Book recomendation

[Ack-Ack]

This is a hard book to put down. Im enjoying it immensely.

You will really enjoy A Tomb Called Iwo Jima, interviews with some of the Japanese survivors, including one that was one of the hold outs that surrendered a few weeks after the battle was over.  The interview with the hold out survivor's description of how primitive the hold outs became and how the hold outs divided themselves among "tribal" lines is a very vivid account from the Japanese we really don't hear about.

[Rich46yo]

Book isnt exactly what I wanted but still fascinating and more then worth the price. To begin with these IJN pilots are proud men. Even as old men they dont like to use the word "defeat", the dont like to acknowledge atrocities, they do like to honor their fallen comrades, they dislike the memory of suicidal missions and the waste of lives, they never fail to acknowledge the courage of their enemies. They were and are in many ways...like our Pilots.

An interesting note. One pilot is of the belief Admiral Yamamoto felt guilt for not arguing against the war even more then he did and that he went on high risk front line visits with the hope of finding an honorable death, which of course he eventually did thanks to Yank code breakers and P-38s. In the opinion of this Pilot tHE Admiral had the most knowledge of the power of the enemy they would be facing and had the most responsibility to talk the Govt. out of the war. He went so far as to call Yamamoto a coward for the death he was seeking and eventually found, as well as lacking the strength to talk the military Govt. out of a war against a terrible enemy. Actually an alliance of enemies.

This was new to me. I never knew this belief existed in the IJN and I'm not sure I agree with it. I did know that most believed America pushed them into the war and I bet most veterans of Japans armed forces died believing this, as they did believing the entire thing was a terrible waste.

They dont go to deep into the American airplanes they faced but it seems to me the P38 was the most feared one. They had a remarkably tough pilot training program at the start of the war and a remarkably terrible pilot replacement program once they had to fill cockpits again. And it only took a few naval losses to decimate their naval fighter pilot ranks.

I recommend the book highly.

[Brooke]

From the Japanese perspective that I liked a lot:

Samurai, by Sakai

Zero, by Okumiya, Horikoshi, and Caiden

Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story, by Fuchida and Okumiya

Japanese Destroyer Captain: Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Midway - The Great Naval Battles as Seen Through Japanese, by Capt. Tameichi Hara and Fred Saito

[JVboob]

well rich my interest is perked up right now. Where did you order the book from?