Mark Healy

The Campaign Series by Osprey publishing is one that you have to pick and choose your volumes. This particular volume seems to be one of the better-written works. At the outset, let me state up front, it has been a year of two since I read this book, but I remember enough about it to write a review here.

If there is anyone out there who does NOT know of the battle of Midway, please raise your hand now. 1….2…3…..4…..OK! So for those who are not aware of the Battle of Midway, or are doing your first research on the subject, here is a thumbnail sketch. ^ months after Pearl Harbor, the United States, and the Allies in General had suffered set back after setback in the Pacific War. The entire Asian rim had fallen. The Japanese had conquered in this time approximately 20 million square miles of the world, and were now trying to consolidate their positions. After the Doolittle Raid on April 18^th, the mission to extend the Imperial Japanese Empire's holdings and create an outpost in the Central Pacific to "watch" the movements of the US became paramount to the Japanese Imperial Counsel, and Thus the Midway operation named MI. Concurrent with MI was the operation named AL, which was a diversionary operation in the Aleutian Islands, by Alaska. If the US Fleet was to fight, it was to pick this operation to fight, and not the main effort. The US had broken enough of the Imperial Japanese Naval operations code to be able to guess the main effort was at midway, and sent 2 task forces out to counter the Operation MI forces. In a stroke of pure luck, and timing, the Japanese were caught with fully loaded aircraft fueled and armed and waiting to launch on their flight decks, and immediately 3 of 4 carriers were put out of action. The fourth after launching 2 strikes that damaged the USS Yorktown was then also likewise hit and sunk. The battle turns out to be the first major setback for the Japanese, and the loss of its highly trained naval aviators and seamen. Not so often mentioned, if at all (in my humble opinion) was the loss of Adm. Yamaguchi who was one of the most aggressive, yet tactically brilliant strategists the Japanese had.

Now the book. This is a typical Osprey Publishing book. It is a good primer on the subject, and if you don't have a lot of time, and want to get the main historical points of the battle with some really cool and even some well done graphics, these are fine books to own. If you are an advanced historian, you may not want nor even need this book as there are better volumes available on this pivotal battle. I bought it because usually if the book is about Pearl Harbor, or the battle of Midway, I will buy it. Those 2 battles fascinate me. The stories of heroism by such figures as Cmdr. Waldron and Torpedo 8, or the flight to counter attack by Lt. Tomonaga who knew that due to the damage his aircraft had sustained earlier, would never be able to return after his strike are inspirational no matter what generation or nationality one hails. These were men of profound courage, and resolve. The photographs included have all been published elsewhere, and the material while generally accurate, does not discover anything new. I congratulate Mr. Healy for pointing out the Scout from the IJN carrier Soryu was a Judy. Not many seem to catch that one.

Personally I would like to see Osprey publishing do as they have done for the Aviation series. A color section of aircraft profiles of aircraft actually from the battle. The color plates of the ships is a good start, but it loses it's unique value when you have profiles of the American and Japanese aircraft that are either pre-Midway in their liveries, or in markings that have been proven inaccurate by now. I do not think it would have taken much research to come up with 40 or so good profiles of the aircraft.

Also another thing I would have liked to see, but is NEVER mentioned would be some of the completely wrongheaded assumptions on the American side. Mr. Healy points out some of the fallacies of the Japanese intelligence operations, but fails to mention any of the dumb mistakes made by such figures as Stan Ring who failed to find the Japanese fleet at all, got a few pilots killed by incredibly poor leadership, and I would even go so far as to say was a primary reason behind the slaughter of Torpedo 8. Had Cmdr. Ring shown skill as a leader, the ability to coordinate a strike, and the aggressiveness of the other flight groups, perhaps The TBDs of torpedo 8 would have had some fighter cover. His Dive-Bombers and fighters were the only US aircraft units that failed to find the Japanese fleet. Subsequent actions by the USS Hornet flight group, until it was dissolved will back this point up. As a fighting organization it was completely ineffective during its entire period of action.

Also some of the photos used seem to be rather surprisingly poor choices. The Author relies on pictures of A6M2 Zeros from China pre-1941, where there are available photographs of the aircraft of Kido Butai. (The Japanese Fleet that was involved). I did enjoy some of the naval photographs of the ships, and it is the primary reason I bought this book. Also Mark does an excellent job of cataloging the various support and observation aircraft used by the Japanese fleet.

I would also like to compliment Mr. Healy on a good table of Organization and order of battle for the opposing sides, as well as artwork that is stunning in it's color. The maps and drawing bring home the battle much more than otherwise done. While I am picky, and would LOVED to have seen a few plates or depiction's of the carriers after they were hit, or detailed depictions of where the bombs are believed to have struck, I would imagine that would have increased the cost of production, and I am being overly picky right now.

All in all I would look at another book by Mark Healy, and would buy this volume again. The recommendation stands as recommended, but with the caveat that it is a good basic information guide for those with less knowledge of the battle. If you want to really get into the battle, I would advise you to read Fuchida's Midway since he was there, and The First Team by John Lunstrom.

Recommended reading

Copy provided by me working hard and reading this at lunch.

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