Tokyo, Japan · January 8, 1941 On this date in 1941 the Tokyo Gazette published the Imperial War Department’s newly adopted Japanese Field Service Code. It advised soldiers in part, “Do not give up under any circumstances, keeping in mind your responsibility not to tarnish the glorious history of the Imperial Army with its tradition…
Saipan Island, Northern Marianas · January 7, 1945 In early October 1944 the U.S. high command decided that, after securing the Philippine island of Leyte (done before the end of December), Gen. Douglas MacArthur was to liberate neighboring Luzon Island, while Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz, from his station in the Central Pacific, would attack the…
Washington, D. C. · January 6, 1941 On this date in 1941 in Washington, D.C, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his State of the Union Address to the U.S. Congress to outline his desire for a world based not on a “new order of tyranny”—an allusion to the “new European order” championed by Adolf Hitler’s…
Manila, Philippines · January 2, 1942 Japan intended to occupy the Philippine Islands as part of its plan for a “Greater East Asia War.” The nation’s Southern Expeditionary Army Group was tasked with seizing the islands, British Malaya (today’s Malaysia), and the Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesia) simultaneously with the Japanese Navy’s assault on the…
“Everyone with an interest in the Pacific War will find something stimulating in this thought-provoking study of what might have been.”
–British Army Review
In war, victory can be held hostage to seemingly insignificant incidents–chance events, opportunities seized or cast aside–that can derail the most brilliant military strategies and change the course of history. What if the Japanese had conquered India and driven out the British? What if the strategic link between the United States and Australia had been severed? What if Vice Admiral Nagumo had launched a third attack on Pearl Harbor? What if the U.S. Navy’s gamble at Midway had backfired?
Ten leading military historians ask these and other questions in this fascinating book. The war with Japan was rife with difficult choices and battles that could have gone either way. These fact-based alternate scenarios offer intriguing insights into what might have happened in the Pacific during World War II, and what the consequences would have been for America.
“A compelling read . . . bound to generate a good deal of debate.”
–The Defense Information Bulletin
“Rising Sun Victorious is must reading.”
–Almanac of Seapower