Nuclear Dawn: The Atomic Bomb from the Manhattan Project to the Cold War
James P. Delgado. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2009. 216 pp. Illus. Notes. Bib. Index. $24.95.
The author, who is also a maritime archaeologist and explorer, writes that the atomic bomb attacks on Japan "forever changed warfare in a way that no other weapon in history had done." He tells the story of a new era and the weapon that has profoundly changed warfare, global society, and international politics.
This fascinating book covers the pre-atomic age, the development and delivery of the atomic bombs to their targets in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, international reaction to the attacks, and postwar atomic testing at Bikini Atoll. It then analyzes nuclear proliferation and deterrence and the bomb's legacies, which have touched virtually every aspect of human affairs.
By early 1945, with costs running to $100 million a month, the Manhattan Project laboratory had developed a working weapon design known as "Little Boy." After the successful detonation of the "Gadget" (a.k.a. "Fat Man") in the New Mexico desert that summer, the deputy to the project commander, General Leslie Groves, predicted, "The war is over." His gruff boss replied, "Yes, after we drop two bombs on Japan."
The city of Hiroshima was a key military base for command and shipping. On 6 August 1945, detonation of Little Boy killed or injured more than 170,000 of its inhabitants and destroyed nearly 70 percent of the city's buildings. Nonetheless, it was clear that "the enemy would fight on." Nagasaki was an active shipping center and home to a major munitions plant. On 9 August, Fat Man's explosion "devastated everything within a 1.2-mile area." Between 40,000 and 75,000 died, and nearly 75,000 were injured. Six days later, Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender.
James Delgado's excellent work amply demonstrates why dedicated and competent political, military, and scientific leaders are essential to our nation.
Eyewitness Pacific Theater: Firsthand Accounts of the War in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to the Atomic Bombs
John T. Keuhn and D. M. Giangreco. Foreword by Eric M. Bergerud. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2008. 272 pp. Illus. Bib. Index. $19.95.
This remarkably illustrated volume traces the Pacific conflict from beginning to end, and includes historical sketches of such key figures as Admiral Chester Nimitz, General Douglas MacArthur, and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
Following Eric Bergerud's insightful foreword, the first chapter explains how the seeds of the Pacific war were planted soon after World War I, when elements of Japan's military hierarchy "were deeply offended" by the Washington Naval Treaty and the inferior position the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) believed it had been assigned. Perhaps more important, diplomacy was unable to blunt expansionist designs in the Land of the Rising Sun.
The next two chapters relate the catastrophic events for U.S. forces at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island. But after the reverses inflicted on Japan at Midway and the Coral Sea, IJN leaders, including Yamamoto, elected to withhold the bad news from the public. The book proceeds to chronicle the relentless island-hopping campaign and the strategic bombing that finally defeated Japan.
Marine Lieutenant Victor Maghakian surprised the enemy on Tinian, ordering his men to "rapid fire into the cane field, knee-high." They killed 35 Japanese soldiers and "did not lose a man." A U.S.
Filipino force led by the Army's 9th Ranger Infantry Battalion moved far behind enemy lines to assault a prison camp and evacuate horribly emaciated POWs, "in some cases, literally on the backs of Rangers." At Iwo Jima, Seabee Bill Konop recalls seeing Marines being hit as they disembarked from landing craft. "It didn't take long for me to know this was not the place to be."This well-illustrated hardcover edition includes a CD containing several eyewitness interviews. This is first-class work, and the price is right.
USS Missouri at War
Kit Bonner and Carolyn Bonner. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press, 2008. 160 pp. Illus. Bib. Index. $24.99.
The USS Missouri (BB-63) was the last of ten battleships completed in the early 1940s and the last to be commissioned. In 1945 alone, she escorted Pacific fast carriers during air strikes on Japan and supported amphibious landings on Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Here, well-known naval historians and photographers present a superbly illustrated and fine history of the "Mighty Mo."
The Bonners' book describes the ship that served with distinction during World War II, the Korean War, and the First Gulf War of 1991. It begins with an interesting review of naval development that includes the birth of the Missouri. It then summarizes the naval growth in Japan and Germany during World War I and the interwar years.
Subsequent chapters recount the wartime roles of the Mighty Mo, as well as her contributions to countering Soviet naval challenges during the Cold War. Early in the landings on Okinawa, a kamikaze plane struck the ship. No material damage was done because the bomb it contained failed to explode, but wreckage and part of the pilot's remains were strewn on the aft deck. Interestingly, the pilot was "given a military burial at sea as a sign of respect."
In her later active-duty years, the Missouri was rebuilt along the lines of the battleship Iowa (BB-61). While retaining the main battery of naval guns, she was upgraded with new antiaircraft weaponry, Harpoon antiship and Tomahawk cruise missile systems, and the latest electronic countermeasures.
The Mighty Mo is now tied up in a place of honor at Pearl Harbor as a battleship museum open to the public. Fortunately, this engaging account of her long life will serve to educate those of us who cannot routinely travel there.
Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
Daniel Ford. New York: Harper Collins/Smithsonian Books, 2007. 384 pp. Illus. Appen. Index. $15.95.
Having been a fan of the Flying Tigers since I saw the John Wayne movie as a kid, I picked up this updated version of their impressive combat history. One of the most interesting aspects of Ford's well-researched book is its in-depth coverage of 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) personnel, an odd lot of rugged individualists.
Although Claire Chennault certainly had flaws, according to Ford, the AVG "would never have succeeded without his passion and his remarkable ability to inspire devotion." He joined the Army in 1917, missing combat in World War I but earning his wings by 1919. Chennault retired in 1937 and quickly impressed other American pilots while training Chinese pilots: "When he strapped on that plane," said one, "he just seemed to lift it into the air."
In late 1940, the AVG began to take shape. By the fall 1941, training was under way and the "shark face" had been adopted for marking the Tomahawk fighters. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Chennault's warriors geared up to perform their first combat missions.
The pilots were paid $500 for each Japanese plane they destroyed, which equates, these days, to roughly $10,000. An aviation historian worked through combat records, discounting aircraft destroyed on the ground and restoring air-to-air credits to those who actually scored kills. He concluded that the AVG shot down 229 enemy planes. The butcher's bill was 14 of 67 pilots killed, captured, or missing
about 20 percent.Flying Tigers closes with this amusing account: A reporter asked pilot R. T. Smith, "Did you ever regret joining the AVG?" Tongue in cheek, Smith replied, "Only on those occasions when I was being shot at."