Tower of Skulls: A History of the Asia-Pacific War: July 1937 May 1942

Excellent. I found it to be a very well-researched, very interesting, and very readable history of World War II in the Pacific covering the years 1937 - 1942.What distinguishes Richard Frank's work from other truly excellent works like John Toland's But not in Shame - Rising Sun, and Ian Toll's Pacific War trilogy are basically two things: (i) a better, fuller, exposition and maybe understanding, of the Sino-Japanese conflict, and (ii) access to new material, including Willem Remmelink's edited translation of the Japanese official history of The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies and The Operations of the [Imperial Japanese] Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal, and Andrew Boyd's The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters: Linchpin of Victory 1935-1942.Richard Frank makes a good stab at covering the war in the Dutch East Indies generally, including, the land fighting on the island of Java, (probably because he had access to the modern translation into English of the Japanese official history of the land campaign), although from a purely naval aspect I prefer Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II by Jeffrey Cox and Battle of the Java Sea by David Thomas.Nit-picking aside, I have one important disagreement with Richard Frank, (and some minor disagreements). He says that the native population of the Dutch East Indies were desperate to see the end of Dutch Rule and joyously welcomed the Japanese. My father is Dutch-white, and was born and raised on the island of Java just before the Japanese invaded. As someone who was there at the time, he said to me that the native population was curious and awaited events. This is confirmed in the war memoir Vier Maanden onder de Jappen op Java en mijn Ontsnapping by Cornelius Van Der Grift, and also in Representing the Japanese Occupation of Indonesia edited by Remco Raben. On the other side of the equation there is the war memoir / history book entitled Bersiap!: opstand in het paradijs : de Bersiap-periode op Java en Sumatra 1945-1946 by Herman Bussemaker who says that the native population did welcome the arrival of the Japanese troops. My own more nuanced interpretation is that the general population were curious and awaited events, but that young men and boys, particularly from Java and Sumatra, often did walk along and welcome the Japanese troops, (and many would later go on to join the Japanese Hitler Youth equivalent called Permuda and the Japanese Waffen SS type army called Peta that would go on to rape, kidnap and murder through the days of Sukarno, Suharto, and even recently in East Timor). The movie images of locals waving Japanese flags seem "false" to me. In Genesis of Power by Salim Said the author speaks of the older population being contaminated by Dutch Rule, and on what I have read and heard it seems that plenty of the local population preferred Dutch rule to Republican rule after the Japanese surrender in 1945. This is all what you would expect. Holland / The Netherlands is not some evil Nazi Germany / Imperial Japanese type country. Dutch rule was largely consensual. In the run up to the Japanese invasion the East Indies were a well-run, prosperous, peaceful, colony, with only a handful of whites / europeans, (far less than the 250,000 mentioned by Richard Frank, a figure that includes the mixed race Dutch).I also think that much more opinion / commentary could have been made by Richard Frank about the Dutch High Command and the decisions that they took. Richard Frank has got plenty to say about the British High Command in Malaya - Singapore, but he largely limits himself to recounting what happened on the island of Java, and says very little about whether he thinks the decisions taken were right and whether the protagonists, Helfrich, Ter Poorten, van Oyen, Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, the Dutch government in exile, (and earlier in the run up to war), were any good / whether they got it right.Richard Frank is condemnatory about the internment of Japanese Americans living in the western mainland United States. It is worth mentioning that the Dutch also interned the Japanese living in the Dutch East Indies. The Governor-General, Alidius Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer, did intervene to make sure that the Japanese were humanely treated in the camps, and it is worth comparing it all with how the Japanese treated Dutch, British, and American civilian internees during the war. Yes, the Japanese living on mainland United States almost certainly did not need to be interned from an internal security perspective, (although query whether that was only because the overwhelming balance of power in favour of the United States made disloyalty not pay ... there is an incident given by Richard Frank that hints that had Imperial Japan come close to occupying the United States then Japanese Americans might have thrown in their lot with Japan, as they did in Malaya, Singapore, and the East Indies), but a sense of proportion is needed. I am not aware that the Japanese who were interned were beaten, starved, raped, and sometimes simply outright murdered by United States personnel guarding them.All caveats aside, this work by Richard Frank is superb. It is complementary to the other excellent works that there are on the Pacific War, and is very definitely worth buying and reading in its own right.

Lots of information and a really good read.

This is narrative history at its best. The book begins with the Japanese campaign in Manchuria in 1937, with nearly 200 pages on this long forgotten campaign. There didn't seem to be much on the Rape of Nanking or as the author calls it by its modern name Nanjing. He also refers to Peking the capital as Beijing. I thought the final part of the Manchuria campaign was rather rushed, summing up that the Japanese were forced into a stalemate after 2 and a half years.Next the author describes the politics and relations between Japan and the USA, and the build up to Pearl Harbor. There was but a single chapter on the battle itself, before moving onto the surrender of Hong Kong on Christmas Day 1941, the fall of Singapore, and then the forgotten campaign in the Dutch East Indies now known as Indonesia. He meticulously describes how each island fell, and briefly the large naval engagement the battle of the Java Sea, which was a disastrous defeat by the Japanese, and finally led to the occupation of all of the Dutch East indies. Finally the author finishes the book with the Japanese invasion of Burma, and the longest retreat in British Military History. The book is actually 522 pages long, with a large portion made up of the end notes and bibliography, and index, taking it to nearly 800 pages.Overall the book engrossed me, and offered me a new perspective of when the Asia Pacific War started in 1937 rather than 1941. Its not biased towards the Japanese, and we hear from the perspective of both the Chinese and Japanese, as well as the USA, Britain and Holland. This is the first volume of a trilogy on the Asia Pacific War, and I am looking forward to the next 2 volumes.

This is a very good book and I awit teh next parts

Good read about the politics and goals of Japan. How they ended up in a mess of their own creation. Looking forward to the next volume

Most Americans, including me, who are generally familiar with World War II mostly refer to the Pacific and European theaters of war. Many American historians give relatively short shrift to Japan’s invasion of China and other Asian countries. An exception is the Philippines, though one could argue even that attention is directed there mostly due to the magnetism of one Douglas MacArthur.Author Richard Frank deftly substitutes the term “Asia-Pacific War” to underline the interconnectivity between Japan’s invasions throughout Asia and America’s involvement in WW II. Indeed, many have long argued that WW II did not start on September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland. Frank convincingly lays out a compelling case that it was Japan’s invasion of China in 1937 that set in motion all the dominoes falling in WW II.Frank spends a great deal of time at the beginning of the book exploring the pre-war relationship between Japan and China as well as the many internal political and military forces in China. Most notably explored are the well-known figures, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang figures most prominently at this stage of the war (1937-1942) as he was nominally the military leader of Chinese forces fighting Japan.Japan was extremely brutal in pursuit of its war against China, most famously in the capture of Nanking. Chinese soldiers were often not allowed to surrender, and the Japanese ruthlessly killed civilians and raped women. Countless millions of Chinese were killed in the war. One can easily understand the antipathy so many Chinese feel toward Japan today, though I sense much of the hostility is stoked by the Chinese government for political purposes.Frank explores with significant primary sources the internal machinations of the Japanese government regarding China. The Japanese government seemed quite dysfunctional and the military at times stunningly insubordinate to the civilian leaders. Its army and navy often worked at cross purposes and for their own benefit. How the Japanese believed they could conquer all of China is a head scratcher; while there were more than a few Japanese figures who questioned the wisdom of the decision to invade and Japanese military tactics, their voices were silenced out of self-preservation. American and British efforts to aid China before Japan struck Pearl Harbor are nicely detailed. Communications and relations between Winston Churchill and FDR are deeply explored.Japan’s decision to go to war and American preparations in Hawaii are clearly set forth in this account. Frank fairly distributes the blame for Americans being surprised on December 7, 1941 and slays a number of myths. The heroic efforts of many Americans on that day of infamy come as no surprise to any reader. The fact that no American aircraft carriers were docked at Pearl Harbor that day was a stroke of good fortune in America’s early efforts to strike back at Japan in the coming months.Still, Japan was able to go on an incredible rampage for four months from December 1941 until April 1942 capturing territory from Wake Island to Burma. French Indochina (Vietnam), the Philippines, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Burma, and many islands fell to Japan. As macabre as it may seem to do so, a tremendous amount of credit has to be given to the Japanese for their careful planning and logistics in attacking across such a wide expanse of ocean and land. I cannot think of any war in which one side has obtained such much ground across such a wide span in only four months. Of course, Japanese brutality continued seemingly unabated. Gruesome accounts of American and other Allied troops being captured and then beheaded, bayoneted, set on fire, fed to crocodiles, thrown into shark-infested waters, or killed in other ways are horrifying.As a biographer of Douglas MacArthur, Richard Frank is well positioned to describe the fall of the Philippines. His insight into MacArthur is spot on. As is Frank’s analysis of “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell’s efforts, or lack thereof, in Burma. Many British generals also do not fare well under Frank’s scrutiny.The crumbling of the British empire is also on full display here as one by one its “possessions” fell into Japanese hands. Though many British soldiers and their native allies fought bravely, the Japanese usually outnumbered them, had superior equipment, enjoyed air and naval superiority, and had excellent tactical plans (for the most part). Once the war was over, the movements for independence in these countries accelerated.Frank sets a relentless pace in his account of the Asia-Pacific War in this first of a three-book trilogy. Most well-known historians are very good writers. Frank’s writing is a notch above the pack and he is a true wordsmith. Most impressive is the deep analysis he constantly provides. His bibliography reflects his exhaustive research. Frank’s judgments are sound and amply supported. It is hard to imagine a trilogy on the Asia-Pacific War providing a better primer than this one.A few minor complaints. As a voracious consumer of military history, I am almost never satisfied by the amount or quality of maps. Given the amount of time spent on the Japan-China war, the one theater-wide map was a bit of a disappointment. There were a number of Chinese locations mentioned in the narrative that I could not locate in this map, and I needed to “Google” them on my phone to determine their location. I realize there is often tension between an author and publisher on the issue of maps. I also thought some of the sections in the final chapter were a bit abbreviated, which made me suspicious of editorial involvement to shorten the narrative as it was over 500 pages (before endnotes, bibliography, and index).The reader should be sure to read the endnotes as they often contain fascinating details and further analysis. They also provide the reader some valuable sources to read if they want to dig deeper into a particular battle, campaign, or subject.The word “masterpiece” is often overused in describing a book. Not here. I eagerly await the second and third books in this landmark trilogy.

Die Werbung spricht von "definite History of the Pacific War", Magisteral Triology. Ja, das mag sein.Als interessierter Laie lese ich auch gerne das dritte oder vierte Buch zum gleichen Thema - man lernt immer etwas Neues.Das Buch ist mit 757 Seiten hier auf Amazon angegeben. Davon sind rund 250 Seiten Notizen und Bibliografien. Das mag für eine Magisterarbeit unbedingt nötig sein, täuscht aber um über den tatsächlichen Umfang des Buches .Und das fand ich dann doch "etwas dünn". Werde mir mit Sicherheit die Folgebände nicht mehr kaufen. Zu wenig Stoff auf zu wenig Seiten.Dann doch lieber die Trilogie von Ian W. Toll (Pacific War Trilogy).

Avevo letto lo splendido libro "Guadalcanal" di R.Frank e mi sono quindi affrettato ad acquistare "Tower of skulls" nella speranza di ritrovare le ottime descrizioni delle battaglie, ma ripartendo da Pearl Harbor.In realtà sono rimasto deluso, in quanto questi libri sono completamente diversi l'uno dall'altro.L'opera prevede una approfondita narrazione iniziale della guerra tra Cina e Giappone, con ottime descrizioni delle battaglie ed approfondite analisi politiche degli eventi accaduti, oltre che dei protagonisti di quell'immane tragedia.Si arriva finalmente al 7 Dicembre 41 solamente a pagina 266, dopo una profonda analisi delle fonti di intelligence e delle complesse implicazioni diplomatiche.Le operazioni militari da Pearl Harbor in poi fino all'Aprile 42 vengono descritte su 254 pagine, in modo completo ma troppo sintetico, riservando peraltro le descrizioni più approfondite alle battaglie terrestri, descrivendo purtroppo in modo sommario gli scontri navali, con sole 6 pagine dedicate alla battaglia navale del mare di Giava mentre altre 6 sono dedicate alle operazioni terrestri sulla stessa isola.Si arriva al termine delle operazioni militari a pagina 522, dopo una brevissima descrizione di 3 pagine delle operazioni giapponesi nell'oceano Indiano accadute tra il 4 ed il 9 Aprile, davvero troppo poche per descrivere gli attacchi su Colombo e Trincomalee e gli attacchi alle navi britanniche, oltre alle operazioni del vice ammiraglio Ozawa nel golfo del Bengala e degli I-BOOT sulla costa occidentale Indiana.Lo spazio non mancava di certo, anche perchè a seguire vengono proposte ben 228 pagine di note, indici e riconoscimenti vari, davvero troppe.

I would have to say that not only was the book well-written, I would consider it one of the best considered of the many books written about the period. I would consider that this will be considered a classic account of this period of the conflict.