The Pacific War Papers: Japanese Documents of World War II

by Donald M. Goldstein (Editor)

The Pacific War Papers is an annotated collection of extremely rare Japanese primary-source documents, translated into English, that provides an invaluable resource for historians and students of World War II. These naval and diplomatic documents come from the collection of the late Gordon Prange, the eminent scholar of Pearl Harbor, who obtained them from Japanese naval leaders while working for the Military History Section of the American forces that occupied Japan. Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon have assembled this collection so that these important documents are not lost to history. The editors also provide expert commentary to introduce and explain the importance of the materials. This book forms the companion volume to The Pearl Harbor Inside the Japanese Plans, which Goldstein and Dillon also edited. Most of the documents published here are not available anywhere else, with many translated for the first time. This edited collection covers three main the Japanese navy before World War II, prewar diplomacy and politics, and Japanese naval operations and policy during the war. The documents include diary extracts and candid, short monographs written by high-ranking Japanese officers immediately after the war. They shed new light on the vast naval buildup before the war, the development of the navy’s operational concepts for war with the United States, the organization and tactics of aircraft carrier forces, and the failure of Japanese submarine operations. No World War II library will be complete without this important volume.

Genres: History

336 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2005

About the author

A former officer in the United States Air Force, Donald M. Goldstein was Professor of Public and International Affairs at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Reviews

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book thinking that it would have some really valuable material in it for my research on WWII, the Pacific Theater, but, instead, it's more like a 300+ appendix for some other book.

Most of the material is not very interesting at all, and most of it is stuff that should be in an appendix.

There were, still, a few things I picked up from the book:

1. One problem with Japan was that it did not make any plans for protecting its own merchant shipping, and did not make a concerted effort to sink shipping of its enemy.

2. Japan began to feel its navy was invincible, and they underestimated the American Navy.

3. The Japanese felt the Americans lacked the “adaptability” for submarine life.

4. The American attack on Truk was unexpected.

5. Plans were formulated to take on the U.S. as early as 1920.

6. Various references are made to the “decisive” fleet battle that the Japanese always expected and wanted, but never got.

7. They acknowledged that many of their weapons were inferior, but they felt that “mental strength” would make up for those shortcomings.

8. Originally, there were going to be four ships of the Yamato size. Two were built, one was started but converted into a carrier, and the fourth was not started.

9. In February, 1942, the Japanese I-8 patrolled off San Francisco, but didn't find any ships to attack.

10. The sub I-17 was the one responsible for the attack on Santa Barbara, where the Elewood Oil Fields were shelled by the sub.