Bantam, New York, 2016
Reviewed by RADM W.J. Holland, Jr. USN, Ret.
This is Hornfischer’s fourth book devoted to parts of World War II in the Pacific; everyone of them a page turner. Of particular note for submariners, this history, focused on the Marianas Campaign, demonstrates the significant roles submarines played in fleet actions and island invasions. Usually those books devoted to submarine operations in World War II focus on individual attacks and sinkings; only peripherally relating them to the on-going campaigns against the Japanese fortified islands. Hornfischer on the other hand relates the mid-Pacific activities of submarines as central to the advance toward the Japanese home
islands.
By mid-1944 US submarines routinely reported Japanese fleet movements. Such reports became the basis for Spruance’s battle plans for the First Battle of the Philippine Sea. While submarine actions in other histories have generally been portrayed without the context of the on-going fighting activities of other forces, Hornfischer takes pains to point out their immediate and important effect on Saipan’s defense. Among his samples was TROUT’s ambush of a convoy carrying a combat regiment from Manchuria –only 1720 of the 4000 soldiers embarked made it ashore. PINTADO and SHARK sank three large cargo ships with terrible losses of embarked troops. Hornfischer’s analysis, “All the air forces available to Admiral Nimitz could not have done as much in three days against a division of soldiers entrenched ashore as Lockwood’s wolfpacks did in three hours against their transports afloat.”
Like his prevous books, the narrative is salted with personal recollections and impressions of individuals on both sides.
Featuring personalities amd decisions as well as crisp commentary that is not always complimentary to his subjects, he bring scenes of battle to life. Using the Marianas campaign as his canvas he paints portraits not just of flag officers but of individual officers of all ranks: sailors, marines and soldiers on both sides with a singular skill. The naval maneuvers are straightforward, well known and easy to follow . Those ashore on Saipan defy easy comprehension because the topography was so difficult, unit integrity muddled, and the Japanese resistance skillful and desperately fanatical. The fighting in the central highlands was platoon based, hand to hand, with little room for maneuver and deception. This was a battle, not of generals and colonels but, according to Hornfischer, of “Second Lieutenents and sargeants pushing their men forward into caves.”
No matter how much history of the Pacific War one has read, Hornfischer’s three books on the battles off Samar, the Guadalcanal Campaign and this one on the Marianas should not be missed. The first, “Last of the Tin Can Sailors” is a classic of heroism and skill in the face of overwhelming odds. “Neptune’s Inferno” is a lesson par excellance in brave fighting at sea against an enemy better prepared, better equipped and, at least in the beginning, better commanded. More are sure to come from his pen and, at least by this reviewer, anxiously awaited.
