John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
The Battle of the Bismarck Sea is not one of the better known battles of World War 2, but in my opinion was one of the most important. The Japanese convoy was as heavily protected as the Japanese could manage. Eight transports covered by eight destroyers, with heavy fighter cover planned at both ends of the convoy run in New Britain and New Guinea. And yet, the convoy was completely wiped out by American air power alone.
The tactical lesson was not lost on the Japanese; from this day forward, they will never again attempt to send a convoy of merchant ships under the umbrella of American air power. In fact, orders to this effect are soon going to be issued from Tokyo.
But if the tactical lesson was learned, the strategic implications were too dire to accept. At this point, the Japanese should realize that the war has been lost. An admission that you cannot support your forces within reach of American planes is a confession of defeat. If American air power controls the skies above, it is only a matter of time before American troops control the ground below. It must eventually become an inexorable tide that cannot be stopped, even to the shores of the Home Islands. However, in the Japanese fashion, they cannot admit this. They refuse to even discuss it.