Download Midway: The Turning Point djvu

Well illustrated, Covers Coral sea as well, basically a 2 in 1 buy.

McDonald Publishing and the Imperial War Museum teamed up back in the late 1960s and early 1970s to publish this tight series of illustrated paperbacks on the history of World War I, World War II (and a few other conflicts of the 20th century), which were picked up by Ballantine in the United States. They were all divided into subjects: battles, campaigns, weapons, war leaders, politics in action, human conflict, and regalia, by color bands on the bottom, enjoying common editing and artwork, and a fairly common collection of well-known historians. They cost $1 at the time (a good deal of money) and a lot more now (being out of print).

The series as a whole is slightly outdated by the disclosures from Allied codebreaking, and suffered from being whipped together in a hurry, but they remain then and now a fine introduction to conflict in the 20th century -- if you can find them.

The Battle of Midway is pretty legendary in American history -- the outnumbered Americans, with their outdated aircraft, waiting in ambush for a vast Japanese invasion force off the flyspeck island, sinking three carriers in five minutes in a miraculously lucky attack, and disposing of the fourth later in the day, for the loss of the carrier Yorktown. This four-for-one trade gave the US Navy the balance of power in the Central Pacific, and required Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to do something no Japanese admiral had ever done: apologize to the Tenno for losing a battle. The Japanese hadn't ever lost a major sea battle until that moment. After that, the Americans took and never lost the initiative in the Pacific.

A.J. Barker wrote scores of books on various wars, and as an Army officer, he seems an odd choice to tackle the naval battle of Midway, but he rises to the challenge with gusto, covering a good deal of ocean in detail, including the vital prelude to Midway, the Battle of the Coral Sea. For once, Ballantine's artwork falls short, simply because there weren't that many photographs taken. Naval battles don't lend themselves to that. Worse, the footage shot by a Japanese newsman of the battle was seized when he returned home, and never re-surfaced. The publishers try to make up for it with charts and depictions of the various aircraft.

The book focuses on the usual high points and decisions, with some nod to the personal experiences. In 175 pages, space is at a premium.

There are a lot of more recent books about Midway, which stress the Japanese command difficulties, their ineptness at on-scene military damage control and shrewdness at post-war reputation damage control, but most of the facts about the battle still stand.

A person learning about this historic struggle for the first time will do well to pick up this volume on the Battle of Midway.

Knowledge of any subject comes from as complete a study of that subject as is possible to achieve. Once the student is into their fourth or fifth book they will begin to recognise how different writers take a different view of significant events. Each major battle during World War Two was a significant event and the Battle of Midway was as significant as they come - the turning point of the war in the Pacific etc.

In this book the author presents a very well illustrated over-view of that battle. Whilst the established expert is not likely to find any "new" information, the photographs are certainly worth a second look - if only because there are so many. For those who are new to the subject, this work is an excellent starting point from which the reader is able to gain a most reasonable insight into exactly what went on without getting bogged down in minute detail.

Lt. Colonel A. J. Barker was a British officer who served his country during World War Two. Since that time he has written over 20 books on military history and is well qualified to produce a book of this type.

It is also an easy read.

NM

This is a concise and informative look at the naval battle that turned the tide just six months after Pearl Harbor. Author A. J. Barker does a solid job explaining the overall military situation, plus the goals and tactics of both the Japanese attack fleet and the U.S. defenders. Readers see how the Japanese naval advantage was modified by the U.S. having radar and knowing enemy plans from reading Japan's secret military code Purple. We see how the battle was largely decided in a few minutes via both luck and skill; U.S. dive bombers arrived just after the failed attack by U.S. torpedo planes and quickly turned three of Japan's carriers into flaming wrecks. There is also the battle's anti-climactic remainder (with losses on both sides). Finally, readers see that Japan's task force limped home minus it's four carriers (all were sunk), and the Rising Sun never again held the initiative in the Pacific.

Ballantine Illustrated uses a nice mix of photo's, illustrations, and readable prose. The result is a winning combination for both military buffs and novices wanting a concise and informative view.

I read this short,concise and correct book, here in Brazil.This book, I found with just one defect:weapons' details are just regular.Even so, this book is a short and good introduction, about Midway navy battle, in 1942.This book has many photos, all of them black & white photos.This book remains among the best introduction, about this massive and decisive navy battle.

Mr. Barker shoud have done a bit more research for the selection of the book cover photograph(i.e. the echelon of SBD's). The photograph depicts SBD's carrying the "Atlantic paint scheme" that was introduced in late 1943 for the operations against Germany! Secondly the insignia that they carry(star AND BAR) was introduced in 1944. The Battle of Midway was in 1942!!!