Midway: the battle that doomed Japan; The Japanese Navy's Story

xxiv, [plate[, 266, [2] pages. Illustrations (contains List of Photographs and List of Line Drawings). Footnotes. Maps. Index. Endpaper map. Ink notation inside front cover. Includes Foreword by Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, United States Navy (Ret.), Introduction, Authors' Preface; Editors' Preface; Publisher's Note. Contains: Chapter 1: Sortie from Hashirajima; Chapter 2: Evolution of Japanese Naval Strategy; Chapter 3: Debate on Future Strategy; Chapter 4: Doolittle Ends Debate; Chapter 5: Midway Operation Plan; Chapter 6: Preparations for Battle; Chapter 7: Heading for Battle; Chapter 8: Gathering Storm; Chapter 9: The Nagumo Force Fights; Chapter 10: Admiral Yamamoto's Operations; Chapter 11: Finale: Chapter 12: Analysis of the Defeat; Appendix I: U.S. and Japanese Losses in the Battle of Midway; Appendix 2. Combined Fleet Task Organization, 5 June 1942, and Index. Mitsuo Fuchida (3 December 1902 - 30 May 1976) was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber aviator in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Working under the overall fleet commander, Vice Admiral Ch ichi Nagumo, Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack. On 4 June 1942, Fuchida was wounded at the Battle of Midway. After Akagi was hit, a chain reaction from burning fuel and live bombs began the destruction of the ship. As Fuchida slid down a rope, an explosion threw him to the deck and broke both his ankles. Masatake Okumiya (July 27, 1909 - February 22, 2007) was a historian and lieutenant general in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. Okumiya graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1930 as a midshipman. He was commissioned an ensign in April 1932, received his wings in November 1933 as a naval aviator, and was promoted to sub-lieutenant in the same month. He entered the Naval Air Corps at mura, receiving promotion to lieutenant in December 1936. In 1937, he participated in the attack on the USS Panay. Promoted to lieutenant-commander in October 1941, Okumiya served throughout World War II, including on the aircraft carrier Ry j and with the 2nd Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. During 1942-1943, he served as chief of staff of the 26th Naval Air Squadron, and was appointed to a staff post in August 1944. He was promoted to his final rank of commander in November 1944. At the end of the war, Okumiya was interrogated by Allied intelligence officers, after which he was demobilized. Following the occupation of Japan, he joined the nascent Japan Air Self-Defense Force in 1954. He was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1963 and ended his career as commander of the ATC and Meteorological Group. He retired the following year. Okumiya wrote extensively on Japan's role in World War II. He co-wrote with Mitsuo Fuchida Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan; the Japanese Navy's Story, published 1955. His remark that "I am firmly convinced that the Pacific War was started by men who did not understand the sea, and fought by men who did not understand the air." is often quoted. This landmark study was first published in English by the Naval Institute in 1955. Widely acknowledged for its valuable Japanese insights into the battle that turned the tide of war in the Pacific, the book has made a great impact on American readers over the years. Two Japanese naval aviators who participated in the operation provide an unsparing analysis of what caused Japan's staggering defeat. Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the first air strike on Pearl Harbor, commanded the Akagi carrier air group and later made a study of the battle at the Japanese Naval War College. Masatake Okumiya, one of Japan's first dive-bomber pilots, was aboard the light carrier Ryujo and later served as a staff officer in a carrier division. Armed with knowledge of top-secret documents destroyed by the Japanese and access to p.…