Book Review: Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

 Review of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.

I enjoy military history, especially when it’s wrapped around the events and happenings of World War 2. Usually, the author is trying to tell the story in a way both accurate and compelling, explaining and exploring command decisions and engagements, and the manner in which the battlefield itself, the action of individual units, and the vagaries of combat shaped the outcomes.

But Shattered Sword is in a class by itself. The writers have an agenda much larger than most—they intend to correct the received narrative of the battle of Midway, an erroneous narrative that has held sway for half a century. Their comprehensive research, which relies heavily on Japanese primary sources, has proven that most, if not all, of the popular accounts of the battle are significantly flawed, especially as regards the ultimate question of why the American naval forces won.

The book was a delight to read. The authors begin by delving deeply into the backgrounds of each of the principal characters, as well as the cultural ethos of the Imperial Japanese Navy. They explore the merits and demerits of each of the Japanese carriers and carrier aircraft. They expose the mind-numbing and initiative-stealing complexity of the overall Japanese battle plan for Midway. The entire process of preparing and arming the planes and spotting the flight deck for a strike is analyzed, down to the length of time a Zero’s powerplant needs to be warmed up in order to prevent damage to the engine upon launch.

I found the parts on Japanese naval doctrine, carrier operations, damage control, and air defense to be fascinating. Spoiler: the study of Japanese carrier operations became a major piece of evidence in substantiating the authors’ claims regarding the flaws in the received narrative, evidence that is buttressed by photographs taken during the battle.

The American side of the battle is also explored extensively, so the reader gets a sense for the simultaneity of the actions on the bridges and flight decks of ships on both sides of the conflict, as well as the strike and opposing defense aircraft. The reader is given precise timestamps (down to the minute) when the various decisions, communications, and actions were taken.

The book includes charts and drawings showing the relative dispositions of the carriers and their escorts, and once the attacks begin the direction of approach of the enemy aircraft. Eleven appendices detail the names of the personnel, the order of battle, technical details of the carriers, and a host of other matters that will be a goldmine for any writers or researchers that come after Parshall and Tully.

The book is fascinating, even gripping in places, exhaustively researched, and extensively documented. The authors successfully attain their agenda of correcting the record—conclusively in my opinion. Shattered Sword is the definitive resource for accurate information about the battle of Midway. Five stars, highly recommended.