for no apparent reason. He also confuses unti designations making it hard to interpret the details he provides. On the positive side this book provides many good pictures and diagrams of Japanese ships and aircraft.

I picked up this book with the goal of learning more about the details of the Battle of Midway (which I knew little about). The book generally does so, however, having read the book in its entirety and (as of recent weeks) other books about Midway, some criticisms on Healy's book are noted. The aircraft loss numbers he presents do not always agree. The index is not sufficient, even for simple, obvious subjects. The tables presented disagree with the actual text at times. There are more typos in the text than should be allowed. The many abbreviations presented are not compiled in a list which makes it confusing for the beginner. Also, even though this is an introductory study, the opening chapters do assume a certain degree of knowledge on the reader. This book also follows a common trend in Midway histories--it tells the Japanese side but only as the story of an epic and (typically) inevitable failure. The images/maps/diagrams are beautiful but I found the legends to be somewhat lacking. Also, at least one map runs into the crease which just isn't nice on the reader.

Overall, this does not take away from my esteem for Osprey books. Looking back, I just wish that they did better with editing on this one. I still would recommend it as an introduction to Midway.

The book begins with the Doolittle Raid on Japan in April of 1942 and the subsequent debate on how Japan would retaliate and safeguard her homelands from further incursions as well as to keep her momentum going. Among the alternatives, Adm Yamamoto's invasion of Midway was chosen as the best candidate to achieve both concerns. It would reduce American influence in the Pacific, give Japan control of an important strongpoint in the Central Pacific with an existing airfield and if Pearl ever wanted to be invaded, Midway, though small, would be a good launch or control point. The author also discusses the US intelligence coup of breaking the Japanese code and uncovering the plans for the Midway invasion which allowed Adm Nimitz to prepare for it which included the miraculous refit of Yorktown. Without this intelligence, it would be safe to assume Midway would have fallen and the bulk of the Japanese Fleet would have survived. It was also pointed out how little intelligence the Japanese had on the US Fleet and this lack of knowledge would prove to be a huge hindrance to the Japanese when it was time to launch on June 4th.

Though this first chapter was interesting, its length will take away from the planning stage of the book which was too brief. The American side was especially too brief. The Japanese plan developed by Yamamoto was not comprehensive but adequate. It describes the diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands to draw the US fleet out of Pearl Harbor as well as the deployment of Yamamoto's different fleets and their respective responsibilities.

In the Opposing Commander chapter the top brass of both sides are discussed. On the Japanese side Yamamoto, Nagumo, Nagano and Yamaguchi while on the American side Nimitz, Fletcher, Suprance and Halsey are covered. The coverage is good but no one under these commanders were covered.
In Opposing Forces, the carriers and planes that will take part in this pivotal battle are described with easy to follow tables included. Orders of Battle are included for the various Japanese fleets as well as TF 16, TF 17 for the American side.

The actual battle coverage begins on page 40 and includes the attack on the Aleutian Islands at Dutch Harbor, Attu and Kiska. The next day, June 4th, Yamamoto attacks Midway and the two fleets begin their search and destroy missions. For an Osprey Campaign, this battle coverage was good and easy to follow. It includes the time sequence of events that were so critical to the US victory as well as the descriptions of the brave assaults of the pilots in their various planes and the sinking of the carriers.

To help with the story, five 2-D maps and three 3-D maps are included. The first 2-D map is a large scale map of the western Pacific that includes the Aleutian Islands in the north and the northern tip of Australia in the south and shows the route taken by the Japanese to their intended targets as well as the sphere of Japanese occupation. The remaining four 2-D maps show the different carrier battles. The three 3-D maps show the attack on Midway Island, the sinking of the Atagi and the Yorktown. All the maps were good but the 3-D maps also contain crib notes that will help the reader follow the action.

As Aftermath explains, this was a monumental event with far reaching impact for the rest of the war for both sides. The US fleet, going up against a far superior force, was wagering its only three Pacific carriers that could potentially had grave consequences. The US prevailed and the Japanese Fleet lost four carriers that day and would never recover from the lost. Wargaming and a suggested Reading List is also included.

Even with the miscues, the book with its great photos, many illustrations and good narrative of the individual sinkings of the carriers, decent maps and an excellent three page Chronology with minute by minute accounts would still make a good introduction.

This is a high quality book and an excellent example of Osprey Campaign Series. One of the most important goals of the Osprey series is to allow readers with little or no knowledge of a subject to quickly understand the battle or campaign being studied. In this regard Midway 1942 succeeds very well. The book provides an overview of the battle in an easy to follow, easy to understand manner. All aspects of the campaign are covered from the lead up to the aftermath. Readers will come away with a good grasp of this pivotal battle. The only weak part of the text deals with its description of the initial Japanese strategic situation; Japanese motives were often complex due to internal struggles between the Japanese army, navy, and political factions. Though the author does his best to explain the background situation, novice readers may have a hard time understanding the rational for some of the Japanese strategic actions.

The Osprey series is well known for its remarkable visual material. As always there are lots of excellent photographs and many beautiful drawings, 2D and 3D maps. 3D maps include details of the Japanese air attack on Midway Island, and the attacks on the Akagi and Yorktown. There is also a very interesting photograph (that I had not previously seen) taken just as one of the bombs hits the Yorktown. Oddly, a table giving Japanese battleship statistics was accidentally printed twice. Given the location of the second copy, it is likely that there was suppose to be a table comparing the capabilities of Japanese and US bombers. This would have been helpful, but little is lost without it.

An excellent work for those interested in this decisive battle.

Well written and well illustrated.

Osprey Campaign series does it again. Why does it take the British traditionally to hire detail illustrators as good as this series? For the modeler who wants to REALLY display his stuff DIORAMAS do it better.