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"Out of the sun they came, Japan's suicide samurai, diving down fast to explode in death and destruction as they hit the decks of Allied warships. There was no turning back, no hope of survival.
Was it needless sacrifice, a panic strategy in the last, losing days of the war? Or was it a valid military tactic, born of a centuries-old belief in the sanctity of Imperial Japan?
In this fascinating study historian Raymond Lamont-Brown examines the psychology, myths and reality of the kamikaze programme. Detailed accounts of training, weapons and actual attacks, by air and sea, illustrate the idealism of young men wanting to die for the greater glory of their nation.
'We watched each plunging kamikaze with the detached horror of one witnessing a terrible spectacle rather than as intended victim....'
Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown, USN"

London, England, Cassell & Co.:1997, ISBN 0-304-35200-4 Provided by a gift from Rose and Margaret Foerster

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"In the words of those who fought them, here are historic sea battles, ranging from broad views of the whole arena of engagement as seen by those in command, to the personal and hardhitting insights of non-commissioned officers and men in the thick of it. From the Battle of Salamis, recounted by the great Greek historian Herodotus, to carrier operations during the Gulf War, the changing nature of naval warfare is recorded here.
In seven parts, the book begins with the classical world, where war galleys ruled the seas, then moves to the age of sail, with battles like the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and in later centuries the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Trafalgar, where Nelson famously broke the rules of the standard 'line of battle.' Then come the ironclads and dreadnoughts, taking in the American Civil War as well as both World Wars. The modern era encompasses both submarines and the flat tops that brought dominant air power to the world's oceans."

New York, N.Y., Carroll & Graf:2003, ISBN 0-7867-1238-4

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"Early on a quiet Sunday morning in 1941, Japanese planes armed with bombs and torpedoes hurled themselves on the U.S. warships and shore installations at Pearl Harbor. It was history's biggest surprise attack, and it began an entirely new kind of war - one on which naval battles would be fought from the air instead of on the surface of the sea. The rules for this kind of warfare would have to be made up by the participants as they went along.
The Japanese had struck the first blow, and for a time they seemed unstoppable. But the Americans learned quickly. Aircraft carriers were the backbone of the Navy now, and in May 1942, in the Battle of the Coral Sea, American flyers operating from fiattops halted Japan's march of conquest. It was the first naval battle ever in which the opposing ships never sighted each other.
Meanwhile there had been a daring and morale-boosting air raid on Tokyo, carried out by ordinarily land-based bombers operating from a carrier. And soon afterward, heroic Navy, Marine and Army pilots won the key battle of the Pacific war, crushing the Japanese carrier forces at Midway. Courageous young men - many of them in obsolete planes that were hopelessly outclassed by Japan's great Zero fighter - wrote one of the brightest pages in the annals of bravery.
From this point on, although slowly at first, American production, organization and training combined to push the Japanese back from their conquests. U.S. carrier air forces sank more than 3 million tons of Japanese merchant shipping - an incredible fact few people remember today. Carrier forces hit the Japanese Navy the knockout blows. They made the great island invasions possible. And they produced a gallery of heroes: "Butch" O'Hare, John Thach, Clarence McClusky at Midway, the colorful "Pappy" Boyington, and hundreds and hundreds of others. Their story is one of daring and adventure and technological triumph."

New York, N.Y., Elsevier-Dutton:1978, ISBN 0-525-93002-7 courtesy San Antonio Public Library

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"Mounts with almost unbelievable tension as the converging fleets draw near... No quotations can anticipate the thrill of excitement in Mr. Lord's text. In his interviews he has picked up a thousand incredible happenings: of dogged heroism, grim humor, and endurance. - The Atlantic Monthly
No one else has come up to Incredible Victory. Lord knows the value of tiny incidents, of quick reversals, of the lightness of familiar words, of human touches one doesn't forget... The most fascinating sections of the book are based on authentic Japanese naval records and the personal diaries of those in command of the emperor's unbeatable fleet as they realize they have lost the war in a single battle. - Saturday Review
Not likely to be duplicated... A remarkable minute~by-minute account of what has been called ‘the most significant and decisive naval battle since Trafalgar.' - Los Angeles Times"

Markham, Ontario, Canada, Simon & Schuster:1976, paperback

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New York, New York, Arco:1980, ISBN 0-668-04966-9 courtesy San Antonio Public Library

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