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Title: Double-Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II (Bluejacket Books) by W. J. Holmes ISBN: 1-55750-324-9 Publisher: United States Naval Inst. Pub. Date: September, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Neither dull nor very enlightening
Comment: This book is a concise account of US naval intellig ops in Pacific war.Author Jasper W. Holmes served in the Combat Intelli Unit of station Hypo.This later became FRUPAC[Fleet Radio Unit Pacific]Station Hypo decoded and analysed Japanese naval broadcasts intercepted by Station H located at Kaneohe bay,Oahu island Hawaii which was operated by US navy.
Author, a submariner,but due to health reasons had to take a premature retirement. But the outbreak of war with Japan author was recalled to service which helped him to revive his foundering career.Cdr Holmes was directly involved in some of the intelli ops narrated in this book.
I don't endorse author's argument that Japanese launched a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.Orthodox historians of Pacific war have continued to assert this myth.Robert B.Stinnett author of Day of Deceit :The truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor has convincingly debunked this argument.Be that may,Cdr Holmes at CIU handled intelli material of exceptional strategic and tactical importance.This stemmed from the penetration of Japanese naval ciphers.Author fed this to COMSUBPAC sub branch of US Pacific Fleet.
Particularly interesting is the breaking of Japanse MARU [convoy] codes.As a result US subs were ideally positoned to intercept Jap convoys which sailed into a trap. Reader must understand the significance of this breakthrough.Decryption of Jap codes meant that US subs need not had to scout vast Pacific ocean in search of elusive convoys.As the days progressed more more attacks came to be guided by radio intellig.
I am apalled by the fact Japanese despite incidents like shooting down of Adm Yamamoto's aircraft by American fighters ,elimination of IJN's sub picket lines by US ASW forces did not realise that IJN codes were compromised.How can one explain this phenomenon? Japanese conceit ,arrogance;perhaps they thought intricacies of Japanese language were an added gurantee that IJN codes cannot be penetrated.
Author has explained the structure of US intelli gathering organisation in Hawaii.To conclude,book shows how much America relied on good intelli in prosecuting Pacific war.
Rating: 5
Summary: A First hand accout of WWII Intelligence Operations
Comment: Any study of the World War II Pacific theater will involve at least a glimpse of the role that intelligence had in the conduct of U.S. operations. An in depth review of the intelligence operations will reveal that cryptography and radio intelligence (later to be called communications intelligence or signals intelligence) had a vital role in the planning of combat operations and the conduct of the war in the Pacific theater. Intelligence operations, by nature are classified and as such there are not many first person accounts of actual operations. Double Edged Secrets: U.S. Naval Intelligence Operations in the Pacific During World War II is an exception to that assumption. The author, Wilfred J. Holmes, Captain United States Navy (Retired) provides a look behind the fences and locked doors of one of the largest intelligence operations at that time.
Captain Holmes was not a career intelligence officer, but by chance found himself in one of the most vital areas of intelligence, cryptography. Originally medically retired prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor, Captain Holmes was recalled to active duty with the anticipation of hostilities in the Pacific. His original duties were loosely defined and he tasked himself with the tracking of merchant vessels in the Pacific. By using ship's weather reports to track locations, he began working closer and closer with the radio intelligence section within the Intelligence Center for the Pacific. As this relationship grew, while not initially allowed access to what mission the section was assigned, he became closely associated with the section and its operations. Through the course of the war, Captain Holmes and the officers and sailors he worked with provided some of the most valuable intelligence to leaders such as Admirals Nimitz and Halsey. Double Edged Secrets also supplies a point of view from a senior officer in how the use (and how the devaluing) of intelligence supported combat operations.
Rating: 4
Summary: An interesting and entertaining memoir
Comment: Jasper Holmes could have chosen as his title the phrase his colleague Edwin T.
Layton used for his memoirs: 'And I Was There.' As a USN reservist returned to active duty at Pearl Harbor just months before the attack, Holmes was there at the start of the war. And he remained near the center of naval intelligence activities in the Pacific until the end.
My bigggest criticism of this book has nothing to do (directly) with Holmes himself. Like many memoirs written in the decades immediately after the war, this book is limited by the fact that much of the information Holmes would otherwise have been able to share was still officially secret. It would be for later researchers to say what Holmes couldn't.
The other complaint I have is that, based on what I've read elsewhere, Holmes modestly understates the important role he played in the events he describes. It's to his credit that he's eager to praise talented and dedicated cryptologists and analysts. But Holmes frequently makes himself sound like someone standing on the sidelines watching the varsity team play. In fact, he was one of the team's key players.
What could be a highly technical memoir is leavened by a light tone and entertaining asides, like his tales of trying to drive through Honolulu with darkened headlights (a feat he describes as probably a greater danger to the citizens of Honolulu than the Japanese attack was).
Any student of the war in the Pacific, and particularly of Naval Intelligence operations or the attack on Pearl Harbor, will find this an interesting and entertaining memoir.
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Title: Combined Fleet Decoded: The Secret History of American Intelligence and the Japanese Navy in World War II by John Prados ISBN: 1557504318 Publisher: United States Naval Inst. Pub. Date: 05 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Emperor's Codes: The Breaking of Japan's Secret Ciphers by Michael Smith ISBN: 014200233X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Enigma: The Battle for the Code by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore ISBN: 0471407380 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 05 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Teeth of the Tiger by Tom Clancy ISBN: 039915079X Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 11 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History by George Crile ISBN: 0871138549 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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