BOOK REVIEW: TAKING MIDWAY: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World Struggle II
By Martin Dugard/ Dutton
Reviewed by Jack Montgomery
The Reviewer — Jack Montgomery is an Ensign in the US Navy and at present the Major Propulsion Officer aboard the usHOWARD. He has a bachelor’s and grasp’s diploma in historical past from Brown College, with a thesis on the Solomon Islands Marketing campaign.
REVIEW — When Imperial Japanese plane first took off from their carriers at 0430 on June 4th, 1942, some of the pivotal at-sea battles of the twentieth century started. There, within the seas surrounding the small, far-flung atoll of Halfway, the Imperial Japanese offensive push was blunted, and compelled the Imperial Japanese Navy to enter an attritional marketing campaign with the US within the South and, ultimately, Central Pacific that may finally destroy its skill to struggle. It can’t be overstated how essential this battle was to altering the momentum of the Pacific Theater, and Martin Dugard’sTaking Halfway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World Struggle II describes simply that.
The writing type, with its quick, punchy sentences, takes some pages getting used to, however paired with the story-telling narrative, it makes it a fast and fulfilling learn. Dugard tends to observe down tangents of historic trivia but by no means slows the story, offering small, however fascinating, tidbits of historic data that the informal historic reader will get pleasure from.
These accustomed to Dugard’s “Taking” sequence won’t be stunned to see a wide-ranging forged of characters and views that make up this historical past, from Early Pacific explorers to the movie director John Ford, however two people take major focus: Admiral Nimitz and Lieutenant Commander Rochefort. Admiral Chester Nimitz’s story, from being appointed CINCPAC to his fateful determination to commit the American carriers to Halfway, presents the reader with the dire state of affairs confronted by Allied forces within the Pacific as they tried to handle the stability between conserving combatant energy and putting to hinder the Japanese Empire’s offensive progress. The challenges felt by Nimitz and his efforts to beat them are vividly described, giving summary strategic choices actual weight to the reader.
Dunford’s second principal character, Lieutenant Commander Joseph Rochefort guides us by means of the cryptological feats that had been achieved with a purpose to create the victory at Halfway. That is the place Dugard’s skill to take complicated ideas and clearly clarify them with out dragging the tempo of the narrative or complicated the reader actually shine. Dugard balances the reasons of cryptography with the political rivalries current between the totally different sign intelligence teams Hypo and OP-20-G, all of the whereas persevering with with the narrative of the cracking of the Japanese naval codes. When the paths of Rochefort and Nimitz collide, the strategic and the cryptological come collectively to inform the story of the selections that decided some of the consequential naval battles in historical past.
The ebook does in some situations oversimplifies, a typical difficulty when overlaying a naval battle so giant in scope. In a single case it means that the IJN’s Aleutians Operation was an try to distract forces from Halfway, which the definitive historical past of Halfway from the Japanese perspective ‘Shattered Sword’ has demonstrated was nearly actually not the case. Dugard covers quite a lot of floor on this work, and his option to cowl way more relating to the HMS Prince of Wales and the pre-WW2 historical past of Halfway than the tactical commanders at Halfway, Admirals Raymond Spruance and Frank Jack Fletcher, could seem questionable to readers within the tactical decision-making of the battle. Whereas these two matters present some fascinating context, (and the chapters in regards to the HMS Prince of Wales does tie this ebook to its predecessor) their relevancy to the battle is minimal at finest and this historical past suffers some from the shortage of consideration given to the tactical commanders.
In the end, Dugard gives a ebook that mixes the historical past of Halfway Island, the herculean cryptological efforts to find the Japanese operation, the daring dangers taken by the U.S. Navy to make good that benefit, and the experiences of the lads preventing within the air and on the island that’s most actually price a learn.
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