This is a very impressive contribution to the literature on Pearl Harbor. Zimm makes a very convincing argument for his view that the Japanese plan was flawed in many ways, but was saved by a combination of luck and the skill of the crews of the few torpedo bombers that actually hit important targets.
History of War 21/01/2015
... Read moreIt is not often that one can say that an outstanding and important book transforms our knowledge of a well-known event, but this can be said of Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Navy News
Alan D. Zimm has not only mined a treasure trove of primary and secondary sources to produce a detailed analysis of the attack, but also presents much of his findings from not just the US standpoint, but predominately, and most interestingly, approaches the subject matter from the Japanese point of view.
www.globeatwar.com
as an analysis of the raid from the Japanese point of reference it is very intriguing and goes far to display the old axiom “every plan changes (or falls apart) once the enemy is encountered.
www.ipmsusa.com
His book is far from a simple retelling of a familiar tale; instead, he has presented an in-depth study of the Japanese’ planning, preparation, and execution of the attack, with particular focus on factors not thoroughly considered by other historians, if at all.
Proceedings
There is no shortage of books about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, but this one - by an operations analyst, the head of the Aviation Systems and Advanced Concepts Group in the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory - approaches the subject as an analysis of the Japanese operational planning and execution.
Seapower
... definitely read Alan Zimm's Attack on Pearl Harbor for a fuller and more up-to-date understanding of an event that changed history and continues to fascinate.”
Michigan War Studies Review
Alan D. Zimm, in his outstanding new book, presents meticulous analysis estimating that had Short and Kimmel ensured Pearl Harbour’s air defenses were on alert prior to the atttack, the Japanese might have lost as many as 307 of 354 planes - an 88 percent loss rate .
Armchair General
In a lucid and highly critical examination of the aerial attack plan and the raid, Zimm follows every torpedo and bomb in determining how the principal planners, Commanders Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida, allocated their resources, what they intended to accomplish on Oahu, and what really occurred.
US Naval Institute’s Naval History Magazine
An interesting analysis of the strategy and tactics involved. Instead of “the most daring and brilliant naval operations of all time”, Zimm demonstrates that the Japanese carrier strike force did not plan the attack very well, nor did they train effectively for it… an interesting new “look” at this opening gambit in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
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