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A review by srchief
The Battle of Midway by Craig L. Symonds
4.0
The battle of Midway was a turning point in World War II for the U.S. Mr. Symonds goes into great detail with the lead up and actual battle that provides great insight. It is often called the 'miracle victory' and it is apparent in this book of how the U.S. have a lot of luck on it's side that led to the sinking of 4 Japanese carriers. When I say luck, I don't mean to imply that there was no sacrifice or skill on both sides. It's that just the right circumstances led to this not only being a victory but quite the reverse. For example, all of the bombing flights from the Midway airfield did little to no damage on the Japanese fleet but they played a role of distracting the attention of the Japanese commanders. Even the air attacks from the Yorktown and Enterprise did little damage at first. The Hornet was a non factor with it's air launches until late in the battle. All these events give credence to the potential that this could have easily gone against the U.S. force. But in the end, 4 Japanese carriers were sunk and the Japanese Navy was never able to fully recover from the loss of 4 capital ships (carriers).
Well written, with the battle order well documented. I also appreciated the way that the CAPT Browning issue was addressed. There has been a controversy about how much of a roll Browning played in making the decision to launch the air strikes. Some historians credit him with talking RADM Spruance (rank at the time) out of launching the strike earlier than Spruance wanted to. This has been later (correctly, in my opinion) been explained as incorrect because of the time zone setting that the battle fleet was using. Once this is taken into account, it is discovered that Spruance wanted to launch precisely when he was supposed to and that Browning had very little to do with the decision.
Overall, a good accounting of the battle of Midway for all WWII students and historians.
Well written, with the battle order well documented. I also appreciated the way that the CAPT Browning issue was addressed. There has been a controversy about how much of a roll Browning played in making the decision to launch the air strikes. Some historians credit him with talking RADM Spruance (rank at the time) out of launching the strike earlier than Spruance wanted to. This has been later (correctly, in my opinion) been explained as incorrect because of the time zone setting that the battle fleet was using. Once this is taken into account, it is discovered that Spruance wanted to launch precisely when he was supposed to and that Browning had very little to do with the decision.
Overall, a good accounting of the battle of Midway for all WWII students and historians.