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Review for Japanese Carriers and Victory in the Pacofic
Author/Director : Martin Stanfeld
Format : Book
I confess that this is not the sort of book I usually enjoy consisting, as it does, of a juxtaposition of what was and what might have been. In the main the reality is clearly separated from the possible there are just a few places where it is a little confusing. The premise of the book is that prior to the Second World War the there was a dispute within the Japanese navy between two factions simplified as the battleship group and the carrier group. That the battleship group won is the reality; the ‘what-if’ gives victory to the carrier group. What raises this book above many ‘what-ifs’ is that it is not baseless speculation. A great deal of careful research has gone into discovering the possibilities argued for and formally proposed by the carrier group particularly by Admiral Yamamoto.
The value of this book for me, and I hope for many others, is that it helps one understand that had Japan followed a different naval route things would have been very different. The war in the Pacific whilst not becoming a Japanese victory could have gone on much longer. However the concomitant ‘what-ifs’ would then need to be considered for the Allies, America in particular.
We return to the old adage ‘in a series of events if anything were different then everything would be different’ which encapsulates the problem of all 'what-ifs'.
This book made me think outside the box and for that I thank the author, Martin Stansfeld.
Published by : Pen & Sword Maritime, 2021
ISBN : 978 1 39901 011 5
Review last updated : 2022-03-07 11:35:09
