War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 [Hardcover]

Edward Stanley Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1991

An in-depth look at the evolution of America's top-secret plan to wrest control of the Pacific from Japan and destroy its economic and military might.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Prior to World War II, the United States's war plans were code-named by color. Japan was Orange and the United States was Blue. Miller (a retired business executive) spent over 15 years researching the plan that was used to defeat Japan. He states that the plan "was . . . history's most successful war plan . . . . The prewar plans of other great powers proved, by and large, to be costly failures." Miller also gives insights into the impact of the officers who hammered out War Plan Orange: the "realists" and "adventurists," or the "cautionaries" and "thrusters." This is an important book for anyone wishing to understand the methods of American war planning, and it is the only book on War Plan Orange. Miller's writing style and lucid explanations make the book suitable for most readers, even though it is clearly for scholars and specialists in the field. Recommended for most academic libraries and for public libraries where there is a strong interest in World War II in the Pacific.
- Dennis L. Noble, Washington State Lib., Clallam Bay Corrections Ctr.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A magnificent book" --Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff<br /><br />"A masterly study of the evolution of history's most successful war plan." --The New York Times Book Review<br /><br />"This is a superb piece of scholarly research into previously virgin territory." --Tom Clancy

"A magnificent book" --Gen. Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

"This is a superb piece of scholarly research into previously virgin territory." --Tom Clancy --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 509 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press; First edition (September 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870217593
• ISBN-13: 978-0870217593
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,174,006 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, July 27, 2008

By 

David M. Dougherty (Arkansas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 (Paperback)

Author Miller has justly received many honors for this book which present the US planning for response to any Japanese aggression against the United States during the period between World War I and World War II. Miller also wrote another book, "Bankrupting The Enemy" about the US economic actions concerning Japan leading up to the war that is equally high quality and required reading for World War II historians.

Outside of the plans themselves representing various schools of thought among Naval strategists, thrusters, defensivists, cautionaries, etc., the political situations in the United States with respect to limitations on military capabilities are covered thoroughly. Often the planning foundered on the reality of inadequate resources, rendering official strategy rather feckless in hindsight. Politicials were simply not up to the task of providing military preparedness, and it was not until Roosevelt was able to obtain a major naval expansion through Congress in 1937 that sufficient force would be available for a strategy for victory starting as early as 1943.

Although the author makes the case that the Rainbow-5, the last pre-war Plan Orange, was followed in the main to victory, the most disturbing element was the sacrifice of the Philippines inherent in the planning but not communicated to MacArthur or the officers or men in the Philippines. Troops were sent to the Philippines to sacrifice themselves, unbeknownst to them. Plans to relieve the Philippines were simply not realistic given the resources of the Navy, even if there had been no losses at Pearl Harbor. This is clear from Miller's book, and an indictment of the American arm-chair admirals, generals and politicians involved. This lesson went unlearned for the future, as the Army's Berlin Brigade was defenseless throughout the Cold War, and truthfully its only purpose was to die so that American public opinion could be mobilized against the Soviets.

One is ultimately led to the conclusion that War Plan Orange was successful more due to the limited options available to the planners than to any inherent brilliance in planning. The adjustments during the War such as invading the Marianas to supply a long-range bombing base tended to be more decisive than the pre-war plans. Nonetheless, Rainbow-5 provided an effective starting point and should not be underestimated.

A side point is that the author apparently does not believe that Truman would have invaded Japan if there had been no atomic bomb. As he writes, "... it is questionable that after 292,000 American deaths in all theaters of World War II, any president would have accepted carnage on that scale (of the invasion) as the only option for ending the war." Interesting point. I guess the belief the the American public can't sacrifice or has limited staying power in a conflict is alive and well. Maybe even true.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent analysis of military and geopolitical factors., November 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 (Hardcover)

Author Edward Stanley Miller has expertly distilled the political and military conditions of each era of war planning for the Pacific Theater. Using a plethora of original references to illustrate contemporary reasons for each era of stratagy, Mr. Miller has done a yeoman's job. The text is logical (a difficult task to identify all of the ebbs and flows of the various planning bodies of the time)and informative. The supporting tables, charts and maps are helpful but could have been expanded. Additional maps of Midway, Corregidor and various other key locations would have enhanced the text. Considering the main thrust of this scholarly work however , any lack of illustrative aids is not a major handicap. This book serves as a benchmark for U.S. military and geopolitical stratagy in the greater Pacific area for the first half of the twentieth century.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Research at its best., August 13, 2007

By 

Malcolm G. Wright "Mal. Wright." (South Australia.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945 (Paperback)

War Plan Orange dispels many of the myths surrounding a supposed plan for an Armageddon type clash between the Navies of the USA and Japan before WW2 actually broke out.
The Author is a little confusing at first. He has a tendency to leap from this year to that, then back to here and over to there, with a side reference to some other period. There were sections of the first few chapters where I was not sure if I was in the right time continuum. However he eventually settles down about half way through, after which things proceed in a far more orderly cronological order.
That is not to say valuable information in the first half, is not able to be gleaned from this excellent work. It can be. You just might need to keep reminding yourself which year he is currently addressing.
Over all the author tells a story of contingency planning. All nations engage in it just in case something happens. It also enables naval planners to determine the sort of ships required in the event of a future naval conflict.
While the contingencies are often battered about by different lines of thought from a whole range of naval people as the years progress, one thing is clear. The US Navy worked out what their likely requirements were if Government sent them to war. This came in the form of permanent bases, advanced base equipment, ships and stores. But these issues then also required a means by which to deploy those things and where.
The author has done some incredible research and unearthed volumes of reports that must have been gathering dust for decades.
In doing so he shows how a navy goes about planning for what might be required of it. Even when peace reigns, these things have to be allowed for, but the longer it reigns, the more people get to effect the plan. Yet over all, the things they forsee, and the plans they make, do in many cases, turn WW2 in the Pacific into an emulation of what these men had thought out during previous decades.
Cleverly, the author concentrates on the US Navy. There are no side distractions into what the Japanese thought. Even when it turns into plan Rainbow to reflect more countries involved, plus allies, he remains true to his course. Therefore, although armed with 'hindsight', the reader finds himself in the position of the planners as they must have wondered, what the other side were wondering. We know what eventually happened. We do not know from this book, how the Japanese side of it was planned. So the reader is as in the dark as the planners were, which I felt produced a good element into the study of this particular part of history.
The book is strongly recommended for any naval historian, or indeed any historian looking at the land side of the Pacific war. For those who like a bit of lighter reading, it may prove a bit too heavy. But I would still advise those with an interest in WW2 in the Pacific, to give it a try. You will find it incredibly informative.