The Japanese bombing of Wake Island began a mere few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 8, 1941. Thirty-six Japanese aircraft blasted the atoll's US base and destroyed eight of twelve aircraft. For fifteen days American troops suffered endless bombardments until the second major Japanese offensive was launched on 23rd December. The battle took place on and around the atoll and its minor islets by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing ...
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The Japanese bombing of Wake Island began a mere few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 8, 1941. Thirty-six Japanese aircraft blasted the atoll's US base and destroyed eight of twelve aircraft. For fifteen days American troops suffered endless bombardments until the second major Japanese offensive was launched on 23rd December. The battle took place on and around the atoll and its minor islets by the air, land, and naval forces of the Japanese Empire against those of the United States, with Marines playing a prominent role on both sides. Against overwhelming forces the Marines and other troops that were stationed on the island fought valiantly, but after forty-nine men had lost their lives in the fight, the remaining American men and civilians were captured by the Japanese.
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In "A Magnificent Fight," Robert Cressman has honored many a Wake Island defender whose names have been otherwise lost to history. "A Magnificent Fight" is one of those few Wake Island books that the author has devoted much of the writing to what fictional writers would call "character development." This book is a slow starter and I would not recommend it to casual readers of history as much of it reads like an encyclopedia. Scholastically, this book covers all the main points of the engagements at Wake and reflects a tight compression of data. I particularly appreciate Mr. Cressman's devotion to naming as many individual combatants, Japanese and American alike. I found particular difficulty with Cressman's writing style, "A Magnificent Fight" seemed to lack the flow or syntax that Wake Island stories generally possess. This may not be a problem for some readers, but its just one of those quirks that I noticed right off. I did appreciate the fact that while many scholars will devote numerous chapters to the POW experience, "A Magnificent Fight" does not. The bulk of the context is dedicated to the events leading up to and through the battle for Wake Island. While Cressman's analysis fairly evaluates the Navy's tactical decisions that would forsake the garrison, he is critical of the U.S. Navy commanders of the two submarines assigned to patrol the seas around Wake, whom Cressman supposes may have given the garrison the tactical advantage it certainly needed. Cressman has further contributed to evening the playing field between the slighted garrison commander CDR W. S. Cunningham and the well publicized hero and Marine Artillery commander MAJ James Devereux. The book concludes with a keenly fair analysis of the so called "Cunningham-Devereux Controversy" and a critical review of the wartime motion picture "Wake Island." Additional valuable appendix entries also close the book.
