PACIFIC CARRIER WAR ‘FOR EVERY SAILOR AFLOAT, EVERY SOLDIER AT THE FRONT’
HOW THE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS OF JAPAN AND THE US FOUGHT FOR SUPREMACY PRINCESS MARY’S CHRISTMAS GIFT, 1914
The Pacific Campaign from 1941-45 was dominated by the aircraft carrier. It made the initial Japanese strikes at Pearl Habor and rapid advance across the Pacific and Southeast Asia possible, and likewise formed the backbone of the American struggle to force them back. The course the war in the Pacific became wedded to the success or failure of the carriers at battles such as Midway, Eastern Solomons, Santa Cruz and the Philippine Sea. Control of the sea was crucial to winning the war, and carriers became the single most important weapon in this fight. The various strengths and weaknesses of these ships, aircraft, aircrew and doctrine were the deciding factors between victory and defeat.
The highly experienced author takes the reader through the basics of the carrier and aircraft designs and leadership on each side before providing a detailed account of the key carrier actions of the war. The book is readable and very well illustrated with photographs and maps, and includes detailed orders of battle. The focus of the book remains the carrier vs carrier actions rather than aircraft carrier operations per se, so (despite the title) this book more or less ends with the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, with only very brief coverage of the last year of the war and the carrier operations off Okinawa and Japan itself. Even so, this is an excellent introduction into the decisive role played by aircraft carriers in the Pacific campaigns.
Growing up in the late 1960s, I was fascinated by the gold-coloured tin which stood on my grandparents’ mantelpiece. When told that it was “from the war” my interest was piqued yet further. And I was not alone in growing up in a family where these Princess Mary’s Christmas Gift tins of 1914 were part of the family lore.
In his inimitable, authoritative and very readable style, Peter Doyle has produced a fascinating record of this iconic object from the Great War. Across its 320 pages, the reader is presented with a wealth of detail and astonishing facts about the gift.
The detail on display is astonishing, but the reader should not be put off by thinking: ‘This is just a book about a gift tin.’ This book is much more than that. Quite apart from factual detail about the gifts’ inclusivity – ensuring that all faiths, tastes and personal preferences were catered for – the book also contains fascinating and compelling testimony by and about some of its 2.7 million recipients.
Quite aside from the quality of the content – which is as exciting as the content of the gift tins themselves must have been to the recipients – this hardback is beautifully produced, with an array of superb images and beautiful illustrations. Doyle’s work is itself a little treasure and a wonderful tribute to the precious tins gifted over a century ago.
Appropriately, as we move inexorably towards Christmas 2021, this reviewer suggests that it would make a wonderful gift, and a must for those with an interest in the First World War.
“DOYLE’S WORK IS ITSELF A LITTLE TREASURE AND A WONDERFUL TRIBUTE TO THE PRECIOUS TINS GIFTED OVER A CENTURY AGO”