Masanori Ito, a leading military commentator, tells the full story of the second
World War in the Pacifi cfrom the Japanese
point of view. The fascination of this
account is due partly to its revelation of the
very different view of events and facts held
by the enemy during the course ofthe war,
and partly to the illuminating and, to
Western eyes, often incredible analysis
of the Japanese heart and mind.
The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy
covers the early history of the Japanese
navy, discusses its development between
the two world wars and explains the inter-
service strife between Army and Navy
leaders in Japan, a factor of paramount
importance in understanding the course of
the second World War. All the important
naval actions of the Pacific War are
appraised and their results analysed, but
emphasis is placed on the Battles for Leyte
Gulf, where the dying Navy made its last
stand. Mr Ito in this book is the first to
record Admiral Kurita's acknowledgement that his failure to penetrate Leyte
Gulf was in defiance of orders, and Kurita
tells in his own words why he turned away
at the very moment when victory was in his
hands.
This book is not only a story of nava l
battle, it is also a study of a people to whom
war was a spiritual affair, and to whom a
suicide air fleet was a Divine Wind. It is
also extremely readable as a candid
analysis of the minds and motives of
individual Japanese commanders as they
lost their supreme confidence in grappling
against American strength and technical
genius.