Steve Horn

Three months after the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, there was a second attack. Due to a number of circumstances, this attack by two large floatplanes was little noted. In fact, some participants on the ground were in the dark until the writing of this book. The Japanese considered the bombing a success because they got their bombs on the ground, but it was ultimately a failure because the bombs went very wide of the target, it warned the Americans so they could take steps to block follow-up, and there was no good attempt to follow up. Author Steve Horn analyzes the second attack as well as swinging the focus briefly on the plans to bomb Panama from aircraft-carrying submarines, floatplane attacks from an offshore submarine of the Oregon coast using incendiary bombs, and the paper balloons with incendiaries sent towards the US. Reading this, I found myself reflecting on the level of communications at the time...the Japanese were continually concerned with how many aircraft carriers the Americans had in the Pacific during the first six months of the war - eventually, our shipyards would turn out one a week - and the Americans had similar problems tracking the Japanese. Insights on the code-breaking efforts that led to the Battle of Midway are succinctly described in this book, as well. Excellent addition to any WWII buff's library.… (meer)