Combat Command

by Frederick C. Sherman

interesting

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Military History

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Frederick Carl Sherman was a highly decorated admiral of the United States Navy during World War II.

Reviews

[Michael Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is part of the Bantam War Book Series. It was originally published in 1950 and re-issued in 1982 as part of the Bantam Series. The author, Frederick C. Sherman, was an Admiral of increasing seniority and command over Pacific based aircraft carrier task forces through the entire US participation in the Second World War. He was at sea in the Lexington during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and he was still in command of multi-carrier Task Forces when the atomic bombs were dropped. He missed only a few short intervals for brief assignments or leave. In his command positions he clearly knew what happened, and could clearly describe the action, the players and the results; not only for his command but for all the major activities involving the US Navy and Marines.

Early in 1942 the Navy utilized Marines and Carrier Task Forces (CTFs) to capture a number of small island groups in the eastern Pacific. Lines of communication with Australia and New Zealand absolutely had to be protected. Japan could not be allowed to establish land-based aircraft in these locations. The US established land-based aircraft in these locations after quickly taking them. The Japanese were still expanding southward but the Allies did not want them to take Port Moresby. This resulted in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Sherman lost the Lexington in this battle however it is classified as a win because many more Japanese aircraft and ships were sunk than Allied. Following this, the Japanese lost four carriers and many aircraft and pilots at the Battle of Midway. The Japanese Navy had not planned for significant reserve and replacement pilots and began training naval flyers only well after this operation. Later in 1942, the battle for Guadalcanal began. The Japanese were building major land-based air force stations on this island in an attempt to threaten Allied lines of communication that they lost early on. Consequently, taking this island took much longer planned. Naval and Marine aircraft were forced to remain active in this area much longer then planned. They successfully destroyed many enemy aircraft.

From here to the end of the book, Sherman comments on the vast skills difference between US and Japanese naval pilots. The enemy was forced to shorten training and fly pilots who just did not have enough training or flying time. He also comments on US weakness in command structure. Admiral Nimitz of the Navy had command over all US and Allied forces in the Central Pacific including Naval, Marine, Army Air Force and Army. The Army’s General MacArthur had command over similar forces in the South-West Pacific area. The difference is that that he had to use naval CTFs for much of his air power when land-based aircraft were not available. The way his forces used air power was different in many ways including communication; this resulted in unexpected challenges in some cases.

Sherman goes on to describe all the significant operations completed by his CTFs. He always gives Allied and Japanese aircraft and ship losses on every major battle. Kamikaze, or suicide attacks began about a year before the end of the war. These were mostly flown by inexperienced land-based pilots who were not expected to end a sortie. Sherman’s teams learnt some new ship handling techniques and the size of his permanent fighter shield was increased considerably. The Kamikazes would flood the battle area making it almost impossible to shoot them all down. Nonetheless, they rarely hit the Allied ships and when they did hit, the damage was usually not serious. After Germany was defeated, the British were able to add another CTF to Sherman’s command. The fleet then included US, British, Australian, New Zealand, Dutch and Canadian ships.

This book reads like a well written military history, which of course it is. The author is clearly knowledgeable, and the material is interesting, easy to read and easy to understand. There is little detailed military lexicon. This book would be of interest to all Second World War readers and especially interesting to those with an eye on naval and naval air warfare. Four stars.

[David]

April 2023. “invested” $1 for nice used copy thinking (for no good reason) that it was memoir by Sherman focusing on Battle of the Coral Sea. On further review discovered that it was an account of the entire WW II carrier action in the Pacific. Decided not to tackle it immediately — but retain for reference and perhaps later reading in full.