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Originally Posted by OpanaPointer
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I have just finished reading the book. My compliments to Zimm on his thoroughness and attention to detail, although at times he seemed to render his judgments less useful by his endless qualifying of all scenarios. When he asks what would have happened if......he speculates, qualifies the speculation with other concerns, qualifies the new conclusion with further information and so forth until you are left with as many probabilities at the end as you were at the start. I'm not positive that I see the value of this approach.
The most interesting chapter was the one where Zimm ruminates on what the outcome would have been if the Pearl Harbor base had been alerted in advance. He concludes that the Japanese would have lost half or more of their attacking aircraft. His scenario however was one based on the idea of 40 minutes advance notice. I sometimes fall asleep at night sort of gaming this out in my head, but I always allow for a few days of advance warning, time to recall the carriers and place them in an intercept position, time to not just get the fleet out of the harbor, but move it to where it could ambush the Kudo Butai.
One thing I go back and forth on is what would have been the ideal time to strike. Wait until the first wave was in the air and then jump the Japanese carriers with planes from the US carriers while the land based army fighters took on the first wave? Wait until, after the second wave departed or attack before they could launch?
I also have to take into consideration, the means by which the Japanese scout planes and spy subs could be fooled into believing that the fleet was still in the harbor.
In general I would recommend this book for those who already have a good familiarity with the events. If you don't, then you have never been interested enough to wade through this extraordinarily detailed account. You can skip some sections, such as the entire chapter devoted to the supposed 5th midget submarine which is an awful lot of time and thought put into what is ultimately still unresolved.
Finally, having read Shattered Sword before Zimm's book, I must say that Commander Fuchida has certainly taken some well merited lumps. His writings and reports on Pearl Harbor and Midway were tremendously influential for numerous historians, and it turns out he was, beyond argument, a chronic liar.