Platapus
04-18-12, 07:01 PM
Sturma, M., (2011) Surface and Destroy: The submarine gun war in the Pacific. Lexington, KY: The University Press of Kentucky
To misquote an old saying, you can’t judge a book by its title. From this title, I had presumed that the book would address the advent of the deck guns on submarines; their evolution; equipment; and tactical use.
Sadly, the book has very little technical information on deck guns or their tactics.
But while I was disappointed that it didn’t, that does not necessarily mean I did not like this book. This book delves into the more human, and in some cases inhuman, aspects of the submarine gun actions of WWII. Even though the title uses the work Pacific, there are references to gun action in the Atlantic also.
The author presents a good case on how the crews of submarines are often isolated from the war. Clearly, submarine crews were subject to horrifying effects of war (depth charging, sinking, and ect) but at the same time all this occurred, most of the time, while isolated visually from the action by the fact that they were in a submarine. Unlike other military services which would see the military action as it unfolds, in a submarine, only a few crew members really knew what was happening.
The exception to this was during surface battles. Then more members of the submarine crew were thrown right in the middle of the battle. The author delves into this in some depth as understanding how submarine crews go from one extreme (isolated in battle passively waiting for death) to the other extreme (gun battles at rather close range) as a way of explaining, but not justifying would could be considered “atrocities”.
Gun battles took on a personal quality. It was often the only way the crew could emotionally "get back" at the enemy. Now instead of being passive victims having to take what the enemy threw at them, were now in a position of being able to directly afflict damage at the enemy. Different crews reacted differently to this. While there were stories of mercy and empathy, there were also stories of cruelty and revenge.
These “atrocities” ranged from clear instances of war crimes (HMS Sturdy 25 Nov 44) to the indiscriminate and uncaring killing of Chinese and Filipino fishermen because they were in boats that resembled Japanese fishing boats.
The author does not try to justify any of these actions, but attempts to explain how, in times of war, goodly people can do evil things. The author also goes into detail how these same people can do goodly things… often in the same gun action.
The author also gives insight into how the Japanese military culture differed from ours. Every wonder why the Japanese did not sign all of the Geneva Conventions? Chapter 11 gives some interesting insight from the Japanese viewpoint.
My only major criticism is that the author breaks a common history writing rule and does not use adequate temporal anchors in his writing. History books need to be organized along a consistent structure. They can be organized chronologically, geographically, politically, and thematically. It does not matter, as long as the author is consistent and when the author does jump to a different time period that they include the proper temporal anchors so the reader can keep the order of events straight.
There were multiple times when I found myself lost concerning whether a specific action took place in 1943 or 1944 for instance. It is not an easy book to read, both from a writing standpoint and from an emotional standpoint. The author does not pull any punches.
All in all, it was an interesting read. However, if you are looking for technical information on guns, this book is not for you. If you are interested in the human aspects of how the changes in isolation during action can affect the “morals” of a submarine crew, this book may be interesting.
From a historical library standpoint, I would give this book a B-. There are plenty of other books out there that need to be read before this one.
To misquote an old saying, you can’t judge a book by its title. From this title, I had presumed that the book would address the advent of the deck guns on submarines; their evolution; equipment; and tactical use.
Sadly, the book has very little technical information on deck guns or their tactics.
But while I was disappointed that it didn’t, that does not necessarily mean I did not like this book. This book delves into the more human, and in some cases inhuman, aspects of the submarine gun actions of WWII. Even though the title uses the work Pacific, there are references to gun action in the Atlantic also.
The author presents a good case on how the crews of submarines are often isolated from the war. Clearly, submarine crews were subject to horrifying effects of war (depth charging, sinking, and ect) but at the same time all this occurred, most of the time, while isolated visually from the action by the fact that they were in a submarine. Unlike other military services which would see the military action as it unfolds, in a submarine, only a few crew members really knew what was happening.
The exception to this was during surface battles. Then more members of the submarine crew were thrown right in the middle of the battle. The author delves into this in some depth as understanding how submarine crews go from one extreme (isolated in battle passively waiting for death) to the other extreme (gun battles at rather close range) as a way of explaining, but not justifying would could be considered “atrocities”.
Gun battles took on a personal quality. It was often the only way the crew could emotionally "get back" at the enemy. Now instead of being passive victims having to take what the enemy threw at them, were now in a position of being able to directly afflict damage at the enemy. Different crews reacted differently to this. While there were stories of mercy and empathy, there were also stories of cruelty and revenge.
These “atrocities” ranged from clear instances of war crimes (HMS Sturdy 25 Nov 44) to the indiscriminate and uncaring killing of Chinese and Filipino fishermen because they were in boats that resembled Japanese fishing boats.
The author does not try to justify any of these actions, but attempts to explain how, in times of war, goodly people can do evil things. The author also goes into detail how these same people can do goodly things… often in the same gun action.
The author also gives insight into how the Japanese military culture differed from ours. Every wonder why the Japanese did not sign all of the Geneva Conventions? Chapter 11 gives some interesting insight from the Japanese viewpoint.
My only major criticism is that the author breaks a common history writing rule and does not use adequate temporal anchors in his writing. History books need to be organized along a consistent structure. They can be organized chronologically, geographically, politically, and thematically. It does not matter, as long as the author is consistent and when the author does jump to a different time period that they include the proper temporal anchors so the reader can keep the order of events straight.
There were multiple times when I found myself lost concerning whether a specific action took place in 1943 or 1944 for instance. It is not an easy book to read, both from a writing standpoint and from an emotional standpoint. The author does not pull any punches.
All in all, it was an interesting read. However, if you are looking for technical information on guns, this book is not for you. If you are interested in the human aspects of how the changes in isolation during action can affect the “morals” of a submarine crew, this book may be interesting.
From a historical library standpoint, I would give this book a B-. There are plenty of other books out there that need to be read before this one.