Taking a Look at the Battle of Midway
BOOK REVIEW: TAKING MIDWAY: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World War II
By Martin Dugard/ Dutton
Reviewed by Jack Montgomery
The Reviewer — Jack Montgomery is an Ensign in the United States Navy and currently the Main Propulsion Officer aboard the USS HOWARD. He has a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history from Brown University, with a thesis on the Solomon Islands Campaign.
REVIEW — When Imperial Japanese aircraft first took off from their carriers at 0430 on June 4th, 1942, one of the most pivotal at-sea battles of the 20th century began. There, in the seas surrounding the small, far-flung atoll of Midway, the Imperial Japanese offensive push was blunted, and forced the Imperial Japanese Navy to enter an attritional campaign with the United States in the South and, eventually, Central Pacific that would ultimately destroy its ability to fight. It cannot be overstated how important this battle was to changing the momentum of the Pacific Theater, and Martin Dugard’s Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle that Turned the Tide of World War II describes just that.
The writing style, with its short, punchy sentences, takes some pages getting used to, but paired with the story-telling narrative, it makes it a quick and enjoyable read. Dugard has a tendency to follow down tangents of historical minutiae yet never slows the story, providing small, but interesting, tidbits of historical information that the casual historical reader will enjoy.
Those accustomed to Dugard’s “Taking” series will not be surprised to see a wide-ranging cast of characters and perspectives that make up this history, from Early Pacific explorers to the film director John Ford, but two individuals take primary focus: Admiral Nimitz and Lieutenant Commander Rochefort. Admiral Chester Nimitz’s story, from being appointed CINCPAC to his fateful decision to commit the American carriers to Midway, presents the reader with the dire situation faced by Allied forces in the Pacific as they tried to manage the balance between conserving combatant power and striking to hinder the Japanese Empire’s offensive progress. The challenges felt by Nimitz and his efforts to overcome them are vividly described, giving abstract strategic decisions real weight to the reader.
Dunford’s second principal character, Lieutenant Commander Joseph Rochefort guides us through the cryptological feats that were accomplished in order to create the victory at Midway. This is where Dugard’s ability to take complex concepts and clearly explain them without dragging the pace of the narrative or confusing the reader really shine. Dugard balances the explanations of cryptography with the political rivalries present between the different signal intelligence groups Hypo and OP-20-G, all the while continuing with the narrative of the cracking of the Japanese naval codes. When the paths of Rochefort and Nimitz collide, the strategic and the cryptological come together to tell the story of the decisions that determined one of the most consequential naval battles in history.
The book does in some instances oversimplifies, a common issue when covering a naval battle so large in scope. In one case it suggests that the IJN’s Aleutians Operation was an attempt to distract forces from Midway, which the definitive history of Midway from the Japanese perspective ‘Shattered Sword’ has demonstrated was almost certainly not the case. Dugard covers a lot of ground in this work, and his choice to cover much more regarding the HMS Prince of Wales and the pre-WW2 history of Midway than the tactical commanders at Midway, Admirals Raymond Spruance and Frank Jack Fletcher, may seem questionable to readers interested in the tactical decision-making of the battle. While these two topics provide some interesting context, (and the chapters concerning the HMS Prince of Wales does tie this book to its predecessor) their relevancy to the battle is minimal at best and this history suffers some from the lack of attention given to the tactical commanders.
Ultimately, Dugard provides a book that combines the history of Midway Island, the herculean cryptological efforts to discover the Japanese operation, the bold risks taken by the U.S. Navy to make good that advantage, and the experiences of the men fighting in the air and on the island that is most certainly worth a read.
Taking Midway earns a solid 3 out of 4 trench coats
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