![]() ![]() "In the final analysis," says Schom, "MacArthur, as senior commanding officer, was fully responsible for the debacle in the Philippines." The Eagle and the Rising Sun captures pivotal moments in one nation's rise and another's downfall - and characterizes the individuals who made it happen. bombers permission to raid Japanese bases on Formosa in the hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Army Forces in the Far East, failed to strengthen his troops and denied U.S. With the exception of Hirohito for his complicity in the war, Schom criticizes no one so harshly as he does Douglas MacArthur, who, as commanding general of the U.S. Richmond Kelly "Terrible" Turner, who predicted the attack on Pearl Harbor and later supplied the Marines at Guadalcanal. Those whom Schom credits include Joe Rochefort, the Naval Intelligence commander who broke the Japanese codes for the Battle of Midway Admirals Chester Nimitz and William Halsey, who helped end the deadlock at Guadalcanal and Adm. It is an assessment of how those in positions of responsibility handled intelligence, logistics and strategic command. The Eagle and the Rising Sun is not just a rehash of history (though Schom's attention to detail is impressive, if sometimes repetitive). Schom recalls the gassing of hundreds of thousands of Chinese POWs and writes unflinchingly about the fate of American and Filipino soldiers facing the horror of the Bataan Death March. We cannot wait for a rationalizing adjustment of the world system," Japan found itself further along on the road to imperial expansion (it was already occupying Korea), beginning in Manchuria in 1931 and leading ultimately to Pearl Harbor 10 years later.īut that road ended up being littered with over a million corpses, from China to the Philippines and throughout the Pacific. ![]() After Prince (and future prime minister) Konoe's pronouncement in 1928 that "as a result of one million annual increase in population, our national economic life is heavily burdened. He had a golf course especially built on the palace grounds." If such Western mannerisms could alter the young prince's lifestyle, the display of British military might have had an even more profound effect on his life and his country. 'English tea' would be served every afternoon. "Every day," writes Schom, " ate a breakfast with fried egg, grilled tomato, bacon (or sausage when it could be obtained), and toast. The author's account of this event is superb, showing its impact on the future emperor. This precarious time for both the United States and Japan is the subject of Alan Schom's The Eagle and the Rising Sun: The Japanese-American War 1941-1943 (Norton, $28.95) - although the book actually begins in 1921, with the arrival of Crown Prince Hirohito in England. It was far from clear how and when this war would be won. The United States, whose army had been smaller than Portugal's only a few years earlier, now faced a full-scale war against a battle-hardened Asian empire - not to mention the Nazis in Europe. ![]() Soon Japanese troops landed on the Malay Peninsula, took over Bangkok and Hong Kong and overwhelmed Wake Island. forces in the Philippines were also under heavy attack and without air support - most of the planes at Clark Field were caught on the ground when the first Japanese bombers arrived. The fleet at Pearl Harbor was mostly submerged, the result of a devastating Japanese attack that should not have come as a surprise and that ultimately cost 2,402 American lives. "A long, hard slog" doesn't even begin to describe the situation the U.S. By Reviewed Victorino Matus December 7, 2003 ![]()
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