Rising Sun, Falling Skies - Jeffrey R Cox

This review has been submitted to Sabretache Journal.

Title: Rising Sun, Falling Skies

Author: Jeffrey R Cox

ISBN: 978-1-4728-1060-1

Publisher: Osprey Books

Year: 2015

Softcover

Pages: 487

Photos/Maps: 27/5

This book is the first installment of a multi-part series on the Pacific Naval War. It covers the five month period running from December, 1941 until April, 1942; a time when the Japanese Imperial Navy ran rampant over the Allies in the Far East. His narrative conveys, in quick, accessible and engaging prose, the tragic sets of events that led to the deaths of thousands of Allied sailors and airmen. Balanced against this is his evaluation of the overwhelming capability and expertise of the Japanese Imperial Navy and Naval Air Forces.

Cox covers the broad spectrum of regional actions, ranging seamlessly from the Philippines, Singapore and the Dutch East Indies to Australia. Presented in an eminently readable style, he conveys to the reader the terror, frustration and defiance of the Allied leadership and crews as they careened from engagement to engagement. The failure to effectively coordinate common doctrine and operational tactics between the various national actors, manifested itself in the ad hoc planning and execution of forays against the enemy. More often than not, this resulted in the degradation of the Allied fleets and aircraft through damage and loss.

Most significantly however, is Cox’s clear assertion that the true weakness in the Allied cause was not the ships or sailors themselves, but the National Governments and their senior respective leadership coordinating the battle space in the Far East. Failing to appreciate the consummate skill of the Japanese, nor their capabilities (such as the Long Lance torpedo), the Allied leadership, caught flat footed, was never able to regain the initiative and remained reactive to the Japanese onslaught. Further to this, Cox identifies deep national divisions between the senior leadership that manifested itself in a lack of trust amongst the operational crews for their senior commanders. Nevertheless, Cox’s research shows conclusively that the bravery and audacity with which the Allied crews faced their adversaries, even in the face of certain defeat, never wavered.

Cox also provides an in-depth analysis of the Japanese operations; their strengths and weaknesses and their conduct throughout the campaign. The Java Campaign definitely revealed a broad range of capabilities amongst the Japanese Commanders. Their ships were of the highest quality and the crews themselves trained to a peak level that would only degrade as the war progressed. The Japanese use of their Air Arm as a means of reconnaissance, attack (enabling their ships to standoff a safe distance), observing the fall of their shots (thereby overcoming the Allied use of smoke) and interdiction of Allied air forces was doctrinally far ahead of their adversaries. Cox is balanced in his analysis however, and is very critical of a number of the Japanese Commanders who showed themselves as mediocre at best. A good case in point was the ineptitude of Admiral Hara who managed to sink more of his own ships than did the Allies while defending the beachhead on Java.

Replete with anecdotes that show the best and worst of the combatants on both sides, Cox’s work is an excellent study of the early days of the Pacific War. Cox is an outstanding author with a real gift for developing a narrative that maintains the reader’s interest while still doing justice to the subject.