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Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy, 3)

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Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945 (The Pacific War Trilogy, 3) Hardcover – Illustrated, September 1, 2020

by Ian W. Toll (Author)

4.8 4,644 ratings

Book 3 of 3: Pacific War Trilogy

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New York Times Bestseller

The final volume of the magisterial Pacific War Trilogy from acclaimed historian Ian W. Toll, “one of the great storytellers of War” (Evan Thomas).

In June 1944, the United States launched a crushing assault on the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. The capture of the Mariana Islands and the accompanying ruin of Japanese carrier airpower marked a pivotal moment in the Pacific War. No tactical masterstroke or blunder could reverse the increasingly lopsided balance of power between the two combatants. The War in the Pacific had entered its endgame.

Beginning with the Honolulu Conference, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt met with his Pacific theater commanders to plan the last phase of the campaign against Japan, Twilight of the Gods brings to life the harrowing last year of World War II in the Pacific, when the U.S. Navy won the largest naval battle in history; Douglas MacArthur made good his pledge to return to the Philippines; waves of kamikazes attacked the Allied fleets; the Japanese fought to the last man on one island after another; B-29 bombers burned down Japanese cities; and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were vaporized in atomic blasts.

Ian W. Toll’s narratives of combat in the air, at sea, and on the beaches are as gripping as ever, but he also reconstructs the Japanese and American home fronts and takes the reader into the halls of power in Washington and Tokyo, where the great questions of strategy and diplomacy were decided.

Drawing from a wealth of rich archival sources and new material, Twilight of the Gods casts a penetrating light on the battles, grand strategic decisions and naval logistics that enabled the Allied victory in the Pacific. An authoritative and riveting account of the final phase of the War in the Pacific, Twilight of the Gods brings Toll’s masterful trilogy to a thrilling conclusion. This prize-winning and best-selling trilogy will stand as the first complete history of the Pacific War in more than twenty-five years, and the first multivolume history of the Pacific naval war since Samuel Eliot Morison’s series was published in the 1950s.

32 photographs; 20 maps

Book 3 of 3

Pacific War Trilogy
Print length

944 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

September 1, 2020
Dimensions

6.5 x 2.4 x 9.6 inches
ISBN-10

039308065X
ISBN-13

978-0393080650
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The battle effectively brought the naval war for the Pacific to an end.
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This mass-junking of perfectly serviceable warplanes occurred at the height of the war, when the Japanese were falling well short of aircraft production targets and struggling to keep their assembly lines in operation at all.
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The press, he said, was a profit-seeking enterprise that found sensationalism and gossip more lucrative than sober, accurate reporting, and was polluting the nation’s civil discourse.
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Few Americans knew how unpopular MacArthur was among the rank and file of his own army.
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From the Publisher

Editorial Reviews

Review

"No one has told the story of World War II in the Pacific, from beginning to bitter end, better than Ian W. Toll. This final volume concludes a brilliant trilogy. Elegant and supremely readable―don’t miss the finest military history of 2020."
― Alex Kershaw, New York Times best-selling author of The First Wave and Avenue of Spies

"I’ve been a fan of Ian W. Toll’s since his first book, Six Frigates, but this concluding volume of his Pacific War Trilogy has taken him to another level altogether. Twilight of the Gods grabs you from the beginning and doesn’t let go until the very end―an epic masterpiece of military history."
― Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award–winning author of In the Heart of the Sea and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize

"Toll’s expertly navigated narrative includes a number of new insights…It is exhaustive and authoritative and it shows the Navy in World War II as it really was, warts and all."
― Mark Perry, New York Times Book Review

"[A] magnificent saga of the last year of the Pacific War…every bit as captivating as his first two [volumes]―Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide."
― Evan Thomas, Air Mail

"Toll weaves a brilliant final act depicting one of humanity’s epic tragedies. This book and its predecessors set a high bar for historians of the Pacific War."
― Jonathan W. Jordan, Wall Street Journal

"Using meticulous research, including previously untapped primary sources, and a brisk narrative that combines strategic, operational, and personal perspectives, [Toll] presents a very balanced look at the critical decisions and actions on both sides that concluded the war."
― Jerry Lenaburg, New York Journal of Books

"In his masterly narrative, Ian W. Toll brings clarity and a stinging immediacy to America’s long, bitter climb up the island ladder that led to Japan. With deft, incisive character sketches, Toll summons the leaders back to contentious life: arguing about what to do, making mistakes, bringing triumph out of disaster―and sometimes the reverse. This is maritime history at its best and most accessible."
― Richard Snow

"Written with flair and chock-full of stories both familiar and fresh, this monumental history fires on all cylinders. WWII aficionados will be enthralled."
― Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"[A] richly rewarding history."
― Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Back Cover

Praise for the Pacific War Trilogy:

THE CONQUERING TIDE

"A gripping narrative of the central Pacific campaign…Toll is strong on the operational details of battle, but he is no less skilled at presenting something that is frequently missing from military histories, a well-rounded depiction of the home front on both sides."
– Walter R. Borneman, New York Times Book Review

"A beautiful blend of history and prose and proves again Mr. Toll’s mastery of the naval-war narrative."
– Jonathan W. Jordan, Wall Street Journal

"A lucid and learned exposition of the grand chess match between high commanders in the middle years of the Pacific War, vividly evoking the grit and gristle of its many horrors and triumphs. Ian W. Toll is a superb historian whose writing appeals to both the head and the heart."
– James D. Hornfischer, author of The Fleet at Flood Tide

PACIFIC CRUCIBLE

"Vivid, fast moving and highly readable."
– Ronald Spector, Wall Street Journal

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Illustrated edition (September 1, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 944 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 039308065X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393080650
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.96 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 2.4 x 9.6 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #49,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #44 in Japanese History (Books)
- #82 in Military Strategy History (Books)
- #300 in World War II History (Books)

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Ian W. Toll

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Ian W. Toll is an independent naval historian, the author of PACIFIC CRUCIBLE: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 and SIX FRIGATES: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. SIX FRIGATES won broad critical acclaim and was selected for the Samuel Eliot Morison Award, the William E. Colby Award, and New York Times “Editor’s Choice” list.

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Duke E

Last Volume of an Amazing Trilogy

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2024

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I’ve read dozens of books about the war in the Pacific but this is the most comprehensive. It covers the tactical, strategic, political, personal and cultural aspects of this sprawling conflict yet still reads like a page turning novel

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Bruce Hilton

Cracker jack third volume of WW2 in the Pacific

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2024

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Interestingly I ordered the three volumes of this set from different vendors and got this one, the last in the series, first. But it didn't matter, perhaps because I knew a lot about the history, so the time line wasn't confusing. When you get a large book like this and simply can't put it down it says something. Really brings the period and experiences of famous and ordinary people to life in a compelling way. Absolutely a must for anyone interested in U.S. history. Wonderful.

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2021

Verified Purchase

As a student of military history, I’m always looking interested in exploring alternatives to content. To that end I’ve turned to Pod casting and to a large degree I’m a Dan Carlin/Mike Duncan snob. Dan, had started, his “Supernova in the East” and got my juices flowing on revisiting the Pacific War. The challenge is Dan puts
out great content, but usually with 3-5 month gaps. I rummaged around looking for Samuel Eliot Morrison’s single volume 2 Ocean war, but could not find it. I did not want to buy it again and I was interested in more depth specific to the Pacific. I stumbled on Ian’s trilogy and found it riveting.

As part of my investigation, I got on to YouTube and found Ian speaking to the NY Library Society(?). He answered the question, “what’s new”. His answer was that many of the Japanese government documents as well as personal diaries have been translated to English and he was able to tell the story from both sides with tremendous clarity.

Narrative style:

Ian’s narrative style is wonderful. His command of the English language coupled with his sentence structure and cadence makes the books very easy to consume and understand. I find it in line with Manchester’s “American Caesar” (definitive MacArthur biography) and Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy. Thus, if you’re new to the Pacific war this trilogy is wonderful. While it does address MacArthur’s role this book is more focused on Nimitz and the Navy.

Scholarship:

The shear number of references (diaries, books, archives) Ian uses is astounding. I can’t even fathom reading, let alone comprehending all of that material. Truly incredible. I’m sorry that the trilogy is over. So for you aficionado’s I think you’d find this a fantastic review with new material. Similar to Clavell’s Sho Gun, you start out hating the Japanese, then Ian does a great job of painting the Japanese view point such that a level of empathy leaches into your ethos.

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G. C. Carter

Incredibly detailed statistics but with a good mix of historical facts and personal stories

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2024

Verified Purchase

The book entitled: “Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945” is the final volume of a trilogy by Ian W. Toll.” For those interested in Naval history, the book is well worth purchasing and reading. That said, it has incredible detail with great information on the magnitude of the US effort in World War II including the cost in lives lost. It includes a mix of historical facts and stories from enlisted members to flag officers and how they performed under stress.
Each of 16 chapters has between 62 and 143 references. Toll writes: “Much of the relevant material was not declassified until the 1970s, when some of the most widely read histories of the war had already been published.” and “This volume… picking up after the Marianas campaign and covering the last year of the war, Twilight of the Gods turned out to be the hardest book of the trilogy to finish.”… The war got very large in late 1944 and 1945, in every dimension…”
Toll writes: “[FDR] did not always reply directly—or truthfully, or at all—but… engaged in informal back-and-forth exchanges… stenographers recorded every word of his 998 press conferences… The transcripts run to many thousands of pages… FDR accused individual reporters of printing “lies”—or if that wasn’t clear enough, “plain lies” or “deliberate lies.” The term “lie” characterized the motive of the perpetrator, leaving no room for the possibility that an honest mistake had been made, but that was precisely his point… The press, he said, was a profit-seeking enterprise that found sensationalism… more lucrative than sober, accurate reporting, and was polluting the nation’s civil discourse… He spoke directly to the American people by radio… with great success… FDR had served… as assistant secretary of the navy…”
Toll writes: “Chapter One… In March 1944… [Regarding FDR] Dr. Bruenn, had found severely elevated blood pressure and diagnosed an acute case of congestive heart failure… [with a] survival rate… less than two years… In the Battle of the Philippine Sea (June 19–20, 1944), a naval air battle west of the Marianas, the Japanese had lost about three hundred aircraft and three aircraft carriers… Although the regime in Tokyo was not prepared to face facts, the loss of the Marianas and the destruction of its carrier airpower marked Japan’s irreversible strategic defeat in the Pacific War.”… Nimitz was a good sound man but he wasn’t even in the same class to be pitted with General MacArthur in that way and, of course, Mr. Roosevelt was a ‘past master.’ ” … Leahy’s role is sometimes described as a “precursor” to that of chairman of the JCS... Most exchanges between FDR and Leahy occurred behind closed doors, in face-to-face meetings that produced no written record… MacArthur, Nimitz, Leahy, and the president [met] … No minutes were kept of this historic debate at Waikiki… historians have been obliged to rely upon first-and second-hand recollections of the four participants… On August 18, 1944, Nimitz estimated that [an] operation would require 505,000 army troops, 154,000 marines, and 61,000 navy shore personnel. Those were huge numbers… and delivering them would be difficult, especially as it became clear that the war in Europe would last into 1945… At a planning conference in early September, General Buckner… was briefing Nimitz… Spruance… apparently concluded that Buckner’s presentation was a waste of time. He stood up, begged pardon to interrupt… and began speaking. The other officers turned their chairs toward Spruance, leaving Buckner seething with indignation, and listened as the admiral laid out his grand vision for the final phase of the Pacific War… That timetable would leave ample time for MacArthur to secure the Philippines...”
Toll writes: “Chapter Two… By 1944… the exploits of Task Force 58, the main carrier striking force of the Pacific Fleet… The mighty armada typically comprised twelve to sixteen aircraft carriers with a screen of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers. Its great size rendered it omnipotent in whatever part of the ocean it occupied. Task Force 58 could put more than a thousand warplanes into the air in thirty minutes, send them to attack an enemy 200 miles away, and recover them safely when they returned… In a two-day raid the American carrier planes destroyed 249 Japanese aircraft (most on the ground) and sank about 200,000 tons of shipping… Spruance… was lifted to temporary command… [and] fought the Battle of Midway (June 4–6, 1942) and was credited for the immortal victory… Spruance did not fit the conventional mold of a wartime fleet commander… Spruance paid little attention to administrative details, preferring to let his subordinates worry about them… Spruance was deadly serious about his sleep. He aimed for eight or nine hours a night, and was often in bed by eight o’clock… His insistence upon delegating authority down the line of command tended to bring out the best in subordinates. He kept his mind clear of details in order to focus on the big picture; he refused to consider minor issues because he was storing up his mental energy for the major ones. His daily 5-mile deck hikes kept him healthy and fit… The physical exercise helped him sleep soundly at night, even while under the strain of prolonged operations in enemy waters… Spruance and his staff would take a well-deserved leave in the States, and then return to Pearl Harbor to plan future operations. Halsey would command the fleet until January 1945, and then be relieved in turn by Spruance. The cycle would repeat every five to six months until the end of the war. One admiral and his staff would be at sea while the other was ashore, planning the next round of invasions and carrier strikes.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Three… General… Geiger would decide whether to land the reinforcements on Peleliu… He told war correspondents who sailed on his command ship, “It will be a short operation, a hard fought ‘quickie’ that will last for 4 days, 5 days at the most.”… As reports came in, his staff tallied D-Day casualties of 1,111, including at least 209 killed… Unseen snipers fired from the tops of high palm trees, hitting marines who were keeping their heads down and had assumed they were out of the line of fire… Dead marines were laid out in rows on the beach… The odor of death soon became overpowering in the heat, and the marines put in an urgent demand for bulldozers so that the dead could be buried as quickly as possible… The Palau Islands were remote and obscure even by Pacific standards… Of the 28,000 marines and soldiers who fought on the island, nearly 40 percent were casualties, including about 1,800 killed and 8,000 wounded. Nearly the entire Japanese garrison of 11,000 perished.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Four … The Japanese people had supported overseas imperialist aggression with the understanding that it promised a higher standard of living at home. But life had grown much harder since the attack on Pearl Harbor, and it remained to be seen how much deprivation they would endure… It was no longer possible to transport enough oil to Japan to meet the thirsty fleet’s needs, and the shortfall was growing steadily worse as American submarines and airplanes hunted down and sank the country’s remaining oil tankers… The curtain had been raised on the last act of the Pacific air war, when Japanese planes would become deadly missiles… The term kamikaze, “divine wind,” was not yet associated with suicide planes….”
Toll writes: “Chapter Five… THE LEYTE INVASION WAS NOT QUITE AS LARGE AS THE NORMANDY invasion four months earlier, but the fleet was obliged to cross a lot more ocean… At exactly 10: 00 a.m., the first wave of landing boats departed for shore… In less than an hour, the attackers had secured a beachhead to a depth of about a thousand feet along most of its length… A few minutes after one o’clock, MacArthur descended a ladder… Two Signal Corps photographers stepped off the ramp and waded ashore, so they could capture the scene on film…” and “Chapter Six … The Japanese did not know that the U.S. Navy had deployed a large force of small auxiliary aircraft carriers in the Pacific… Sprague later admitted, “I didn’t think we’d last fifteen minutes.”… Shortly after 9: 00 a.m., the Gambier Bay rolled over and sank quickly. She was the only American aircraft carrier ever destroyed by naval gunfire… The U.S. submarine Jallao knocked off the retreating cruiser Tama… Lasting four days, the “battle” was really a series of widely separated actions fought over a theater covering 100,000 square miles. Four were large enough to qualify as major battles in their own right… The battle effectively brought the naval war for the Pacific to an end… The Tokyo admirals had foreseen that if the Americans gained possession of the Philippines, the fuel supply problem would become impossible to solve…”
Toll writes: “Chapter Seven… By April 1942, just four months after Pearl Harbor, the conqueror was digesting the resource-rich prizes of Malaya, the East Indies, and the Philippines, among others. Above all, Japan had seized control of Borneo and Sumatra, erstwhile Dutch and British colonies that were home to the region’s most productive oilfields and refineries. But there was no way around the bothersome fact that the captured oilfields were a long way from home. The lifeblood of the Japanese economy flowed through a long and tenuous sea link, a 3,000-mile-long femoral artery. If this artery was severed, the Japanese war machine would quickly bleed out, and defeat would become inevitable… The [US Sub] Wahoo had run up her fearsome tally despite the malfunctioning of at least six torpedoes... Her failure to sink a fat oil tanker on March 24 was especially galling. Morton had fired four torpedoes… and none had functioned as intended… By late 1944, the submarines were sinking more than a quarter of a million tons of Japanese merchant shipping each month…”
Toll writes: “Chapter Eight… On December 15, MacArthur declared that organized resistance on Leyte had come to an end. Small unit fighting would continue in the rugged highlands, but the battle for the Philippines was already moving west”… As Yamashita had feared, the fight for that island had consumed a major portion of Japanese strength in the Philippines, darkening the outlook for the pending fight for Luzon… [Besides the enemy]… As the hours wore on, conditions worsened and the weather predictors revised their forecasts… The typhoon had claimed 790 American lives. Three destroyers were gone and several others severely damaged.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Nine… The service accepted delivery of 24,000 new combat aircraft during the 1944 fiscal year, a figure that exceeded the totals for the previous three years combined… In September 1944, the navy adopted a more radical plan—to junk thousands of older planes, including those already deployed in the Pacific, to make room for newer units. The word went out to all commands: get rid of older aircraft by any means necessary … This mass-junking of perfectly serviceable warplanes occurred at the height of the war, when the Japanese were falling well short of aircraft production targets and struggling to keep their assembly lines in operation at all… Mass-producing pilots was an entirely different sort of challenge… the navy awarded “wings of gold” to 3,112 new flyers in 1941, 10,869 in 1942, 20,842 in 1943, and 21,067 in 1944. This phenomenal growth was accomplished without compromising training standards.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Ten… MacArthur went ashore at noon, trailing an entourage of staff officers, war correspondents, and photographers… Several hundred American prisoners were being held there in a barbed-wire stockade… MacArthur authorized a rescue operation… a surprise attack on the Japanese camp… quickly killed over two hundred enemy, losing only two rangers killed and one wounded… [while] reliable statistics are elusive... the [Japanese] army suffered cumulative losses of 368,700 dead in the Philippines. American forces had destroyed nine of Japan’s elite army divisions… American combat losses amounted to about 47,000, of whom 10,380 were killed”
Toll writes: “Chapter Eleven… Iwo Jima was eight desolate square miles of sulfur-volcanic ash… It… was the only island in the region with terrain suitable for airfields to accommodate heavy bombers such as the B-29. That made Iwo Jima a prize worth possessing… The Americans were braced for a bloodbath on Iwo Jima… Bodies and debris were scattered across the congested beach… Jim Forrestal, the secretary of the navy… sauntered among wrecked boats, tanks, and tractors on the crowded beach, shaking hands with surprised marines, while artillery shells and mortar blasts blanketed the area… A… flag-raising occurred… photographer Joe Rosenthal was on hand to record the scene… it appeared simultaneously on hundreds of front pages and magazine covers… a total of 17,677 cases had been evacuated… Officers and NCOs were killed or wounded at such a rate that young lieutenants were left in charge of entire companies, and buck privates led platoons … In the five remaining months of the war, B-29s of the Twentieth Air Force would make 2,251 emergency landings on Iwo Jima.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Twelve… To build airfields and supporting ground facilities for a fleet of 1,000 Superfortresses, on islands nearly 6,000 miles from the U.S. mainland, was a task of colossal proportions. A single bombardment wing required two parallel runways, each 8,500 feet long and 200 feet wide, with adjoining hardstands, taxiways, and maintenance aprons. Great expanses of land had to be graded and paved, but the bulldozers and steam shovels could not even break ground until a basic island infrastructure had been established… Guam and Saipan required electrical power, water systems, sanitation, housing, and modern seaport facilities… It seems likely that the March 9–10 firebombing of Tokyo killed more people, at least initially, than the atomic bombings of either Hiroshima or Nagasaki... It was the most devastating air raid of the war… It left more dead than any other single military action in history.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Thirteen… Okinawa was about 60 miles long, varying in width from about 15 miles to 3 miles, and took in about 480 square miles of territory… Okinawa sat at a strategic crossroads… Okinawa would provide a logistical backstop for the invasion of Japan, as well as ample terrain suitable for large airfields and harbors… The assault forces had braced for small arms fire and long-range artillery fire, but there was none… Fifty thousand American troops were ashore. Casualties were mercifully light—28 killed, 104 wounded, and 27 missing… For the marines, the first month on Okinawa was a tranquil interlude… The Japanese had chosen their ground well, and they had a shrewd plan to defend it… They had made clever use of reverse-slope firing positions and fortifications, putting their guns out of reach of U.S. artillery and tanks.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Fourteen… As the barrage lifted, hundreds of screaming Japanese soldiers charged down the ridge. They drove the American infantry back and attacked the tanks with grenades and 22-pound satchel charges. Twenty-two Shermans were destroyed; it was the single worst one-day slaughter of American tanks in the Pacific War… The dilemma was similar to what the marines had faced on Iwo Jima, but on a larger scale… As they emerged from their covered positions, they were cut down. It was slow, bloody, treacherous work, involving flamethrowers, grenades, satchel charges, small arms, bayonets, and even knives and bare hands. General Buckner referred to these tactics as the “blowtorch and corkscrew” method… “
Toll writes: “Chapter Fifteen… The morning after Truman was sworn in, he … was not up to speed. He had not been adequately briefed on the state of the war, either in Europe or the Pacific, and he knew little about the latest moves in the global geostrategic chess match that was being played against the Soviet Union… In his diary, he wrote of long “hectic days” in the “Great White Jail,” his nickname for the White House… Defeating Japan was only the most immediate problem. Looming ahead was the creation of a new postwar order in Asia, with its implications for the territorial ambitions of Stalin, the red menace in China, and the status of former British, French, and Dutch colonies… ON JULY 26, THE POTSDAM DECLARATION was released to the global press... It demanded the immediate and unconditional surrender of Japanese armed forces, and warned that refusal would result in the “utter devastation” of the Japanese homeland… The largest air raid of the war occurred on August 1, 1945, when 853 B-29s dropped more 6,486 tons of incendiaries, precision bombs, and aerial mines on cities and waterways throughout western Japan. By that date, the Japanese civilian death toll had probably run well into the hundreds of thousands.”
Toll writes: “Chapter Sixteen… Having discharged… [the first Atomic Bomb], the Indianapolis sailed for Leyte Gulf. Her passage was cut short on July 30, when the ship was struck by two torpedoes fired by [a] Japanese submarine… She sank in twelve minutes… During their four-day ordeal, adrift in the open sea, about six hundred perished… Only 317 of the crew survived. The Indianapolis… was the last major American warship lost in [WWII]… Tibbets pressurized the cabin and… At 8: 15 a.m., the… bomb bay doors… opened, and… Ferebee told Tibbets, “Bomb away”… As for the Japanese, the Potsdam Declaration had given the Japanese a fair opportunity to avoid this awful fate, but leaders in Tokyo had promptly rejected that ultimatum, and therefore: “If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.”… If the Japanese surrender had been delayed… Japan’s northern island might have passed forty-five years on the other side of the Iron Curtain… the Japanese now faced a quandary in which the longer they took to acknowledge the necessity of surrender, the greater the risk that the Soviet Union would claim a role in governing Japan… Hirohito [decided] Japan would accept the Potsdam Declaration. [Toll provides additional details of what was said and how others responded.] Truman [selected] MacArthur [to] serve as supreme commander”
Toll writes: “Epilogue… ON THE EVENING OF AUGUST 14… President Truman… [stated:] The Japanese government had accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and therefore, the Second World War was over… By August 30, more than three hundred C-54 Skymasters were shuttling continuously between Okinawa and Atsugi, a flight of 980 miles. They landed at Atsugi at the rate of about twenty per hour, or one every three minutes… MacArthur arrived on August 30…. Before debarking, MacArthur instructed all officers on the plane to remove their sidearms and leave them on the plane. The weapons were useless, he said, because there were “fifteen fully armed Jap divisions within ten miles of us. If they decided to start anything, those toy cannon of ours wouldn’t do any good.” MacArthur would not carry a sidearm for his entire six-year stint in occupied Japan. General Kenney, MacArthur’s air commander, said that he realized only in retrospect that the gesture was a masterstroke of psychology, because “it made a tremendous impression on the Japs to see us walking around in their country unarmed and simply with utter disregard of danger from the nation of 70 million people we had defeated. To them it meant that there was no doubt about it. They had lost.”

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Albro

Spectacular

Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2023

Verified Purchase

The research that went into this trilogy is amazing, the author takes the time to describe the zeitgeist, the military and political pressures both sides were on. And the narrative is spectacular; I hardly could put the books down.
And I read the three books TWICE and enjoyed them even more the second time.
I now wish Ian Toll writes about the European theater.

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