Comprehensive in the extreme

I was inspired to read upon the Battle of Midway following my viewing of Roland Emerich's film, Midway. My impression had been that the film gave the standard Hollywood treatment to the real event, but to my surprise it did a fair job. There was drama beyond the scope and context of the battle itself, but while a serious treatment on the event can be objective, a film must be character driven. To that end, the film tells what is largely a dramatic story about certain characters. Having gotten that, I also wanted to know more about the battle itself. This book provides that exceedingly well.

Beyond the battle itself, the book provides its context within the larger Pacific War. It explains much regarding Japanese battle doctrine, the hostility between military branches, and the factional infighting within the branches themselves. There is yet more regarding Japanese carrier designs and damage control practices -- and how they contributed to their own demise. All of this and more brought about the result of the battle.

The biggest takeaway is that the battle did not determine the outcome of the war. Japan simply could not have won it. They had not the industrial capacity to replace losses, as the US did. Even if they took Midway, they could scarcely have kept it supplied -- let alone mount an invasion of Hawaii or the US west coast. The Japanese loss at Midway may have shortened the war, though. Japan's fleet was the culmination of a decade of work -- and they lost four carriers. At peak during the war, the US was launching ships every month. Losing one carrier, the Yorktown, was bad on a tactical level, but far less significant in the long run. Even had the US lost all three at the battle, more would have followed and in a war of attrition, Japan could not keep up.

If you have an interest in the real history of the battle and in details regarding WW2 naval operations, read (or listen to) this book.

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Thorough Re-examination of the Battle of Midway

Shattered Sword is an excellent, if occasionally dry book on the Japanese actions leading up to and during the famous battle. The authors did not settle for the very few English translations of Japanese sources but reached out to survivors and scholars for additional information. That outreach lead to the discovery that the known translations were considered garbage by Japanese scholars.

Armed with new information from Japanese sources, the authors have taken a fresh look at how culture, military technology, and logistics influenced the events. The scholarship and narrator are excellent.

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Fresh and insightful

Great book, amazing detailed account of the battle. You wont want to stop listening, so very impressed!

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A solid listen

If you enjoy getting down into the minutiae of historical battles this is a good listen.
Breaking down the battle and using the logs of the ships involved, the author challenges the existing narrative in a few instances, and backs their views ably.
The performance is solid as well.

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MIDWAY: INDEPTH DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

This is the best analysis ever of the Battle of Midway. The authors used Japanese and American post war interviews of the participants, intelligence reports and diaries of both sides. They worked out a detailed breakdown of the entire battle. studied each sides handling of battle damage parties, training of pilots, how resources we used. They answer the why's of the outcome and what happened after the battle. SHATTERED S probably the most brilliant book of any WW2 Battle

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Excellent book

Answers any question you might have had about the Battle of Midway. Very well written. Narration well done

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Payback

I cannot help but think the U.S. pilots and others had payback in mind....no doubt about it, and I did not feel one bit of empathy for the Japanese, as these were the carriers at Pearl.

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