[.ca] Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval ... (ISBN 0743252225)

"The Fog of War" in the South Pacific (1941-1945):
As I read Evan Thomas' brilliant account of naval warfare in the South Pacific during World War II (1941-1945) and especially his analysis of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, I was again reminded of a passage in On War (first published in 1832) in which Carl von Clausewitz observes: "The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently -- like the effect of a fog or moonshine -- gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance." It can certainly be said that many of the decisions made by admirals William ("Bull") Halsey, Takeo Kurita, and Matome Ugaki were based on inaccurate or insufficient information. Of special interest to me is the role played by Commander Ernest Evans, commander of the destroyer USS Johnston, during the Battle off Samar on October 25, 1944. "Who can know what it is really like to stand, bone-weary, on the bridge of a ship in action, responsible for hundreds if not thousands of lives, unsure of the enemy's strength and whereabouts, yet forced to make fatal decisions?" Evans chose to attack, his ship was sunk, and he was not among only 25 survivors. Thomas goes on to observe, "In any culture, there are warriors who meet timeless and universal standards of courage and resolve, who do not seem to need to think or ponder or question - who know, instinctively, when to lay their lives, and those of their men, on the line. That is not to say their judgment is always correct, just that their bravery cannot be denied. Ernest Evans did not hesitate." He was later awarded, posthumously, the Medal of Honor. Thomas also has much of value to say about Halsey whom he characterizes as "a product, or at least a tool, of cultural hysteria" following the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. "He was, like Kurita, required to maintain a pretense that really did not describe him." Halsey's determination, indeed his obsession to engage the enemy helps to explain why he was vulnerable to a decoy maneuver. Meanwhile, in sharp contrast, Kurita hesitated to engage his enemy at a time when superior forces at his command could have destroyed the U.S. forces about to land in the Philippines. By then, he believed the war was lost and saw no justification for sacrificing any more lives. As for Evans, he waged battle with the "fighting spirit and promptitude" that an enraged Ugaki claimed Kurita lacked. As a self-styled Samurai who commanded the kamikazes, Ugaki had no reluctance to sacrifice Japanese lives if, when doing so, his as well as theirs was an honorable death in battle. Credit Evan Thomas for a riveting narrative during which he suggests all manner of similarities and differences between opposing forces and their commanders while engulfed by "the fog of war."