Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War (67 page)

1.
G. Blainey,
The Tyranny of Distance
(London: Macmillan, 1968), a book chiefly about how vast distances shaped Australia’s history, but with implications for the whole history of the Pacific Ocean as well.

2.
For what follows, see generally R. Storry,
Japan and the Decline of the West in Asia 1894–1943
(London: Longman, 1979); P. Kennedy,
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers
(New York: Random House, 1987), 206–9, 298–302.

3.
See R. Hackett,
Yamagata Arimoto and the Rise of Modern Japan 1838–1922
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).

4.
Apart from Storry,
Japan,
see also R. Myers and M. Peattie,
The Japanese Colonial Empire 1895–1945
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).

5.
The best succinct coverage of the East Asian crises of the 1930s (there are many older, wonderful works) is in A. Iriye,
The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific
(London: Longman, 1987). The economic impulses to Japan’s outward thrust is handled brilliantly in M. A. Barnhart,
Japan Prepares for Total War: The Search for Economic Security, 1919–1941
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988). Also useful is B. H. Liddell Hart,
History of the Second World War
(London: Cassell’s, 1970), ch. 16; and H. P. Willmott,
The Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War
(London: Michael Joseph, 1989).

6.
There is a summary of the Japanese military position in R. Spector,
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan
(New York: Free Press,
1985), ch. 2; but above all, A. Coox, “The Effectiveness of the Japanese Establishment in the Second World War,” in A. Millett and W. Murray,
Military Effectiveness,
3:1–44 (London: Allen and Unwin, 1988).

7.
See a nice speculative essay by J. Black, “Midway and the Indian Ocean,”
Naval War College Review
62, no. 4 (Autumn 2009): 131–40.

8.
Best discussed in A. Danchev’s intellectual biography of Liddell Hart,
The Alchemist of War: The Life of Basil Liddell Hart
(London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988).

9.
Willmott,
Great Crusade,
314ff. For a rather similar discussion, see Liddell Hart,
History,
ch. 29.

10.
Apart from Willmott,
Great Crusade,
see P. Kennedy,
Strategy and Diplomacy 1870–1945
(London: Fontana, 1983), ch. 7, “Japanese Strategic Decisions, 1939–45,” for a development of this argument.

11.
The best brief recent analysis is by W. Tao, “The Chinese Theatre and the Pacific War,” in S. Dockrill, ed.,
From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima
(London: Macmillan, 1994). There is also the vast library of books on Stilwell in China, the most entertaining being B. Tuchman,
Sand Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911–1945
(New York: Macmillan, 1970).

12.
The immensely difficult struggle by British Empire forces in the India-Burma theater is analyzed in vast detail in the official history, S. Woodburn Kirby et al.,
The War Against Japan,
5 vols. (London: HMSO, 1957–69); and a later rendition in C. Bayly and T. Harper,
Forgotten Armies
(London: Penguin & Allen Lane, 2004). As a compensation, it also gave cause for the best single-volume memoir by a general of the entire war, namely, Slim’s
Defeat into Victory
(London: Cassell, 1956).

13.
J. Masters,
The Road Past Mandalay
(London: Michael Joseph, 1961). The pun on the title of Kipling’s poem/song is obvious. The clearest and most balanced book of all: L. Allen,
Burma: The Longest War, 1941–45
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1984).

14.
MacArthur’s driving nature and his strategic opinions are covered in W. Manchester’s
American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880–1964
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1978). There are also acute running comments in Spector,
Eagle
.

15.
For Eichelberger (and the “don’t come back alive”) instruction, see Spector,
Eagle,
216; for the Marines, see the fine “1st Marine Division (United States,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Marine_Division(United_States)
(accessed June 2010).

16.
Liddell Hart,
History,
620.

17.
Ibid., 617; and, in very good detail, S. E. Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1947–62), vol. 8, ch. 9.

18.
L. Allen, “The Campaigns in Asia and the Pacific,”
Journal of Strategic
Studies
13, no. 1 (March 1990): 175. This is an extraordinarily rich source and summation, especially for the Japanese side.

19.
Ibid., 165.

20.
E. S. Miller,
War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan 1897–1945
(Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1991), has the full story.

21.
The best reminder of this important point is in M. van Creveld’s ingenious work
Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).

22.
For massive detail, nothing will beat the official
History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II,
5 vols. (Washington, DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1958–68). The single-volume classics are A. R. Millett,
Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps,
2nd ed. (New York: Free Press, 1991), ch. 12; and J. A. Isley and P. A. Crowl,
The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War: Its Theory, and Its Practice in the Pacific
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1951), ch. 1–3.

23.
The “Success … Failure” quotation is from Isley and Crowl,
U.S. Marines,
14–21.

24.
Millett,
Semper Fidelis,
320.

25.
Isley and Crowl,
U.S. Marines,
26.

26.
For a full treatment, see D. A. Ballendorf and M. Bartlett,
Pete Ellis: Amphibious Warfare Prophet 1880–1923
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997).

27.
See Millett,
Semper Fidelis,
327; there is also a lively account in Isley and Crowl,
U.S. Marines,
30–31.

28.
Millett,
Semper Fidelis,
336.

29.
Both Morison’s official naval history volumes, especially vols. 5–8 and 12–14, and the U.S. Army’s official history volumes (dozens of them) cover their respective service’s record in the Pacific theater. For a smooth-running commentary on the marines, the army, and amphibious warfare, see Spector,
Eagle
.

30.
Quotation from C. G. Reynolds,
The Fast Carriers: The Forging of an Air Navy
(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), 1.

31.
A nice summary is in ibid., 4–13; for technical data, see M. Stille,
Imperial Japanese Navy Aircraft Carriers 1921–1945
(London: Osprey, 2005).

32.
Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
ch. 3, “Weapon of Expediency, 1942–1943,” gives the context in the critical period of the Pacific War. S. W. Roskill,
The War at Sea, 1939–1945
(London: HMSO, 1954–61), vol. 2, discusses HMS
Victorious
’s unusual experience.

33.
Extremely useful details are in “Essex Class Aircraft Carrier,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/Essex_class_aircraft_carrier
(accessed May 2010). The author’s notations and further references are the best I have seen.

34.
These exploratory missions are covered in Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
ch. 2, and Morison,
History,
vol. 7.

35.
Spector,
Eagle,
257.

36.
For the Rabaul attacks, see Morison,
History,
vol. 6, Part 4, 369ff; see also Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
96ff.

37.
The number of books and articles on the legendary Hellcat come close to the total for the equally legendary Spitfire. The best starting place may be with another one of those remarkably scholarly Wikipedia articles on aspects of the Pacific War: “F6F Hellcat,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F6F_Hellcat
(accessed May 2010).

38.
Ibid.; Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
57, and passim.

39.
Most historians of the war in the Central Pacific realize that there was something of a hiatus in the fighting—at least in the significant fighting—between November 1943 (Tarawa) and June 1944 (Marianas, Rabaul), so they tend to devote less space to operations in those months and more to the arrival of the newer weapons systems, the coming of radar, and so on. Morison, being the official naval historian, fills this gap in
History,
vol. 7.

40.
“The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”—apart from Midway, everyone’s favorite aerial clash of the Pacific War. Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
190–204, is as good as any. Morison,
History,
has terrific details on 8:257–321.

41.
Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
makes the strongest (in my view, overly forced) argument about the Jutland analogy on 163–65, 209–10, followed by Spector,
Eagle,
312.

42.
Reynolds,
Fast Carriers,
has a rather generous ch. 9 on the performance of the British Pacific Fleet; Correlli Barnett,
Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War
(London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1991), ch. 28, is a gloomy and almost dismissive account.

43.
Two excellent introductions: C. Berger,
B29: The Superfortress
(New York: Ballantine, 1970); and an impressive Wikipedia entry, “B-29 Superfortress,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-29_Superfortress
(accessed May 2010). Both these works have fine lists for further reading.

44.
All of these details are in Wikipedia, “B-29 Superfortress.”

45.
Berger,
B29,
has a wonderful section on “The Battle of Kansas,” 48–59. The “urgent struggle for airspeed” is a neat phrase from the Wikipedia article. Also excellent on the problem solvers of the B-29’s many defects is Herman,
Freedom’s Forge,
297–322.

46.
Berger,
B29,
60–107.

47.
John Toland,
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945
(London: Cassell & Company, 1971) 676, 745. For the larger issue, see the powerful reflections of M. Sherry,
The Rise of American Air Power: The Creation of Armageddon
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987).

48.
I could not find a satisfying study of Moreell, but there are some basic biographical details in “Ben Moreell,” Wikipedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Moreell
(accessed spring 2010).

49.
Almost all that follows is taken from “Seabees in World War II,” another very thorough Wikipedia entry on aspects of the war in the Pacific and Far East,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabees_in_World_War_II
(accessed spring 2010).

50.
Ibid.

51.
Spector,
Eagle,
318–19.

52.
The best insight into this tale of independence and resourcefulness comes from reading the memoirs of the American submariners themselves, of which there are many. For a taste, try Richard H. O’Kane,
Clear the Bridge!
(New York: Bantam, 1981); James F. Calvert,
Silent Running: My Years on an Attack Submarine
(New York: John Wiley, 1995)—withering in his comments on the Naval Ordnance Bureau; and Edward Beach,
Submarine!
(New York: Bantam, 1952).

53.
Giving much detail is Clay Blair,
Silent Victory,
2 vols. (New York: Lippincott, 1975); good comparative comments are in P. Padfield,
War Beneath the Sea: Submarine Conflict 1939–1945
(London: John Murray, 1995), especially ch. 9.

54.
Edwin P. Hoyt,
The Destroyer Killer
(New York: Pocket Books, 1989).

55.
S. E. Morison,
Two Ocean War
(Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1963), 510–11.

56.
Exact statistics for Japanese losses in the Pacific are (as for so many other conflicts) virtually impossible to arrive at. For example, a heavy explosion might convince a submariner that his target had been destroyed, but it might only be damaged—or the torpedo might have exploded prematurely. And in a hectic action, an aircraft and a sub might claim to have sunk the same ship. Wartime medals were awarded on the basis of what appeared to be substantive proof of kills. But at the end of the war a Joint Army-Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) was set up to compare all claims with Japan’s own records. In almost all cases—including the overall totals—the figures were strongly reduced, yet without altering the overall picture. For the figures above, see Padfield,
War Beneath the Sea,
476, and Morison,
Two Ocean War,
511.

57.
The story is told in every general account (and almost all memoirs) of the Pacific War. The clearest explanation, even though containing much technical detail, is a five-part article by Frederick J. Milford in the
Submarine Review,
appearing between April 1996 and October 1997. See in particular Part Two (October 1996), “The Great Torpedo Scandal, 1941–1943.”

58.
The quotation and statistics following come from Roskill,
History,
vol. 3, part 2, 367.

59.
Calculated from Mackenzie J. Gregory, “Top Ten US Navy Submarine Captains in WW2 by Number of Confirmed Ships Sunk,” at
http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/TopTenUSNavySubmarineCap/html
(accessed March 2010).

60.
Quoted in Morison,
Two Ocean War,
486.

61.
C. Boyd and A. Yoshida,
Japanese Submarine Forces in World War Two
(Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1995). See also the various comparisons made in Padfield,
War Beneath the Sea
.