Customer Reviews

Pearl Harbor Papers (P)

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

 

 

The Pearl Harbor Papers is a great body of insight into the planning of the Dec 7, 1941 attack. Although some of the charts breaking down the unit compositions are redundant (due to the same information in several different accounts), a look into the mind of Minoru Genda, the brilliant planner of the strike, is invaluable. Another interesting account is the battle diary of the destroyer Akigumo, which offers a unique view from that of a screening vessel. A real good supplement to the three volumes authored by Gordon Prange about the "Day of Infamy".

What stopped the invasion of Pearl Harbor? Who protected the valuable oil supplies? How much did FDR know about Japan? The Japanese side of the story as told by the folks who brought to life the US side,(AtDawn We Slept, etc) Prange, Goldstein & Dillion. These source documents explain how and why the Sons of Nippon choose the course of action that resulted in the attack on Dec 7, 1941. This is the true story of the story behind the headlines and the hysteria, based on the ACTUAL historical documents. Interpret history for yourself. A must read for anyone who wants to understand today's and yesterdays JAPAN.

This book can be considered an appendix to Gordon W. Prange's "At Dawn We Slept, the untold story of Pearl Harbor." As an appendix, it is not a story but a collection of whatever significant material was found in the Prange archives related to the Pearl Harbor attack. As a result, it contains maps, diaries, comments, naval statistics, and so on, which are very helpful for the military specialist. Goldstein and Dillon, the co-editors, include a number of diaries, ship logs, or journals of commanders of the Japanese fleet covering the period from their departure from Hitokappu Bay to arrival day at Pearl Harbor, and these are in some cases very routine but do allow for a look at how the Japanese fleet dealt in a day-to-day way with the long and dangerous North Pacific trip and how they handled obstacles, such as refueling, morale and heavy seas.
However, the MOST IMPORTANT and significant part of this book, in my opinion, is at the very end of the book, and consists of an in-depth analysis of the Japanese military -- their planning, their methods, their ideas, their traditional beliefs -- by Masataka Chihaya. This critical analysis -- which should be read by all students of military history -- alone is well worth the price of the book for the student of the military and military tactics. But for the reader looking for battles, maneuvers, and other such action this book would be a disappointment. I give it 5 stars for the military student, 3 stars for others...

Gordon Prange, the dean of Pearl Harbor researchers, and his assistants Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, produced the essential trilogy on the before-during-and-after of the attack, "At Dawn We Slept" (1981), "December 7, 1941" (1988), and "Pearl Harbor: The Verdict of History" (1986). In this book, Dillon and Goldstein produce some of their essential primary sources, key Japanese documents about the planning, execution, and aftermath of the attack.

One of the key distinctives of Prange's research and writing was that, unlike so many other writers about the attack, he never forgot the Japanese half of the equation. In fact, the Pearl Harbor attack was a massive tactical undertaking, and the Japanese carried it off brilliantly. Focusing entirely on, for example, how much FDR knew and when, means ignoring the magnitude of the Japanese accomplishment.

Prange never made this mistake. And it's his research and interviews in Japan that produced this important work, assembled and published by his two assistants. While "The Pearl Harbor Papers" may be too esoteric for casual students of the Day of Infamy, people with a more serious interest in the attack, or the Pacific War generally, will find much here to keep themselves occupied.

Of particular interest are several papers and affidavits by Minoru Genda, the key planner of the attack. Also very interesting is "An Intimate Look at the Japanese Navy," by Masataka Chihaya, a former officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who shortly after the end of the war cataloged his services' successes and failures. It's a very clear-eyed document, and deserves a close reading.

On the whole, this is a very good book to add to your shelf of Pearl Harbor books (and anyone who has such a shelf unquestionably needs this).

When Germany collapsed in 1945, the German war records were taken over, microfilmed and stored in a vast warehouse in Maryland. Pretty much anything a historian wanted to find out was there, if he could find it.

But when Japan collapsed later that year, there were not many records to take as prize. Many were destroyed in the war, and the humiliated Japanese purposefully destroyed most of the rest.

Thus it happens that it makes some sense -- though mostly tedious readings -- to publish the research papers collected over 50 years by Gordon Prange. Prange was a historian on the staff of the Occupation, and he mobilized ex-Imperial Japanese Navy staff officers to reconstruct some of the missing important operational orders, and to provide narratives of Navy thinking and planning before and during the war.

These were published in two volumes, this one and later "The Pacific War Papers," and they are valuable enough, even if the editing leaves a lot to be desired. (A.A. Vandegrift would have been surprised to learn that he was a vice admiral, since he was a Marine.)

In the "Pearl Harbor Papers," we have some letters of Admiral Yamamoto, war diaries of units of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor and several retrospective studies by Masataka Chihaya, who was an important collaborator of Prange's in his various studies, such as "At Dawn We Slept."

Since Prange's books were thorough (he notoriously never thought he was finished and it was up to his American acolytes Dillon and Goldstein to get several into shape for publication after his death), nothing very startling emerges from reading his research papers.

They are not without their own interest, though. The attempt by Navy officers to get Yamamoto's girlfriend to commit suicide after the Americans killed him, though published in Japan over 50 years ago, was not widely known in America and gives some insight into Japanese thinking. The American who held the equivalent position had girlfriends, too, but it seems unlikely that anyone would have expected any or all of them to kill themselves to protect Ernie King's posthumous reputation.

Nor do we notice any second thoughts, much less regrets about the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, not even from Chihaya, who is excoriating (after the fact) about Japan's misjudgments. More than one officer was, on the contrary, proud of extending the national tradition of treacherous attacks on unsuspecting victims.

Reading both volumes leaves a profound sense that the Japanese really had no idea what they were doing.

Two quotations sum it up. One is from Minoru Genda, the air officer who planned the Pearl Harbor attack: "I cannot help but think that the American people were filled with the idea that there could hardly be a war against such absurd people" as the Japanese.

This is probably true, as there could have been no doubt about who would win.

Even during the war, Frank Knox, the secretary of the Navy, concluded "Japan was either unable to understand modern war or not qualified to take part in it." Both, actually, and you don't have to go further than today's newspaper to find examples of the same thing happening among another medieval people.

Goldstein and Dillon have done all the legwork one needs to conduct research into the Japanese experience and perspective on the Pearl Harbor operation. While much of the content is repetitive, the subtle varieties of individual experiences and opinions of the Japanese command are truly insightful. To read this book is to understand, as best as one can, the thought processes of the Imperial Japanese Navy that lead to the greatest confilct of the modern age. If you find the attack on Pearl Harbor to be a fascinating subject, this book will reveal an entirely different perspective with first-hand accounts and immediate post war criticisms that are exclusively Japanese.

Review every book you read- authors deserve your input and consideration.

What stopped the invasion of Pearl Harbor? Who protected the valuable oil supplies? How much did FDR know about Japan? The Japanese side of the story as told by the folks who brought to life the US side,(AtDawn We Slept, etc) Prange, Goldstein & Dillion. These source documents explain how and why the Sons of Nippon choose the course of action that resulted in the attack on Dec 7, 1941. This is the true story of the story behind the headlines and the hysteria. A must read for anyone who wants to understand today's and yesterdays JAPAN.

This is a great resource for creating a Battle Analysis (the reason that I purchased it). Parts of this book would be a hard read (some of it isn't written like a novel). Great resource but not a book to read on the plane.