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Loading... The War in Pacific: A Retrospectiveby Leon Cooper
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The author, a combat veteran of the Pacific War, explains why five major Pacific War battles were not needed to defeat the Japanese, hence resulting in more than 100,000 tragically needless U.S. casualties. The author participated in most of these battles, thus is able to offer a first-hand account of what went wrong. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)940.5426History and Geography Europe Europe 1918- Military History Of World War II Campaigns and battles by theatre PacificLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Cooper saves his most scathing criticism for the top generals and politicians. He lists numerous instances where FDR, MacArthur, Nimitz, and Halsey allowed self-interest or petty issues to overrule the good of the country or the safety of soldiers. For instance, FDR refused to appoint a top commander in the Pacific as he had done in Europe in appointing Eisenhower. His thinking was to keep MacArthur and the others at each other’s throats and to distract MacArthur from running for President. As a result, Cooper contends, many battles were fought needlessly and did not contribute to the defeat of Japan.
Although this examination of the War in the Pacific is most illuminating, it contains one flaw, which Cooper does own up to. In addition, the usual what-if fallacies listed, the most compelling is the assumption that nothing would have been lost by standing down for a re-examination of strategy. The idea that Okinawa or Saipan could have been postponed to await the atomic bomb test is specious. First, any change of operations like that might have tipped off the enemy that something was happening. It also pre-supposes a successful bomb test; a result by no means assured at that time. No, in defense of the men concerned, better to proceed ahead and evaluate new weapons as they were proved. “The War in the Pacific: A Retrospective” is a worthwhile, thought-provoking examination, but like all provocative works, its vision is a little short of 20/20. ( )