Battle Of Midway

Product Description

There are few moments in American history in which the course of events tipped so suddenly & so dramatically as at the Battle of Midway. At dawn of June 4 1942 a rampaging Japanese navy ruled the Pacific. By sunset their vaunted carrier force (the Kido Butai) had been sunk & their grip on the Pacific had been loosened forever. In this absolutely riveting account of a key moment in the history of World War II one of Americas leading naval historians Craig L. Symonds paints an unforgettable portrait of ingenuity courage & sacrifice. Symonds begins with the arrival of Admiral Chester A. Nimitz at Pearl Harbor after the devastating Japanese attack & describes the key events leading to the climactic battle including both Coral Sea--the first battle in history against opposing carrier forces--and Jimmy Doolittles daring raid of Tokyo. He focuses throughout on the people involved offering telling portraits of Admirals Nimitz Halsey Spruance & numerous other Americans as well as the leading Japanese figures including the poker-loving Admiral Yamamoto. Indeed Symonds sheds much light on the aspects of Japanese culture--such as their single-minded devotion to combat which led to poorly armored planes & inadequate fire-safety measures on their ships--that contributed to their defeat. The authors account of the battle itself is masterful weaving together the many disparate threads of attack--attacks which failed in the early going--that ultimately created a five-minute window in which three of the four Japanese carriers were mortally wounded changing the course of the Pacific war in an eye-blink. Symonds is the first historian to argue that the victory at Midway was not simply a matter of luck pointing out that Nimitz had equal forces superior intelligence & the element of surprise. Nimitz had a strong hand Symonds concludes & he rightly expected to win.