Pacific Crucible, War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

 As I continue my dive into information about Japan, I decided to read another nonfiction work about the naval war in the Pacific during WWII, Pacific Crucible by Ian W. Toll. This is the first of a trilogy and it has a subtitle War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942. Essentially, this covered the beginning of the Pacific war with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese fleet on 12/7/41, the Battle of the Coral Sea on 5/7-8/42, and the Battle of Midway from 6/3/42 to 6/6/42. I had already read about Pearl Harbor and had visited there twice, so I felt I was fairly well informed about that part of the Pacific war. I had seen the 1970 movie Tora, Tora, Tora shortly before my first visit there, and then Pearl Harbor which was released in 2001. I remember standing in the memorial of the U.S.S. Oklahoma and imaging the sudden attack that led to the ship being on the bottom of the harbor within minutes of the first bomb that was dropped. However, as much as the attack was a surprise, I was newly stunned at the degree of denial that was rampant among the people in Oahu who were witnessing the attack. So many thought that it was a superior and well planned drill that was being carried out by U.S. forces, even as they saw the Rising Sun insignias on the Japanese plans and even as they saw smoke pouring out of the ships docked in Pearl. 

The U.S. armed forces made countless mistakes that allowed the attack to occur, at least to the extent of the surprise. While battleships were terribly destroyed and damaged by the attack, it luckily turned out that U.S. aircraft carriers were not in port at the time of the attack as the Japanese expected, and the use of battleships unexpectedly turned out to be an ineffective weapon in the war.

 

I really had no idea of the timing of the war, especially that the U.S. was involved in the Battle of the Coral Sea so early in the response to the Pearl Harbor assault, only six months later in early 5/42. That was a battle that did not go so well for the U.S., and the vitally important aircraft carrier Lexington was lost in the battle. However, the Battle of Midway occurred only a month later. The U.S. intelligence operation was successful in that they were able to decode Japanese messaging to the fleet, and most importantly, they destroyed and/or sunk four Japanese carriers that had been employed in the attack. Toll wrote about all the luck that benefitted the U.S., in addition to their good intelligence. But Toll implied that without the lucky elements of the battle, the outcome could have been very different.

 

Although the war would not officially end for another three years, Toll opined that the Battle of Midway was the single most important naval battle of WWII and that Japan’s defeat was ensured at the result of that victory. The author brought the intensity of anxiety of the war to the pages of his book. As I continue to learn about Japan in prep for a trip there and a plan to visit old friends, I’m not sure I’ll get to books two and three of the trilogy. However, I must complement Mr. Toll on his scholarship and the quality of his writing. If this aspect of WWII interests you, this is a book for you.