Tidal Wave: From Leyte Gulf to Tokyo Bay is a richly detailed account of the conflict in the latter part of the Pacific campaign as told from the point of view of the men who fought it. All we find out is how a young Japanese pen pal was shocked upon hearing an American's version of the events of the war. I'd have been fascinated to know what they were taught about the war. One aspect that was sadly not followed up on in any detail, was the revelation at the beginning of the book how some 20 years after the war, Japanese children and young adults were not taught the truth about the way Japan waged the war. Narration was good, with the reader able to pronounce complex Japanese titles and names well. This less organized approach resulted in the Japanese Emperor's surrender speech being included twice in the course of the book.
This didn't mar my enjoyment of the book, just made it harder to grasp the bigger picture. It was a stream of information that seems to be a linear progression through multiple campaigns with little delineation. I'd be reading a lot of the time and wasn't' sure which battle or action was being referred to. I later realized that there were no images of the pressbook online. The term tidal wave is frequently used for such a wave, but it is a misnomer, for the wave has no connection with the tides. A year ago, I bought the pressbook of 'Tidal Wave' (1975) from ebay. tsunami, (Japanese: harbour wave) also called seismic sea wave or tidal wave, catastrophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake, an underwater or coastal landslide, or a volcanic eruption. This is where I agree with another reviewer who stated that the book wasn't particularly well structured. An illustration of two cells of a film strip. There is an awful lot of information to absorb here, so it can be difficult at times to know what accounts relate to what battles. Small, personal accounts that might otherwise have been lost to history. There were three stories of humanity shown in the face of inhumanity that in two cases, had some form of resolution over 50 years later. The names of so many people, both allied and Japanese is testament to the work put into this book. This is, in part, due to the level of detail on offer here. There are plenty of stories here I'd never heard before. One wonders how on Earth at this late stage of the war, how the Japanese had as many aircraft as they did. The loss of Japanese aircraft was amazing.
I stress the point on detail, as this book even specifies the type of aircraft that took part, right down to the mark or variant! The level of attrition documented here is astonishing. The author must've laboured hard to pull together all the various personal accounts, eye witness statements and action reports to produce this incredible account. The level of detail is such that it could well be used as source material to recreate key battles for documentaries and movies. I've read several books on the Pacific campaigns in World War II and this one has to be one of the most thoroughly researched and detailed one I've come across.
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