Military Book Club

Military Book Look: Pearl Harbor: The Verdict Of History

The devestating -and essential- follow-up to "At Dawn We Slept"

“Hey, this is hot!” Colonel Rufus Bratton (E.G. Marshall) exclaims when he enters with a warning message for Hawaii towards the climax of the classic docudrama Tora! Tora! Tora! I think the same phrase applies to this book by Gordon W. Prange and his associates, one which even tops their previous work At Dawn We Slept in terms of clearly spelling out all the facts in a lucid, non-sensational manner.

The new edition is touted on the cover as being “controversial.” I can vouch that if it has attained such a status by now it is not because the facts are slanted, bent, or just plain made up: the contents are as kosher as can be. I’ve checked the book’s meticulous footnotes and found that, while superfluous dialogue from, say, somebody’s testimony is omitted for brevity, the quotes are not bent or twisted to suit any “thesis” Prange and his associates have to argue.

The book pulls no punches when examining just why America was so complacent during the run-up to the “date which will live in infamy.” Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon find much blame to go around without any sinister “conspiracy” theory the likes of John Toland and others have touted over the years. In fact, Mr. Toland’s much ballyhooed book Infamy comes in for a drubbing several times in non-emotional, matter-of-fact dissections. Here is a sample: Read more about Military Book Look: Pearl Harbor: The Verdict Of History

Military Book Look: Dien Bien Phu

Howard R. Simpson's classic work on the fateful battle

“To the dead.”

That is to who this book is dedicated.

After absorbing Howard R. Simpson’s gripping, accurate, insightful account of the fatal French defeat at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, one realizes how apt a dedication it is.

By 1953 the Indochina War (also referred to as the First Indochina war to differentiate from the American-involved Vietnam War) had dragged into stalemate. The French high command could not catch and destroy Ho Chi Minh’s Communist Viet Minh army led by Võ Nguyên Giáp even when Giap’s troops suffered defeats such as during the battle of Na San the previous year when Giap’s troops attacked and were repulsed by French forces holding a series of fire bases surrounding an airstrip.

Emboldened, the French command decided to try such a tactic again at Dien Bien Phu, an insignificant hamlet that possessed two key military aspects to its place on the map of northwest Vietnam: an old Japanese-built airstrip from Japan’s occupation of Indochina during World War 2 and a place close enough to the border with Laos that, in theory, would mean the base could prevent Communist forces from advancing into that French colony and raising Cain there. Alas, they left vital high ground around the base unsecured on the fatuous assumption Giap’s army had little or no artillery. Giap proved them wrong; very wrong. So wrong the whole plan turned into a fiasco with many a brave soldier’s life wasted for nothing on the French side as Giap’s men bore steadily inward into the base until the inevitable final act on May 7^th, 1954, when the base was overrun. Read more about Military Book Look: Dien Bien Phu

Military Book Look: Gods Samurai

The biography of Mitsuo Fuchida

He has been challenged, criticized, and condemned both in his lifetime and after, but I believe Mitsuo Fuchida at heart was a good, decent man even during World War Two. This book only reinforced that belief.

At first, Fuchida’s story reads like that of a warrior destined for greatness. Born to a humble background, he found a calling in the Imperial Japanese Navy, where he discovered both a love for flying and a knack for leadership. A knack which saw him at the head of the attack on Pearl Harbor, after which Fuchida returned home to a hero’s welcome and high praise from one and all.

But by war’s end Fuchida could no longer serve his country, because her head now was bowed in utter, agonizing defeat, having suffered tenfold the consequences of that infamous dawn attack.

During this fallow time in his life, Fuchida eventually discovered a new cause, one that sprang from spiritual awakening: Christian evangelism. And with his sword thus turned into a plowshare, Fuchida dedicated the rest of his life to the cause of Jesus.

This book is not a “wartless” look at its subject. Fuchida is here, warts and all. The man, the warrior, the preacher, the father, the husband, even the lover of another woman during that fallow time after the war, all are captured beautifully by Prange and his associates. Read more about Military Book Look: Gods Samurai

Sentinels in the Sun

"Sentinels in the Sun" is U.S. Read more about Sentinels in the Sun

Military Book Look: 1901

Rober Conroy's "alternate history" of a U.S.-German war in 1901

Robert Conroy had a good idea: base a “what if” novel upon actual plans Germany once drew up to launch a limited invasion of the northeastern United States in order to demand lands won from Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898. The result: his novel simply entitled 1901.

Military Book Look: At Dawn We Slept

A look at Gordon W. Prange's classic work on the Pearl Harbor attack

Gordon W. Prange was a historian to remember. An expert in European history, he was noted because of the lively way he taught his history classes at the University of Maryland. He became such a success that this campus phenomenon took place: he got lauded in the yearbook for his World War I and World War II classes!

It said:

“Students flock to his class and sit enraptured as he animates the pages of twentieth century European history through his goosesteps, "Sieg Heils", "Achtungs", machine gun retorts, and frantic gestures.” *

His most standout achievement, though, came posthumously, and the subject was not Europe but the Pacific. Its title: At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story Of Pearl Harbor. Read more about Military Book Look: At Dawn We Slept

Military Book Look - Rouge Warrior: Green Team

A look at one of Richard Marcinko's shoot 'em up adventures

Richard Marcinko is unique in that, after he wrote his bestselling autobiography Rouge Warrior he turned to action/adventure fiction written in a pseudo-autobiographical style with him as the lead character! How come? Well, the reason given in the back cover blurb of novels like the one being reviewed claims:

“Richard Marcinko’s revelations in his explosive #1 bestselling autobiography, Rouge Warrior, reverberated through the highest levels of the U.S. Government. But, bound by government restrictions, he was forbidden to tell the whole story. The answer was fiction.”

I wonder just what is “fact” and what is “fiction” in this yarn which begins with Marcinko leading his “Green Team” of special ops experts on a mission in Cairo to snatch an Islamic terrorist who was arrested in the United States for a series of deadly attacks … and got out of jail free. Read more about Military Book Look - Rouge Warrior: Green Team

Military Book Club: Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" is a True Story of Resilience

Inspirational and Heartbreaking

Laura Hillenbrand’s book, Unbroken, is the true story of an Olympic athlete who gets captures by the Japanese and lands in a POW camp.

When we read Unbroken for our monthly book club meeting, the woman who recommended it couldn’t attend. She wanted everyone to know that the book was inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. Another woman in the book club--an elementary school teacher--felt so passionate about the book that she called me to talk and rave for fifteen minutes about Unbroken when she missed the book club.

Military Book Look: Receding Tide: Vicksburg And Gettysburg The Campaigns That Changed The Civil War

Edwin C. Bearss' narrative take on two storied Civil War sagas

I first heard Edwin C. Bearss speak as a commentator on Ken Burn’s series The Civil War, then one-on-one with the viewer as he led the camera around the likes of Gettysburg on the series Great Battles of the Civil War. So it was with great interest that I bought and read this book, attracted by Bearss’ “you are there” method of storytelling.

The book’s text is derived from transcripts of Bearss’ battlefield tours augmented by supplementary text in italics from collaborator J. Parker Hills. It traces out a fresh-sounding path across two tales familiar to Civil War buffs: the campaign to take and resulting siege by U.S. Grant of Vicksburg, Mississippi and the storied battle of Gettysburg. The former of which ended one day after the latter.

Military Book Look: Up Front

A look at the timeless classic by Bill Mauldin

Willie and Joe! Sure there was a plethora of cartoon characters around during World War Two, but Bill Mauldin’s legendary duo are the only ones drawn by a GI, not a civilian.

I would like to say right off that this book is a timeless classic without any flaws whatsoever. Mauldin speaks free and easy about pet peeves of his without fear in point-blank passages such as this gem about officers: “Even after four long years in the army I still disagree with some of the officer-enlisted man traditions. But I’m not rabid about it. If the men who wrote the rules prefer their own exclusive bathrooms and latrines, that’s okay with me. But if the officer is going to have a tent over his latrine in the field, how about one for me? I might not be as important as he is, but I can get just as wet. And keep him out of my latrine when the weather is bad, and his latrine is farther away than mine. If he wishes to eat at his own table, and wants me to wash his dishes because he was weighty problems on his mind and no time for dishwashing, then I understand. But let him keep his hand off my own kitchen’s canned orange juice.”