Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Front Cover
Potomac Books, Inc., 2005 - 613 pages

"Shattered Sword [is] a necessary read for anyone interested in the Pacific War."--NYMAS Review

Shattered Sword is the winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and was cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.

Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange's bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida's Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle.

Parshall and Tully examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy's doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading World War II naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword is an indispensable part of any military buff's library.

 

Contents

1 Departure
3
2 Genesis of a Battle
19
3 Plans
39
4 Ill Omens
60
5 Transit
70
6 Fog and Final Preparations
92
7 Morning Attack04300600
117
8 A Lull before the Storm06000700
136
22 Why Did Japan Lose?
397
23 Assessing the Battles Importance
416
24 The Myths and Mythmakers of Midway
431
Glossary of Terms
444
List of Personnel
446
Japanese Order of Battle
450
The Carriers of Kido Butai
462
The Aircraft of Kido Butai
479

9 The Enemy Revealed07000800
149
10 Trading Blows08000917
176
11 Fatal Complications09171020
205
12 A Fallacious Five Minutes10201025
229
13 The Iron Fist10201030
232
14 Fire and Death10301100
244
15 Up the Steel Steps11001200
264
16 Japanese Counterstrikes12001400
283
17 Last Gasp14001800
306
18 Scuttlings1800Dawn 5 June
330
19 Retreat
354
20 And Death to the Cripples
367
21 A Bitter Homecoming
385
Japanese Amphibious Operations against MidwayAn Analysis
487
Discovery of Carrier Kaga
491
Japanese Aircraft Tail Codes at the Battle of Midway
494
Japanese Radar at Midway
497
Chronology of Japanese Fighter Operations
499
Japanese Strike Rosters Operations MI and AL
513
Aleutians Force Distributions
532
Notes
535
Selected Bibliography
581
Index
590
About the Authors
613
Copyright

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About the author (2005)

Anthony Tully has been published in such leading military journals as Warship and the U.S. Naval War College Review and is a frequent contributor to combinedfleet.com. He lives in Dallas.

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