Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Eye Opening Account!!

Most books I have read on the Battle of Midway, were from western authors who described the events of the battle from an American or neutral viewpoint. This book "Shattered Sword", not only describes the battle, but it gives insight on how the Japanese Navy operated. Most books do not explain Japanese Naval Doctrine, or for that matter Japanese Carrier operations. By explaining these factors, one can understand why the Japanese fought the battle the way they did. Very concise and insightful book. Highly recommended for the Pacific War enthusiast!

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A Masterpiece that sets a new standard

I held off on purchasing this book, simply because the battle of Midway has been covered in so many books, documentries, articles etc. I frankly didn't see much point in another book on the subject. An honest man has got to admit his mistakes, and wow was I wrong to hesitate in buying this book.

The authors uncover information that has been ignored for decades about what really happened at Midway and in particular the state of the Japanese carriers. They make extensive use of Japanese sources that have largely been ignored in the west. The results of that research paint a strikingly different picture of the battle than has normally been portrayed here in the west.

Simply presenting the true picture of the Japanese side of events would have been sufficient to make this a must read for anyone interested in the War in the Pacific. But the authors and publisher didn't stop there.

The book has numerous maps and illustration discribing various phases of the battle manuevers and details of the ships. The kind of detail sadly lacking from the majority of military history books these days.

The authors keep their writting 'pithy' and rarely pull their punches when describing the failings of individuals or groups on either side of the battle. At the same time, they strive to bring the stories of individuals to life and give credit where its due -- again on both sides of the battle.

This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the war in the pacific, naval warfare in general, or command decisions and their outcomes.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

As good as history writing gets

The Battle of Midway has been chronicled in books and films countless times in the sixty-six years since the battle between the Japanese and American navies during the Second World War. The summer of 1942 has forever been stamped as the turning point in the war in the Pacific and Parshall & Tully do nothing to discount its importance. What the do is provide accessibility to information - most notably large amounts of Japanese writings and documentation - and make them available to English readers in many cases for the very first time. One thing this book is not is revisionist history. If anything, it is a clarification of the facts of what actually happened and - more importantly - the chain of events that took place to bring about one of the most decisive battles in history. The most important result of all of the research is to throw into doubt the idea that the Japanese naval force was vastly superior to the Americans in every way and it was only due to luck and circumstance that the American navy was able to win the day. This is a view that was championed most notably by Mitsuo Fuchida - a Japanese naval officer who participated in the battle - in his book Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan. This view has been echoed throughout the years, notably in the movie Midway, not just because of Fuchida's first-hand knowledge and a lack of substantial documentation to the contrary, but because of our American love of being a victorious underdog. But by pouring through stacks of Japanese documentation, Parshall & Tulley are able to piece together a somewhat different account demonstrating that the two navies were far more evenly matched than anyone thought going into the battle. A combination of Japan's poor military communication, the limited training of the Japanese ship crews, the flawed construction of their ships and their low opinion of the capabilities of the American sailor contributed as much to the outcome of the battle as the tenacity, daring and exquisite training of the American navy. Ultimately, overconfidence and poor planning all but doomed the Japanese navy before the battle even began. Sun Tzu would be proud.

The book provides a thorough view from the Japanese side to compliment the detailed American accounting of books such as Miracle at Midway. Throughout the book, Parshall & Tulley provide the reader an in-depth, well researched treatise. Better yet, they write it in such a way that the reader becomes a part of the events from the very first page all the way to the conclusion, taking you from the conferences of the Japanese leadership to the bridge of Admiral Nagumo's flagship to the view from the water as a young sailor watches his proud ship go under. The result of this is a book that balances all the facts and provides a clear accounting of everything that led up to the most important single battle of the Pacific War while simultaneously keeping the reader engaged in the drama of the events. Not only is this the best, most thorough book on the Battle of Midway, it is one of the best written and researched books on the Second World War ever produced. If you are going to write history, Parshall has provided the roadmap on how to do it right with Shattered Sword. This book sets the bar extremely high for any future works on the topic. Shattered Sword is as good as history writing gets.

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Japan's Midway: A Fresh Re-examination

A lot of commonly accepted reasons for the IJN's stunning defeat at Midway turn out on deeper analysis to be flawed or even outright self-serving myths. These flawed ideas are perpetuated in the West because of lazy scholarship and intellectual corner-cutting. Parshall and Tully set out to reconsider the evidence and dig deeper than many American historians were willing to do. The result is "Shattered Sword," a meticulously researched and analyzed look at the battle from the Japanese perspective. Their study isn't so much a revisionist look back as a neccesary corrective. They convincingly argue that the data has always been available, but Western writers often chose to take the easier path and simply accept self-serving post-war Japanese analysis, vis-a-vis Fuchida's "Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan". Using much primary material, they METICULOUSLY detail within the text and in Appendices the IJNs operations before, during and after the battle. They argue the IJN was never close to launching strikes against USN forces when caught unprepared by dive bombing attack. They further argue that the IJN was way out of it's depth from the beginning. Individual acts of Japanese heroism were negated by poor planning, tactical ineptitude and outdated operational thinking.

"Shattered Sword" is incredibly detailed and precisely analyzed, yet the narrative is engaging and readily accessible to anyone with an interest in the Pacific war, rarely pedantic or succumbing to cant. The authors present an at times moving portrait of what the ordinary IJN sailor faced that day. I was pleasantly surprised at their ability to draw me in and keep me engaged through the entire work.

"Shattered Sword" is a memorable, critical view from the "other side" of a hugely important battle. Read in conjunction with SE Morison's official USN history, "Shattered Sword" will give the reader a well-rounded historical view of Midway. Reading it with Gordon Prange's popular "Miracle at Midway" will offer a stark counter-point to that work's flawed conclusions. I highly recommend this book.

Well-researched account of Midway makes use of comparatively new and original research to give a comprehensive account of the Japanese side of the battle, destroying several long-held misconceptions.

Tully and Parshall start from scratch, employ rigorous cholarly standards,and come up with some terrific revelations and several surprising conclusions on the Battle of Midway. Very detailed accounts of the planning stages of the battle, technical aspects of Japanese carrier operations, and almost minute-by-minute accounts of the crucial hours combine to give a new historical perspective. Authors' conclusions are unconventional, but well-founded on solid research. Many revelations and a fresh approach make this a treat for military history buffs. If you haven't read Shattered Sword, you don't know the full story of the Battle of Midway.

The Finest Analysis of the Battle of Midway that I have ever read.

This is THE book you must read if you have read any other account of the Battle of Miday. Not only do the authors build a riviting story, but back it up with crisp analysis of the actions of those involved and point out where other popular misconceptions of the battle have arose. The authors pull from recently translated Japanese documents previously unavailable to Western authors to build a story that was facinating. I have read many of the books that were previously published regarding this famous battle and this book is the most precise account in its detail that I have found.

The Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway

Don't discount this book as just another telling of the much-told Battle of Midway. This is a definitive new work on the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at Midway, although you wouldn't gather that from the title. 'Shattered Sword' effectively supplants 'Midway: the Battle That Doomed Japan' by Fuchida and Okumiya as THE resource on the IJN at Midway. The authors effectively debunk a number of popular myths about the battle (including a few seminal fables instigated by Fuchida himself) while giving a detailed, in-depth accounting of the Japanese side of the battle, including the fundamental flaws in their strategy and the reasons for those flaws. The graphics are superb, with computer-generated charts and diagrams that ably support the text. Naval historians at all levels will want this book prominently positioned in their bookcase.

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