BOOK REVIEW: TARGET TOKYO

TARGET TOKYO, JIMMY DOOLITTLE AND THE RAID THAT AVENGED PEARL HARBOR. By James M. Scott,

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• PD US NAVY PHOTO Doolittle's Raiders on Flight Deck
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• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (April 13, 2015)
• ISBN-10: 0393089622
• ISBN-13: 978-0393089622

The dramatic account of one of America’s most celebrated― and controversial World War II operations. 

In December 1941,  American forces were still licking their wounds from the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor.  President Franklin Roosevelt wanted a reply to the unprovoked attack that would bring the reality of war home to the Japanese people,  Four months later, on April 18, 1942, sixteen U.S. Army bombers under the command of Col. Jimmy Doolittle lifted off from the deck of the USS Hornet on a one-way trip to drop bombs on the capital of Imperial Japan. and then escape to Free China. For American President, the raid was a propaganda victory.  In Japan, outraged over the deaths of innocent civilians―including children caused military leaders to launch an attempt to seize Midway that would fail miserably and turn the tide of the PAcific war in favor of the Americans and her allies. Unfortunately it was the Chinese who suffered the brunt of a Japanese retaliatory campaign by the "Rape of Nanking which ultimately claimed an estimated 250,000 lives.

At the center of the story is Doolittle, a one of a kind uniquely American character  and other unique characters , including Chiang Kai-shek, Lieutenant General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell, ( who parachuted into China at the age of 65 and worked with the Chinese resistance until the end of the war) and  Vice Admiral William “Bull” Halsey Jr. The book doesn't neglect the junior players who bore the brunt of the mission it contains vivid portraits of the young air crew members., many of them little more than teenagers, who stepped forward to volunteer for a mission designed to be a one way trip behind enemy lines.  Most of the bombers ran out of fuel and crashed over over Japan. Captured raiders suffered torture and starvation in Japanese POW camps. Those who made into Chinese air space faced a harrowing escape across China aided by the Chinese resistance with the Japanese Army in hot pursuit.

This new telling of a now oft told tale is based on scores of never-before-published records as well as new interviews with survivors, Target Tokyo is World War II history of the highest order:, An American Admiralty Books RECOMMENDED read!