Pacific Campaign: The U.S.-Japanes Naval War 1941-1945 (Paperback)

- an appreciation of the role of intelligence in both the Navy and Army in winning the war.

- an American distain for concentrating their forces and going for a single defeat of the Japanese Navy close to home. Instead Van der Vat maintains that the US unneccesarily lengthened the war by splitting forces into two: one for an island hopping drive across the central Pacific; the other to assuage the vanity of a prima donna Douglas MacArthur in his New Guinea, Philippines campaign.

- a readiness to call into fault some popular icons on both side of the war, looking at Admiral Yamamoto as morally culpable in the expansion of Japanese seapower and, by definition, the criminal regime of Militaristic Japan. His feelings on MacArthur have already been noted.

- the American shunning of all other allies in this crusade in the Pacific and their sometimes utter disdain for her allies, especially the wastage of the Australian Army, tying up some of the finest infantry in the Pacific in useless rear area campaigns.

The narrative read well and fast at times. It does lack detail on some very important aspects of the campaign that I found a little annoying: a cursory look at the effectiveness of the Kamikaze, a lack of the detail on the carrier-based operations against Japan and by extension, the actions of the tactically significant British Carrier group in the Pacific.

This is a narrative of sea and not land battles, but there appears to be no real formula for deciding which land battles to decribe and those not to describe.

I enjoyed the read, I would probably read one of Van der Vat's other books in the future. But if you are looking for something new in Military History you are unlikely to find it here.

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Having said all of that, if you are looking for a good long overview of the sea campaign, then Van der Vat offers one of the best. Main themes in this book include:

- an appreciation of the role of intelligence in both the Navy and Army in winning the war.

- an American distain for concentrating their forces and going for a single defeat of the Japanese Navy close to home. Instead Van der Vat maintains that the US unneccesarily lengthened the war by splitting forces into two: one for an island hopping drive across the central Pacific; the other to assuage the vanity of a prima donna Douglas MacArthur in his New Guinea, Philippines campaign.

- a readiness to call into fault some popular icons on both side of the war, looking at Admiral Yamamoto as morally culpable in the expansion of Japanese seapower and, by definition, the criminal regime of Militaristic Japan. His feelings on MacArthur have already been noted.

- the American shunning of all other allies in this crusade in the Pacific and their sometimes utter disdain for her allies, especially the wastage of the Australian Army, tying up some of the finest infantry in the Pacific in useless rear area campaigns.

The narrative read well and fast at times. It does lack detail on some very important aspects of the campaign that I found a little annoying: a cursory look at the effectiveness of the Kamikaze, a lack of the detail on the carrier-based operations against Japan and by extension, the actions of the tactically significant British Carrier group in the Pacific.

This is a narrative of sea and not land battles, but there appears to be no real formula for deciding which land battles to decribe and those not to describe.

I enjoyed the read, I would probably read one of Van der Vat's other books in the future. But if you are looking for something new in Military History you are unlikely to find it here.

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The only major drawback is hidden in the title itself. Trying to cover such a long period of time and so many events sometimes it gets a little confusing.

In the end I would suggest this book if you are approaching the subject for the first time. Otherise get a more specific book.

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