Japanese Army in World War II, Conquest of the Pacific, 1941 to 1942

This is another of the Osprey historical series of books and, as such, it's filled with detail information. There are lots and lots of maps in the book, showing the movements of Japanese troops in the early stage of the war. There's also very complete breakdowns of the various armies and sections and what was in each.

The book also includes information on the types of weapons and equipment used, tactics, intelligence activities, etc.

The book notes that, before our entry into WWII, over 180,000 Japanese troops had already died in the fighting in China. The author also says a main reason Japan went to war with the U.S. and other Western countries was their economic condition was not good, and they needed natural resources and were worried that they would be cut off from them by the Western powers.

The book says that "officers led from the front,"" although this disagrees with what I have read in some other books.

The book says the biggest failure of the Japanese was to underestimate the strength of their opponents, and this was a "combination of overconfidence, arrogance, and over-reliance on the strength of spirit,"" which they thought would always be able to overcome material shortages.

"Complete annihilation of the enemy was the goal sought in most operations." With that general attitude, it's no wonder that atrocities by the Japanese army were fairly numerous.

The book also notes that the Japanese were unprepared for all the Western civilians that were taken prisoner during the war.

This is a book that is really for the people who want really, really detailed information about the Japanese Army early in the war. For most others, the level of detail in the book might prove boring.

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