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Post by beirutvet on May 13, 2021 11:12:26 GMT 8
You Go Get Em, Karl!
They claim to be a forum but usually act as publisher. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.
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Post by beirutvet on May 13, 2021 10:55:55 GMT 8
rlbj25
Thank you for the remarks and you are correct, it is a powerful read.
I had not heard of the book 'The First Team', I will look into it.
If it is not too much trouble I wish you would send me a personal message and let me know what that pilot had to say. I am very interested in hearing what his comments were.
I see too many times Halsey criticized for "mistakes" at Leyte but the criticism is most always out of context.
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 22, 2021 0:39:08 GMT 8
Hello Raven316
This book is on my 'to read' list and I have heard good things about it. But it is far enough down on the list that it may take me some time to get to it.
If you have read it, please feel free to start a new thread and review it for us by giving us your thoughts and maybe a highlight or 2 to peak our interest. That is what this section is for, so dive in head first, the water is plenty deep.
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 18, 2021 12:39:13 GMT 8
EXO
BTW, I am thoroughly enjoying this new section 'MANILA INTRIGUE'! Really good stuff here!
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 18, 2021 12:34:15 GMT 8
EXO
Cryptography: One Story Is Good, Until Another Is Told. Fabulous read!
I have never seen such detail about Purple, Magic and JN 25. One could get lost so easily in this maze of deliberate construction. I especially liked how you burned through a lot of revisionism to keep pulling on the thread to expose it.
On page 23 it is stated that Roosevelt was kept in the dark and the person most likely behind this cover-up was _________. Any updated guesses as to who this man was?
There is also something on page 22 that caught my attention. In point a) it is stated that Churchill most likely withheld information about the December 7 attack to come. And in b) had he alerted him, FDR would have obviously alerted his commanders and "as a consequence the British would have had to have faced the invasion of Malaya alone". I don't doubt that it is possible, as stated earlier in the text, that through compartmentalization in the Brit crypto world it never got to where it needed to go. But I wonder if this conspiracy's cause was as stated. If FDR DID alert his commanders as feared, wouldn't that have saved a good portion of the fleet to help thwart the Japs on all fronts? Not telling him meant the sure destruction of precious allied ships. FDR, being forewarned, could not have stopped the attack and the end result would be the same: the Brits get the US into the war whether they were warned or not.
As it turns out the brits did have to face this invasion alone in part because the US forces were not alerted, and as a result decimated, and unable to come their aid.
You have obviously done more research on this than most, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 16, 2021 11:58:21 GMT 8
"The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors' The Extraordinary World Was II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour. By James D Hornfischer
I could talk about this book all day long and still feel like I did not do it justice. And not just because it is well written, I have read 3 of his books and this is the most well written of them I have found. No, I can't do it proper justice for as the sub-tittle states, it is the U.S. Navy's finest hour.
This book covers the portion of the Battle of Leyte Gulf known as the 'Battle Off Samar'. It is a story of dedication, perseverance and bravery the likes of which are found but once in a generation. And made more spectacular for its concentration in this battle. It chronicles the tale of a small task unit called Taffy 3 consisting of 6 small escort carriers (CVE), 3 destroyers (DD)and four destroyer escorts (DE).
Through a political reshuffling of commands born out of MacArthur's egotistical desire to control and take credit for all he could, the navy was split into two separate fleets, the Third fleet and the Seventh fleet. so selfishly were they controlled that they were not even allowed to communicate directly with each other. Instead communication from one fleet to the other had to go through MacArthur's HQ before being routed to the other fleet, a process that added many hours to the time of transmission to the arrival of the message. This was a large but not the only contributing factor that lead this small task unit, armed with nothing larger than torpedoes and 5" guns, to be thrust into going toe to toe with the Imperial Japanese Navy sporting 4 battleships, 4 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 11 destroyers. The 11 destroyers alone would have been enough to completely annihilate Taffy 3. And go toe to toe they did!
The book starts at the christening of the USS Johnston commanded by Commander Ernest E Evans who will posthumously be awarded the Medal of Honor, and many of her crew who help tell the tale of battle.
Among them is the gunnery officer Robert Hagen, who in a previous engagement off Saipan spied through his aiming device, a Japanese officer on the beach waving his sword trying to rally his men. Upon seeing this Lt. Hagen thought "Why not", slewed all five 5" guns on his new target, closed the firing key and all guns fired at once obliterating his target. He then heard his Captain call up to him "Mr. Hagen, that was very good shooting, but in the future, try not to waste so much ammunition on one individual".
During the first tortuous minutes of this engagement off Samar, when the odds of victory, or even survival were non-existent, the captain of the USS Samuel B. Roberts, a destroyer escort that will be sunk that same day got on the intercom. Captain Copeland told his crew, "A large Japanese fleet has been contacted. They are fifteen miles away and headed in our direction. They are believed to have 4 battleships, eight cruisers and a number of destroyers. This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can."
Aboard the USS Johnston, Captain Evans was heard bellowing, "All hands to general quarters. Prepare to attack major portion of the Japanese fleet. All engines ahead flank. Commence making smoke and stand by for torpedo attack. Left full rudder." This last command as everyone hearing this knew, the new course was straight at the enemy fleet. Lt. Hagen remembers saying to himself, "Please Skipper, don't let this ship go down before we launch our torpedoes."
All of the escort carries immediately launched all the aircraft they could. Most of the ones that were armed had ordinance for supporting the land invasion, not fighting heavily armored ships of the line. Many aircraft had no ordinance at all but launched anyway. The unarmed planes along with ones that had long since expended their ordinance repeatedly made dummy dive bomb and torpedo runs in an effort to make the Japanese ships hastily maneuver to avoid the attack. And they succeeded in doing this time and time again. Virtual suicide runs to at least delay the larger ships from overrunning the U.S. ships which they could easily do.
I will not spoil the rest of this story for you, READ THIS BOOK! It made this Marine proud of his Marine Corps naval heritage.
***** HIGHLY Recommended
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 10, 2021 22:56:52 GMT 8
Fascinating, tragic and inspiring.....just like all of the saga that is Bataan and Corregidor.
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 7, 2021 8:47:40 GMT 8
EXO
Thank you for this. I am still reading your previous post on Intercept Station C. Looking forward to this one as well.
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 2, 2021 20:59:16 GMT 8
Hi Karl
I am curious about that fishing line that someone had put there and it helped you find what you are looking for. I wonder if that may have been placed there by scrappers as an easy way to get to where they need to go at night while no one can see what they are doing.
Also there at Battery Ramsey doesn't it look like a good portion of the barrel of that gun has been removed? More evidence of scrapping in that area?
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Post by beirutvet on Apr 2, 2021 20:41:35 GMT 8
EXO
Thank you for that. Saudade, indeed.
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