Twilight of the Gods

by Twilight of the Gods (retail) (epub)

  1. De Seversky, “Victory Through Air Power!,” American Mercury, February 1942, Vol. 54, pp. 135–54.

  2. Mitscher to Captain Luis De Florez, quoted in Taylor, The Magnificent Mitscher, pp. 188–89.

  3. MacWhorter and Stout, The First Hellcat Ace, p. 70.

  4. Commander James C. Shaw, USN, “Fast Carrier Operations, 1941–1945,” in the introduction to Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 7, Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, p. xxxii.

  5. David S. McCampbell account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 212.

  6. Arleigh Burke, oral history, p. 5, RG-38, World War II Oral Histories and Interviews, 1942–1946, Box 4, NARA.

  7. Olson, Tales from a Tin Can, p. 195.

  8. Hugh Melrose account, in Olson, Tales from a Tin Can, p. 196.

  9. J. Bryan III diary, February 13, 1945, in Bryan, Aircraft Carrier, p. 21.

  10. Two different war correspondents noted a resemblance between Spruance and Rogers. “Our Unsung Admiral,” by Frank D. Morris, Collier’s Weekly, January 1, 1944, p. 48; Fletcher Pratt, “Spruance: Picture of the Admiral,” Harper’s Magazine, August 1946, p. 144.

  11. Buell, The Quiet Warrior, p. 185.

  12. Ibid., p. 212.

  13. Ibid., p. 258.

  14. Charles F. Barber, Interview by Evelyn M. Cherpak, March 1, 1996, Naval War College Archives.

  15. Buell, The Quiet Warrior, p. 269.

  16. Charles J. Moore, oral history, p. 838.

  17. “Our Unsung Admiral,” by Frank D. Morris, Collier’s Weekly, January 1, 1944, p. 17.

  18. Charles J. Moore, oral history, p. 839.

  19. Moore to his wife on July 1, 1944, quoted in Charles J. Moore, oral history, p. 1047.

  20. Spruance to E. M. Eller, July 22, 1966, Raymond A. Spruance Papers, MS Collection 12, Box 2, Folder 7.

  21. Buell, The Quiet Warrior, p. 329.

  22. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 382.

  23. Comments on E. B. Potter’s book, Spruance Papers, NHHC Archives, Collection 707, Box 3, p. 9.

  24. For example, a September 1944 broadcast referred to the activities of “Vice Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet,” “Admiral Spruance’s Fifth Fleet,” and “Vice Admiral Kinkaid’s Seventh Fleet.” “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, September 20, 1944,” p. 3, NARA Records of Japanese Navy and Related Documents, Digest: Japanese Radio Broadcasts, Box 22.

  25. Spruance to Potter, December 1, 1944, pp. 2–3, Spruance Papers, NHHC Archives, Collection 707, Box 3.

  26. Radford, From Pearl Harbor to Vietnam, notes for chapters 1–4, p. 453.

  27. Trumbull, “All Out with Halsey!,” New York Times Magazine, December 6, 1942, p. 1.

  28. “Halsey Predicts Victory This Year,” New York Times, January 3, 1943.

  29. Halsey to Capt. Gene Markey, January 24, 1945, Halsey Papers, LCMD.

  30. “Interview with Admiral C. J. Moore,” by John T. Mason, November 28, 1966, p. 4, Papers of Raymond Spruance, Series 188, Box 3, NHHC Archive.

  31. Sherrod, On to Westward, p. 239.

  32. Reynolds, The Fast Carriers, p. 238.

  33. Buell, Dauntless Helldivers, p. 327.

  34. Ibid., pp. 327–28.

  35. The Bonins (Muko, Chichi, and Haha Jima) and the Volcano Islands (Iwo Jima and its neighbors) were geographically distinct, with differing terrain, topography, and climate, but U.S. commanders often referred to them all as “the Bonins,” and this narrative sometimes follows that convention.

  36. Third Fleet War Diary, September 2, 1944, in NARA, RG 38, World War II War Diaries, Box 30; CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2055, entry for September 3, 1944.

  37. CTG 38.4 to Com3rdFlt, CTF 38, September 3, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2226.

  38. Third Fleet War Diary, August 24, 1944.

  39. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 23.

  40. Third Fleet War Diary, August 31, 1944.

  41. Ibid., entries for June 18 & July 7, 1944; NARA, RG 38, World War II War Diaries, Box 30.

  42. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 383.

  43. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, pp. 22–23.

  44. Nimitz-Halsey letters, August–December 1944, in Halsey Papers/LCMD.

  45. Third Fleet War Diary, September 11, 1944.

  46. Ibid., September 8, 1944.

  47. Ibid., September 9, 1944.

  48. Ibid.

  49. COM3RDFLT to CTF 38, September 9, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2351.

  50. St. John, Leyte Calling, p. 168.

  51. Buell, Dauntless Helldivers, p. 332.

  52. Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, pp. 226–27.

  53. Ibid., p. 228.

  54. Okumiya, Horikoshi, and Caidin, Zero!, pp. 242–43.

  55. COM3RDFLT to CINCPOA, September 14, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, pp. 2229–30.

  56. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 200.

  57. COM3RDFLT to CINCPOA, CINCSWPA, COMINCH, Message 130300, September 1944, RG-4, MacArthur correspondence files, MacArthur Memorial Archives.

  58. CINCPAC to COM3RDFLT, Info etc., September 13, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2353.

  59. CINCPOA to COMINCH, Sept 14, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2356.

  60. Ibid.

  61. Barbey, MacArthur’s Amphibious Navy, p. 227; and MacArthur to Joint Chiefs of Staff, September 15, 1944, RG-4, MacArthur correspondence files, MacArthur Memorial Archives.

  62. Joint Chiefs of Staff to Nimitz, MacArthur, Info Halsey, September 15, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2357.

  63. Third Fleet War Diary, September 14, 1944.

  64. “Message on the State of the Union,” January 6, 1945, FDR Library.

  Chapter Three

  1. Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 32.

  2. Ibid., pp. 35–36.

  3. Burgin and Marvel, Islands of the Damned, p. 120.

  4. Donigan, “Peleliu: The Forgotten Battle.”

  5. Mason, “We Will Stand By You,” p. 216.

  6. Donigan, “Peleliu: The Forgotten Battle.”

  7. Ibid.

  8. Mace and Allen, Battleground Pacific, p. 28.

  9. Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 36.

  10. Ibid., p. 37.

  11. Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 56.

  12. Lea and Greeley, The Two Thousand Yard Stare, p. 176.

  13. Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 71.

  14. Lea and Greeley, The Two Thousand Yard Stare, p. 177.

  15. Ibid., pp. 177–78.

  16. Ibid., p. 182.

  17. Gayle, Bloody Beaches, p. 13.

  18. Mason, “We Will Stand By You,” p. 221.

  19. Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 137.

  20. Ibid., p. 124.

  21. Ibid., p. 103.

  22. Burgin and Marvel, Islands of the Damned, p. 132.

  23. Ibid., p. 133.

  24. Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 79.

  25. Ibid., p. 80.

  26. Ronald D. Salmon, oral history, p. 86.

  27. Mace and Allen, Battleground Pacific, p. 64.

  28. Lea and Greeley, The Two Thousand Yard Stare, p. 189.

  29. CTF 38 to COM3RDFLT Info CINCPAC, September 7, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2227.

  30. Mace and Allen, Battleground Pacific, p. 92.

  31. Third Fleet Diary, October 5, 1944.

  32. McCandless, A Flash of Green, pp. 164, 166.

  33. Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 103.

  34. Mace and Allen, Battleground Pacific, p. 103.

  35. War Diary, September 22, 1944 (Oahu date), CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2079.

  36. “Operation Report, 81st Infantry Division, Capture of Ulithi Atoll,” April 13, 1945, p. 29, FDR Map Room Files, Box 193, FDR Library.

  37. Hunt, Coral Comes High, p. 91.

  38. Burgin and Marvel, Islands of the Damned, p. 152.

  39. “Operation Report, 81st Infantry Division, Capture of Ulithi Atoll,” April 13, 1945, p. 113, FDR Map Room
Files, Box 193, FDR Library.

  40. Ronald D. Salmon, oral history, p. 89.

  41. Sledge, With the Old Breed, p. 121.

  42. Ibid., p. 143.

  43. Ibid., p. 123.

  44. Ibid., p. 148.

  45. Ibid., p. 120.

  46. Ibid., pp. 152–53.

  47. Ibid., p. 150.

  48. “CTF 57 to CINCPOA Info CTG 57.14,” November 6, 1944, Enclosure (A), CINCPAC Gray Book, Vol. 5, p. 2282.

  49. Donigan, “Peleliu: The Forgotten Battle.”

  50. “Operation Report, 81st Infantry Division, Capture of Ulithi Atoll,” April 13, 1945, p. 111, FDR Map Room Files, Box 193, FDR Library.

  51. Ibid., p. 24.

  52. Wees, King-Doctor of Ulithi, p. 36.

  53. “Operation Report, 81st Infantry Division, Capture of Ulithi Atoll,” April 13, 1945, pp. 28–29, FDR Map Room Files, Box 193, FDR Library.

  54. McCandless, A Flash of Green, pp. 170–71.

  55. Third Fleet Diary, October 2, 1944, CINCPAC Gray Book, October 5, 1944, Book 5, p. 2093; Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 5, 1944.

  56. Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 7, 1944.

  57. Third Fleet Diary, October 8, 1944.

  58. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 392.

  59. COM3RDFLT to CINCPOA, etc., October 13, 1944, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2239.

  60. Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 11, 1944.

  61. Fukudome, “The Air Battle Off Taiwan,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 346.

  62. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 115, USSBS No. 503, Vice Admiral Shigeru Fukudome, IJN.

  63. Fukudome, “The Air Battle Off Taiwan,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 338.

  64. Robert Bostwick Carney, oral history, p. 398.

  65. Third Fleet Diary, October 12, 1944.

  66. Solberg, Decision and Dissent, p. 58.

  67. Third Fleet Diary, October 12, 1944; Matome Ugaki diary, October 13, 1944, in Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 470.

  68. Third Fleet Diary, October 13, 1944; Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 13, 1944.

  69. Kent Lee account in Wooldridge, ed., Carrier Warfare in the Pacific, p. 227.

  70. Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, p. 250.

  71. Ibid., p. 252.

  72. War Diary, October 12, 1944 (Oahu date), CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2097.

  73. Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 13, 1944.

  74. Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, p. 257.

  75. Third Fleet Diary, October 14, 1944.

  76. Task Group 38.3 Diary, October 14, 1944.

  77. William Ransom account in Kuehn et al., Eyewitness Pacific Theater, p. 203.

  78. “Running Estimate,” October 14, 1944 (Oahu date), CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2099.

  79. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 207.

  80. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 15, 1944, p. 2.

  81. Ibid., October 14, 1944, p. 2.

  82. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 14, 1944, cited in memo dated October 20, 1944, p. 1.

  83. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 17, 1944, p. 2.

  84. Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 206.

  85. Fukudome, “The Air Battle Off Taiwan,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 352.

  86. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 15, 1944, p. 7, and October 16, 1944, p. 2.

  87. Carney, oral history, p. 399.

  88. CINCPAC to COMFAIRWING, October 15, 1944; CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2240.

  89. Third Fleet Diary, October 15, 1944.

  90. Captain Inglis of the Birmingham, quoted in Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in WWII, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 103.

  91. Morison, History of United States Naval Operations, Vol. 12, Leyte, p. 96.

  92. Third Fleet Diary, October 17, 1944.

  Chapter Four

  1. Michio Takeyama essay in Minear, ed., The Scars of War, p. 35.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Havens, Valley of Darkness, p. 131.

  4. Ibid., p. 94.

  5. Kiyoshi Kiyosawa diary, July 24, 1944, Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 232.

  6. Tsunejiro Tamura diary, January 16, 1945; Yamashita, ed., Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies, p. 113.

  7. Havens, Valley of Darkness, p. 96.

  8. An anonymous woman’s remark, recorded in Kiyoshi Kiyosawa diary, July 22, 1944, Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 230.

  9. Taetora Ogata, president of the Board of Information, September 1944, quoted in USSBS, The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japanese Morale, p. 124.

  10. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, October 13, 1944,” p. 3.

  11. Uichiro Kawachi, oral history, in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 218.

  12. Kiyoshi Kiyosawa diary, October 20, 1944, Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 267.

  13. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 16, 1944, p. 1.

  14. Ibid., October 17, 1944, p. 3, and October 18, 1944, p. 1.

  15. Fukudome, “The Air Battle Off Taiwan,” in Evans, ed., The Japanese Navy in World War II, p. 354.

  16. Matome Ugaki diary, October 14, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 474.

  17. Kenryo Sato, “Dai Toa War Memoir” (unpublished manuscript), pp. 7–9, John Toland Papers, FDR Library, Series 1, Box 16.

  18. Kawachi, oral history, in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 218.

  19. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, October 20, 1944,” p. 7.

  20. Auer, ed., From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, p. 176.

  21. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 76, USSBS No. 379, Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai, IJN.

  22. Hirohito “Soliloquy,” translation in Irokawa, The Age of Hirohito, p. 92.

  23. Auer, ed., From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, p. 178.

  24. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 90, USSBS No. 429, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, IJN.

  25. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, August 25, 1944,” p. 2.

  26. Premier Kuniaki Koiso, in speech to Diet, September 8, 1944; Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 156.

  27. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, August 19, 1944,” p. 5.

  28. Chibu Nihon Shinbun, July 26, 1944, quoted in Kiyoshi Kiyosawa diary, same date, in Kiyosawa, A Diary of Darkness, p. 233.

  29. Report entitled “Current Conditions of the Empire’s Strength,” dated July 1944, quoted in Havens, Valley of Darkness, p. 131.

  30. For example, see USSBS interrogations of Kurita (No. 47), Nomura (No. 429), and Ozawa (No. 227). Kurita: “We had believed that General MacArthur would come from the south to [the Philippines].” Nomura: “There was much talk by one of your Generals that he would recapture the Philippines. . . . Therefore, it was our opinion that you had to go there.” Ozawa: “The original Sho Operation was very general, that the Philippines were to be defended,” and “the American invasion could take place sometime in the middle of October.”

  31. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 55, USSBS no. 227, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa.

  32. Verbatim [sic]. Kenryo Sato, “Dai Toa War Memoir” (unpublished manuscript), pp. 7–9, John Toland Papers, FDR Library, Series 1, Box 16.

  33. Kenryo Sato, “Dai Toa War Memoir” (unpublished manuscript), pp. 7–9, John Toland Papers, FDR Library, Series 1, Box 16.

  34. Ibid.

  35. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 64, USSBS No. 258, Rear Admiral Toshitane Takata, IJN, attached successively to the Staff of the Third Fleet, the Combined Fleet, and the Naval General Staff.

  36. Ito and Pineau, The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy, pp. 125–26.

  37. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 64, USSBS No. 258, Rear Admiral Toshitane Takata, IJN.

  38. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 9, USSBS No. 47, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita.

  39. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese
Officials, Nav No. 55, USSBS No. 227, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, IJN. Also see Interrogation of Rear Admiral Chiaki Matsuda, IJN, Nav No. 69, USSBS No. 345: “My opinion at that time was that after all the plan of the operation was insufficient to check your advance; however, under the circumstances, I thought it was the best plan. I thought it would be the last engagement for me and counted on death in the action.”

  40. Sakai, with Caidin and Saito, Samurai!, p. 221.

  41. Ibid., p. 220.

  42. Naoji Kozu, oral history, in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 315.

  43. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 12, USSBS No. 62, Captain Rikibei Inoguchi.

  44. Ibid.

  45. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 75, USSBS No. 378, Admiral Soemu Toyoda.

  46. Ibid.

  47. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 55, USSBS No. 227, Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, IJN.

  48. Inoguchi et al., The Divine Wind, p. 25.

  49. Auer, ed., From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, p. 236.

  50. “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts, October 6, 1944,” p. 2.

  51. Goro Sugimoto, quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 123.

  52. Dr. Reiho Masunaga in Chugai Nippon, May–June 1945, quoted in Victoria, Zen at War, p. 139.

  53. Thirty-Six Strategies cited in Cleary, The Japanese Art of War, p. 91.

  54. Inoguchi et al., The Divine Wind, p. 61.

  55. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 12, USSBS No. 62, Captain Rikibei Inoguchi.

  56. Auer, ed., From Marco Polo Bridge to Pearl Harbor, p. 165.

  57. Inoguchi et al., The Divine Wind, p. 7.

  58. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 12, USSBS No. 62, Captain Rikibei Inoguchi.

  59. Hastings, Retribution, pp. 166–67.

  60. Inoguchi et al., The Divine Wind, p. 11.

  61. Ibid., p. 27.

  62. Statement read over Radio Tokyo, 4:30 p.m., October 15, 1944, in “Digest of Japanese Broadcasts,” October 15, 1944, p. 3.

  63. USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, Nav No. 98, Lieutenant General Torashirō Kawabe, November 30, 1945.

  64. Matome Ugaki diary, October 21, 1944, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 485.

  Chapter Five

  1. Edward J. Huxtable, Composite Squadron Ten, recollections and notes, p. 5.

  2. Thomas C. Kinkaid, oral history, p. 301.

  3. “Joint Chiefs of Staff to MacArthur, Nimitz,” October 3, 1944, #2255, in CINCPAC Gray Book, Book 5, p. 2378.