So for years every press account only mentioned Midway Island based AirPower and the B-17s got the headlines. During the war, the Navy was not willing to even admit they were there because it all tied back to code-breaking. He wasn’t real pleased when I said the B-17s never hit a thing. I remember years ago talking to a friend who had been a Marine Raider based on Midway Island during the battle who made the comment “the Army B-17s won the battle with no help”. The first thing that matters is just that available material has changed over time. That matters for a few reasons, and I don’t really mean the promotional sort of “this will change our understanding of the battle!” nonsense that seems to appear in advertising material for almost every new book. What this book contributes is as a completely modern reconstruction of the events. But Midway is already well served on that account including such classics as “Incredible Victory” by Walter Lord, “Miracle at Midway” by Gordon Prange and “Shattered Sword” by Parshall and Tully. This is always the best sort of history for gaining familiarity with an event. This book is purely a narrative history that is it tells the story of the event like a novel. Do we really need another history of this well documented battle? Well maybe not need, but this book proved to be a much appreciated addition to the what’s out there.
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