Pearl Harbor 1941: The Day of Infamy

This is Campaign Book 62 in Osprey's superb series of combat histories. It is an extremely detailed yet concise (just 96 pages including appendices and index) telling of the events leading to and including an almost minute by minute account of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor which brought the US into the Second World War. It includes thumbnail biographies of US commanders Kimmel, Short, Stark, Marshall, Secretary of State Hull and President Roosevelt, and Japanese commanders Yamamoto, Fuchida, Genda, Nagumo and Ambassador Nomura.

My copy didn't come with a CD and has 104 pages but is pretty much the same thing as this one. It is well written and well illustrated as is typical of Osprey works. A good read for anyone interested in thie event.

For most people (including most American military people) Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 is a far away island and a long time ago. To those in the American intelligence community, Pearl Harbor was the definition of being asleep at the switch-9/11 has replaced Pearl Harbor as the yardstick of intelligence failure. Carl Smith's "Pearl Harbor 1941" tells one part of Japan's "southern operation"-and provides a context for that "Day of Infamy" with background information and a thumbnail history. I was stationed at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Station from September 1976 to June 1979 (with a brief eight-month cruise aboard the LPH-10 Tripoli), I spent some time as an Army intelligence analyst, and I last toured the Pearl Harbor monument and visitors' center on Oahu around Easter in 1998. Pearl Harbor Day is very real to me even though I was born fifteen years after the Japanese raid occurred. Carl Smith hints at the complexity of the period immediately preceding Pearl Harbor Day. Some of my research into the events leading up to December 7 differ from the author's, but that's history! History is a "best guess" based on available information. I'm unqualified to determine if some of the variance between my limited work and Carl Smith's are due to error. One thing stands out in my mind because I work with 24-hour time globally-Pearl Harbor Day in Japan is December 8. Earth is divided into 24 time zones due to rotation-sunrise is at different times in Honolulu and Manila and Tokyo. I am unsure when I read Smith's timeline which time zone the event happened in. My research indicates that the United States expected to be attacked at any moment, but that attack would happen in the Philippines first. Smith's bibliography should prove useful to the amateur historian-I've read about 60% of the books he listed, and I own several. The best part of "Pearl Harbor 1941" are the maps and many illustrations that set the scene and describe the sequence of events on 7 December 1941. Carl Smith's "Pearl Harbor 1941" has a place in my Pearl Harbor library. Pearl Harbor didn't happen in a vacuum-it was part of a sequence of events beginning in 1855 and continuing today. For me, at least, Pearl Harbor 1941 isn't long ago on a far away island.

An excellent review for the novice as well as the reader well read about the Pearl Harbor attack. Maps and diagrams reveal the placement of each aircraft and ship. This book also does a good job about detailing how severe this battle hurt the US military. Shocking to realize how little strength the US had in the Pacific on Dec. 8, 1941. Highly recommended.