Disclaimer: the Opinions Expressed in This Review Are Those Ofthe
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Donald M. Goldstein, Katherine V. Dillon, eds.. The Pearl Harbor Papers: Inside the Japanese Plans. Washington, D.C., and London: Brassey's, 1999. x + 384 pp. $21.95, paper, ISBN 978-1-57488-222-3. Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb Published on H-US-Japan (December, 1999) Japanese Perspectives on the Pearl Harbor At‐ never before been available in English. In addi‐ tack, "Operation Hawaii" tion, the volume features a full-color reproduction The volume under review is a quality paper‐ of a unique, top-secret map prepared by Comman‐ back reissue, printed on alkaline paper, of the der Mitsuo Fuchida, the attack's lead aviator who 1993 hardcover edition that carries the same title. compiled it on the basis of action reports during The book has been out of print for a number of the return voyage to Japan aboard the carrier Ak‐ years. Therefore, the editors and publishers agi. Fuchida used this map in an imperial briefing should be applauded for reissuing this important to inform Emperor Hirohito of the results of the scholarly treatise which documents the Japanese battle on 27 December 1941. The original map perspectives on the 7 December 1941 Japanese at‐ was discovered a decade ago and has been depict‐ tack on the American feet and naval facilities at ed only in The Pearl Harbor Papers. Pearl Harbor, and the naval and marine air sta‐ These Japanese documents were selected tions on Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. The Pearl Har‐ from the Gordon W. Prange Collection, most of bor Papers remain as the salient English-language which is housed in the special collections of the source on the Japanese version of the strategies, McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland in tactics, and logistics of that event which drew the College Park near Washington, D.C. Prange United States into the global Second World War. (1910-1980) was General Douglas MacArthur's of‐ The editors have assembled more than twen‐ ficial historian in Japan during the Allied Occupa‐ ty original Japanese documents and diary extracts tion of Japan, 1945-1952, and collected valuable related to the attack and its aftermath, the Japa‐ historical material that had not already been nese carrier divisions, and Admiral Isoroku Ya‐ burned by the Japanese armed forces. The Mili‐ mamoto. Many of these documents, transcribed tary History Section of Headquarters USAFFE (U.S. into English, are not available elsewhere, few Armed Forces, Far East) was responsible for as‐ have been published in Japanese, and many have sembling political, diplomatic, and military docu‐ H-Net Reviews ments, and conducting interviews with Japanese majority of the hundreds of books written about survivors. Following the occupation Prange was the Pearl Harbor attack reflects only the Ameri‐ instrumental in having this unique and valuable can assessment of that operation and neglects the collection to the university where he was Profes‐ Japanese perspective. This significant volume re‐ sor of History. In addition, the Prange Collection dresses that flaw. includes virtually everything published in Japa‐ Don Goldstein, the senior editor of this compi‐ nese on all subjects in Japan during the four ini‐ lation, holds a doctorate in American, European, tial years of occupation, 1945-1949. The collection and Military History from University of Denver, contains books, pamphlets, newspapers, periodi‐ and is currently Professor of Public and Interna‐ cals, archival materials, censorship documents, tional Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh in and news dispatches collected by the Civil Censor‐ southwestern Pennsylvania. Goldstein and ship Detachment (CCD) of the Civil Intelligence Katherine V. Dillon, both retired U.S. Air Force of‐ Section of the Supreme Commander Allied Powers ficers, were Prange's associates in the preparation (SCAP). The collection also includes substantial of numerous works on the war in the Pacific. No‐ English language materials about an the office tably, Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon authored six files of the CCD. Information about the contentsof books including At Dawn We Slept: The Untold the collection, its availability, and fnding aids Story of Pearl Harbor (New York: McGraw-Hill, may be found at the following URL, which has Ja‐ 1981); ) Miracle at Midway (New York: McGraw- panese and English-language versions: http:// Hill, 1982); Target Tokyo: The Story of the Sorge www.lib.umd.edu/UMCP/PRC/prange.htmlSome of Spy Ring (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984); Pearl Prange's papers, a photo archives, and unpub‐ Harbor: The Verdict of History (New York: Mc‐ lished manuscripts are in the possession of the se‐ Graw-Hill, 1987); December 7, 1941: The Day the nior editor of The Pearl Harbor Papers, Don Gold‐ Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor (New York: Mc‐ stein. Graw-Hill, 1988); and God's Samurai: Lead Pilot As MacArthur's senior historian, Gordon at Pearl Harbor (Washington, D.C.: Brassey's [US], Prange was in a unique position to obtain papers 1990). Goldstein and Dillon also co-authored Fad‐ and interviews that no one else was able to se‐ ing Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki - cure, and he also became acquainted with many 1941-1945, translated by Masataka Chihaya (Pitts‐ of the ex-officers of the Imperial Navy who had burgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991), played significant roles in the Japanese war effort. and The Way It Was: Pearl Harbor - The Story and Some of these participants personally prepared Photographs, authored with J. Michael Wenger summaries and "memory documents" for Prange. (Washington, D.C.: Brassey's [US], 1991), in addi‐ This corpus includes papers and manuscripts con‐ tion to The Williwaw War: The Arkansas National cerning Japanese politics, diplomacy, strategy and Guard in the Aleutians in World War II (Fayet‐ tactics, naval engagements, and the planning, teville: University of Arkansas Press, 1992). preparation, and execution of the Pearl Harbor at‐ More recently, Goldstein and Dillon collabo‐ tack. A majority of the official Japanese docu‐ rated on books about the Normandy invasion (6 ments had been destroyed during the Battle of June 1944), the Battle of the Bulge, and the Viet‐ Midway in June 1942 and many of the naval avia‐ nam War. The trilogy of At Dawn We Slept, Pearl tors and surface feet officers were killed during Harbor: The Verdict of History, and December 7, that engagement or during the course of the war. 1941, regarded by many scholars as the tradition‐ Therefore, these primary sources are essential in al accounts of the Pearl Harbor attack as seen order to understand the Japanese viewpoint through American eyes, is now accompanied by about the war in the Pacific. The overwhelming 2 H-Net Reviews The Pearl Harbor Papers in which the Japanese second chapter (an affidavit from Genda to viewpoint is documented. Goldstein and Dillon as Prange, 15 March 1948). long-time associates of Prange have admirably Chapters Three and Four (prepared on 12 carried forth the work following Prange's untime‐ May 1947) comprise an analysis of the attack. ly death, and Goldstein is regarded as his succes‐ Among the topics reviewed are aircraft types and sor. units, training, target selection, sea and air routes, The Pearl Harbor Papers, originally pub‐ supply at sea, the resolution of torpedo problems, lished by Brassey's in 1993 and now reprinted, an assessment of U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Kim‐ contains a preface, nineteen chapters divided into mel, and operational orders. Among the topics four parts, and a conflated eleven-page index of documented in this chapter are preparations for proper nouns and topical headings. There is some the attack, the improvement of horizontal bomb‐ chronological overlap among the chapters since ing, the torpedo attack plan, U.S. submarines, the many of the documents concern the plans and formation of the feet at the time of attack, the ac‐ preparations for "Operation Hawaii," the attack it‐ tual attack, battle reports, and damage assess‐ self on "X" Day (8 December 1941), and an assess‐ ment photographic analyses. Of particular inter‐ ment of the results. Calendric dates used in the Ja‐ est, with minimal additional information, are ref‐ panese reports reflect time in Tokyo, located west erences to the preparation of scale models of of the International Date Line. Oahu and Pearl Harbor, discussions of how to "Part I: Plans and Preparations for the Pearl deal with torpedo nets, and the potential treat of Harbor Attack" (eight chapters) provides informa‐ barrage balloons at Pearl Harbor. There are use‐ tion regarding the organization and psychology of ful tables documenting ships by name, kinds and the Imperial Japanese Navy, including the Naval numbers of aircraft, mission assignments, and the General Staff, Navy Ministry, and Combined Fleet, names of the commanders. particularly Admirals Nagano, Nomura, Toyoda, Part I also has excerpts (11 August 1941 - 3 and Yamamoto. The initial three chapters empha‐ January 1942) from the diary of Rear Admiral Gi‐ size documents prepared by Minoru Genda, for‐ ichi Nakahara, Chief of the Naval Ministry's Per‐ mer Air Staff Officer of the First Air Fleet, who sonnel Bureau. These report events, statistics, and was the leading tactician and architect of the op‐ Nakahara's candid opinions, including commen‐ eration. His essays provide a detailed account of taries on the Russo-German war, Russo-Japanese "Operation Hawaii" in the face of the battleship- relations, the internal political situation in Japan, minded Japanese naval officers who sought "The German naval activities in the North Atlantic, Im‐ Great All-Out Battle." This strategy proposed that perial Navy personnel projections, air defense, the U.S. Navy would be lured across the Pacific to and naval strength and organization. In addition be attacked by Japanese submarines on the way, he remarks about the health of Admiral Nagano, and, once in Japanese waters, would be defeated concerns about Japanese losses at Wake Island by the surface feet of the Imperial Navy.