Naval History Forums

Hi guys, which is the best book about the first phase of the Pacific war, I mean invasion of the Philippines, Java sea battle, sinking of PoW, preferably excluding Pearl?

Kind regards

Hyperwar has a lot of information and also has links to the RAN and RN official histories:

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/Ris ... index.html

and

http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/index.html

Maybe not the most current, but certainly a good place to start.

Thanks. But as I like spending money to support the editorial industry, I ask: what about the third volume in Morrison´s series? As they were written in 1948, are they good?

Regards

marcelo_malara wrote:Thanks. But as I like spending money to support the editorial industry, I ask: what about the third volume in Morrison´s series? As they were written in 1948, are they good?

Regards

They have historical value, but Morrison is extremely opinionated about certain things, so just take that into account.

Thanks. So there is no book about this other than his?

What about this one "Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941- 1945"? Anyone has read it?

marcelo_malara wrote:What about this one "Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941- 1945"? Anyone has read it?

I have read it, but quite a few years ago and I don't recall how much detail there is about the Java Sea. Overall, IIRC, a very good book, though.

Thanks. I resist to think that this first period, with all the landings involved, has not been covered by a single book.

dunmunro wrote:

marcelo_malara wrote:What about this one "Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941- 1945"? Anyone has read it?

I have read it, but quite a few years ago and I don't recall how much detail there is about the Java Sea. Overall, IIRC, a very good book, though.

I've read it and enjoyed it as well but it was a goodly number of years ago for me as well. If you haven't read Shattered Sword I'd definitly recomend it. While it focuses on Midway the descripitons of Japan's early plans and the admirals and politics involved set the scene for the rest of the war. There detailing of various well established myths also encourage one to not accept everything as written to be gospel. The "First Team" books might also be good for you. I haven't read them myself but others whom I respectd have recomended. The same is true of {u}Black Shoe Admiral[/u]. Not sure how relevant all these are to Java sea though. Another possibility is The Ghost that Died at Sundra Straight. Here's an Amazon link for it:
http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-That-Died-S ... 0870212184
(wanted to check my spelling)

Thanks guys for your answers. Again, it is strange that nobody has written about those 3 first months of the war in detail. The campaing of Norway is far more documented.

Marcelo, the thing is it wasn't the start of the war, not even in the Far East theatre if you include the conflict in China starting 1937.

Norway was early in the European war, in fact the first significant land campaign for the Allies, as nothing of substance was happening on the western front and Poland had been abandoned to its fate...... Its closer to home, so gets the attention, at least in Britain.

I thought I mentioned The Fleet the Gods Forgot and a couple of others but don't see them here. From the British perspective I believe there's on titled something like Quartered Save Out Here that has had good reviews over on the IJN board at:
http://www.j-aircraft.org/smf/index.php ... &board=5.0
Indeed asking there or one of the other boards at that site might produce some good recomendations. Also consider that if you look up the book on Amazon not only do you get a decent price (buy elsewhere if you wish you may do better) but often reviews (ov varrying quality) and pointers to similar books.

Thanks, I think the first one covers some of what I am looking.

Kind regards

After a fast search...hope this is of value.

http://www.awm.gov.au/histories/second_world_war/

Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors by James D. Hornfischer

A Blue Sea of Blood: Deciphering the Mysterious Fate of the USS Edsall by Donald M. Kehn Jr.

Ship of Courage: The Epic Story of HMAS Perth and Her Crew by Brendan Whiting

The Battle of the Java Sea by David Thomas

The Last Battle Station: The Story of the USS Houston by Duane Schultz

Cruel Conflict: the Crew and the Cruiser HMAS Perth by Kathyrn Spurling

The Lonely Ships: The Life and Death of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet by Edwin P. Hoyt

U.S.S. Houston : The last flagship of the Asiatic Fleet by Heber A Holbrook

Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 1: Strategic illusions, 1936-1941 by Arthur J. Marder

Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy, vol. 2: The Pacific War, 1942-1945 by Arthur J. Marder

HMS Electra by T.J. Cain

The Hunting of Force Z by Richard Hough

The Sinking of the Prince of Wales & Repulse: The End of a Battleship Era? by Martin Middlebrook

Hostages to Fortune: Winston Churchill and the Loss of the Prince of Wales and Repulse by Arthur Nicholson

Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategies, February to June 1942 by H. P. Willmott

Empires in the Balance: Japanese and Allied Pacific Strategies to April 1942 by H. P. Willmott

The Rise and Fall of the Singapore Naval Base, 1919-1942 by W. David McIntyre

Battle for Singapore: The True Story of the Greatest Catastrophe of World War II by Peter Thompson

Singapore Burning: Heroism and Surrender in World War II by Colin Smith

Percival and the tragedy of Singapore by John George Smyth

Scapegoat: General Percival of Singapore by Clifford Kinvig

Guns of February: Ordinary Japanese Soldiers' View of the Malayan Campaign and the Fall of Singapore, 1941-42 by Henry P. Frei

Singapore 1941-1942 by Louis Allen

The Mastermind Behind Japan's Greatest Victory, Britain's Worst Defeat: The Capture of Singapore 1942 by Masanobu Tsuji

The Most Dangerous Moment: The Japanese Assault on Ceylon 1942 by Michael Tomlinson

Japanese Army in World War II: Conquest of the Pacific 1941-42 by Gordon L. Rottman

Ragged, Rugged Warriors by Martin Caidin

The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway by John B. Lundstrom

Doomed at the Start: American Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941-1942 by William H. Bartsch

Fortnight of Infamy: The Collapse of Allied Airpower West of Pearl Harbor by John Burton

Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan: The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942 by Tom Womack

Hurricanes Over Singapore: RAF, RNZAF and NEI Fighters in Action Against the Japanese Over the Island and the Netherlands East Indies, 1942 by Brian Cull

BUFFALOES OVER SINGAPORE: RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and Dutch Brewster Fighters in Action Over Malaya and the East Indies 1941-1942 by Brian Cull

AIR WAR FOR BURMA: The Concluding Volume of The Bloody Shambles Series. The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia 1942-1945 by Christopher F. Shores

BLOODY SHAMBLES VOLUME TWO: The Complete Account of the Air War in the Far East, from the Defence of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma, 1942 by Christopher F. Shores

Bloody Shambles : Volume One : The Drift to War to the Fall of Singapore by Christopher F. Shores

December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor by William H. Bartsch

MacArthur and Defeat in the Philippines by R. M. Connaughton

The Battle of Bataan: A Complete History by Donald J. Young

THE BATTLE OF BATAAN America's Greatest Defeat by Robert Conroy

Hi, sorry for the necro-post, but from what I see there are two excellent books missing from these lists...

"Fight it Out", Oliver Gordon (of HMS Exeter)

"Footprints in the Sea", Augustus Agar (of HMS Dorsetshire)

These were two books I read a long while ago, over 20 years. Sadly, I do not have them anymore, as a country change parted them company with me. I wish I could get them again! Hard to find now, but highly recommended, first hand accounts, if you get lucky.