Barrett Tillman

It was in the remainder bin. Probably shouldn’t have been; it’s a pretty good book, but possibly not politically correct enough.

Author Barrett Tillman has written a number of books on the Pacific War (plus a couple on Vietnam and some novels); this is the first one I’ve read. He’s of the journalist-as-historian school, meaning there are a lot of first person reminiscences. I generally prefer a more straightforward history, but Tillman has a point; this year US WWII veterans are dying show more at around 2000 per day – which is a rather greater rate than US soldiers died during the war – so the timer for first person stories is rapidly ticking down.

The historical narrative part isn’t that bad, though. Tillman starts with the Doolittle Raid, and cites it as “the first time Japan was ever bombed”. I was smirking to myself, assuming that Tillman didn’t know about the 1938 Chinese raid, but was disabused by an endnote that mentioned it. That set a pattern; Tillman devotes most attention to the B-29 attacks from the Marianas but also covers a lot of lesser-known activity – the fact that the “Halpro” force of B-24s that staged the first raid on Ploesti was originally intended to attack Japan from China; the activities of the 11th Air Force out of the Aleutians, which bombed the Kuriles with B-24s and B-25 any time the visibility was merely “bad”; the carrier air raids, including the Royal Navy Pacific Fleet; and the attacks on Kyushu from Okinawa with B-25s.

The B-san is the star, though. Tillman covers the “Battle of Wichita” teething troubles (which were never really fixed during the war; many more B-29s were lost due to mechanical failure than to enemy action), the first missions from China (with the subtext of amazement that anybody would actually try to do such a thing) and the Marianas campaign. He has high praise for Curtis LeMay, which was a little off-putting; my generation remembers LeMay as the guy who was going to bomb North Vietnam back to the Stone Age and George Wallace’s running mate. Tillman, on the other hand, makes a pretty good case that Le May’s area bombing strategy was innovative and correct, and that he was also the best Army Air Force general of WWII.

Tillman devotes quite a bit of print to the US Navy (and Royal Navy); his contention is that the carrier attacks didn’t really accomplish very much except put naval vessels and aircrew in harm’s way. He also faults the US high command for not setting strategic direction and allowing the Army Air Force and Navy to go their separate routes without much interservice coordination.

A well-done popular history. Faults are a total lack of maps and a poor index; the references are adequate but include a lot of web sites show less

Very well intentioned book on an overlooked World War II battle in the Pacific. The conflict was more massive than the Battle of Midway in ships and men, it was an obliteration of many Japanese aircraft carriers and Japanese naval attack aircraft. It also goes by the name of Battle of Saipan, or the Battle of the Philippine Sea. This book calls it the Battle of the Marianas or the Marianas' Turkey Shoot due to the almost constant shoot downs of Japanese fighter planes and bombers. I found show more out that the Japanese had take and occupied Guam and were using it as a base for men ad aircraft. I knew the Japanese had taken the Philippines but this battle did not involve those islands. In the Pacific theatre there were three major battles, 1) Coral Sea, 2) Midway, 3) Marianas and sometimes a fourth is listed as Leyte Gulf. It was strange to see what was happening. The AMericans were trying to capture an Island called Tinian. It had an airstrip which the Americans were going to use as a base for heavy bombers (B-29 super fortresses) to bomb Japan on command. Once that happened the war would soon be over. That island was where B-29s would attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki to eventually end the war with Japan's total surrender. A very interesting book with perhaps a little too much dry detail of factual numbers of boats and persons who were too numerous to keep track of. Part of the unorthodox methodology is that the author who is competent on military history also like to narrate an exciting adventure story about the US Navy for which he has obvious respect and admiration. He switches back and forth between history and thrilling historical events without transitions which are jarring. I understand them, but they don't always flow well for the reader. A lot of the story covers the Japanese a well. A lot of research went into this but it was a long book which finally rewards to the attentive page turner. Several things are noted in this book. This was the last time aircraft carriers fought aircraft carriers. This was because the US Navy had superior planes and pilots, better resupply ships, the use of effective radar, and finally the lethality of submarines which took out a carrier. There could be no more carrier battles because the Americans had sunk all the Japanese carriers and carrier planes. Aircraft carriers are called that because they house and refuel planes which take off and land on a carrier. Midway is famous because the tide of the war changed miraculously and providentially. After the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Japan could no longer launch offensive attacks anywhere against the Americans. It became a defensive war for Japan to which they refused to surrender, sadly. Good book if a little too ambitious. I learned a lot from this historical overview of the war in the Pacific. show less

US Marine Corps Fighter Squadrons of WWII by Barrett Tillman is the history of Marine Aviation in the Pacific. Tillman a University of Oregon graduate with a BA in journalism. Much to my surprise Tillman was not in the Marines, rather a writer with a passion for military aviation.

First, I am a former Marine so my biases are already set in stone. Tillman writes a history any Marine would be proud of...except maybe Pappy Boyington. Tillman is critical of the Black Sheep myth, and it seems show more justified in his research.

There is praise for the Marines throughout the book. Charles Lindbergh (a Colonel in the Army refused active duty status by the Roosevelt Administration) trained with Marine Air Group -31 and said of them, “The more I see of the Marines the more I like them.” MacArthur’s famous “I shall return” was followed up with, “With the help of God and a few Marines MacArthur returned to the Philippines.”

One of the two most well known fighter groups are discussed: The Black Sheep Squadron. The other is mentioned Rickenbacker’s Hat in the Ring 94th Fighter Squadron of World War I. Both Boyington and Rickenbacker may have embellished their stories, both men were very effective leaders, even if Boyington is (correctly) referred to as a functional alcoholic. Boyington however still fits well in the Marine Corps Pantheon.

Tillman does an excellent job detailing the aircraft, the evolution of Marine aviation, and the Marine aviation’s role in the war. He covers the history of each unit in the war to include nicknames, deployments, planes, aerial combat record top fliers, and a narrative. Some of the nicknames are very Marine like the Devil Dogs, Joe’s Jokers, Wolfpack, and Whistling Devils. VMF-122 was originally designated Candystripers, but later redesignated the Werewolves. I am not sure if the original name was to give the enemy a false sense of security, or its commander was one some higher ups “list.”

Brief biographies of aces are given toward the end of the book. There are two collections of photographs in the book. The first contains pilots and the planes. The second contains the various patches for the Maine units. There is also a detailed bibliography and index.

US Marine Fighter Squadron does the history of the Marines proud. These are the heroes that define Air Wing of the Marine Corps. Dedicated, hard charging men, who faced an enemy and fought to win. Does Boyington’s hard partying take from the image? No, it’s part of the Marine Corps… the service that was born in Tun Tavern. Although the majority of the book does not deal with The Black Sheep Squadron, they are the most recognizable. The Marine Corps has a very detailed history with plenty of brave men whose records are brought out by Tillman. Extremely well done. show less

I rarely abandon a book, but this one I did. In the 50 pages I managed there was much about every aspect of WW2 carrier warfare except the ostensible subject of the book.

Those first 50 pages are written as though by a bad sportswriter, with lots and lots and lots of facts and figures, connected only by being about WW2 naval operations, but presented in a painfully meandering style. It's as if he took his notes, threw them in the air, and wrote about them in the order he picked them up. show more Consequently there are lots of non sequiturs, un-referenced statements that seem bogus on their face, and an overall lack of clarity as to what point, exactly, he might be trying to make in any given paragraph/page/section/chapter. It doesn't help that he tried never to use the same word twice, or an ordinary one where jargon is available: the text is a mish-mash of four different vocabularies all at once: regular English, official US Navalese, US naval slang, and Japanese. Then there's the editing, which appears to have been performed solely by his word processor's spelling checker.

In an unwonted grant of the benefit of the doubt, I actually gave it two stars because for all I know it gets better after page 50. But if I were you, I wouldn't risk your time on that chance. show less