British novelist (Silesian Station, 2008, etc.) and military
historian Downing focuses on three decisive weeks in 1941 - from
Nov. 17 to Dec. 8 - leading to the attack on Pearl Harbor.The
author intertwines the stories of three risky military maneuvers on
the part of the Germans and the Japanese that would ultimately
"seal the fate" of the aggressors - though it would take four more
years for the Allies to achieve victory. Germany's Operation
Barbarossa invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941 in a spectacular
display of might, but by November was scuttled by cold weather,
Russian resistance, lack of supplies and sinking morale. In North
Africa, General Erwin Rommel and his Panzers were beating back
incursions by British forces, though badly needed German munitions
were being siphoned off to the Eastern Front. Because of
Barbarossa, the earlier German successes in Libya, Greece and Crete
were weakened, keeping them from adequately disrupting the British
supply routes in Malta and around the Suez Canal. In the Pacific,
the Japanese air fleet was well on its way toward a surprise attack
on Pearl Harbor at the same time that American and Japanese
diplomats were wrangling over initiatives on the Japanese war in
China. Although the Americans had cracked the Japanese diplomatic
code and knew vaguely of Japanese military intentions, Secretary of
State Cordell Hull was stalling for time, since the U.S. armed
forces needed a few more months to prepare for war. Adeptly
juxtaposing Japanese vainglory - Japan did not possess the might or
resources to win a war against the Allies - with American bungling,
Downing offers a dark, captivating hindsight analysis with plenty
of action.The subtitle is a stretch, but the densely plotted
narrative is sure to please military aficionados. (Kirkus Reviews)
It took the Japanese fleet twenty-two days to sail from Japan to
Pearl Harbor, the same twenty-two days that witnessed the German
assault on Moscow and the Crusader battles in North Africa. The
Germans failed to knock the Soviets out; the Japanese succeeded in
bringing the Americans in. These twenty-two days sealed their
mutual fate. With each chapter structured around one of the
twenty-two days leading up to Pearl Harbor, SEALING THEIR FATE
narrates the battles, the preparations for battle, the diplomatic
manoeuvres and the intelligence wars. The story shifts from
snowbound Russian villages to the stormy northern Pacific, from the
North African desert to Europe's warring capitals, and from Tokyo
to Washington. The book features a host of ordinary soldiers,
sailors and airmen, and those political and military figures who
played a key role in the war. Taking the momentum of the Japanese
fleet, SEALING THEIR FATE works as an exciting countdown. Other
countdowns -- the gradual halting of the German advance in Russia,
the erosion of Rommel's resources in North Africa, the
institutionalization of the Holocaust -- is worked into this basic
structure.As Winston Churchill memorably remarked 'Hitler's fate
was sealed. Mussolini's fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they
would be ground to powder. All the rest was merely the proper
application of overwhelming force.'
General
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