Zero, The Story of Japan's Air War in the Pacific—as Seen by the Enemy

De: Masatake Okumiya, Jiro Horikoshi

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

This is the thrilling saga of war in the air in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II told from the Japanese point of view. It is the story of the men who created, led, and fought in the deadly Zero fighter plane. In their own words, Jiro Horikoshi (who designed the Zero), Masatake Okumiya (leader of many Zero squadrons), and Saburo Sakai (Japan's leading surviving fighter ace) as well as many other men, tell the inside story of developing the Zero and Japan's air force. They tell what it felt like to bomb American ships and to shoot down American airplanes -- and then of their shock when the myth of invincibility was shattered by the new Lightning, Hellcat, and Corsair fighters. They tell of the fight against the growing strength of a remorseless American enemy; and how, in desperation the Japanese High Command ordered the creation of deadly suicide squadrons, the Kamikaze. And finally they reveal their reaction to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Pointy End of "The Wind Rises"

This is excellent WWII aviation history told by the Japanese. If you've ever seen Studio Ghibli's "The Wind Rises", you'll be familiar with Jiro Horikoshi, the lead designer of the Zero fighter at the heart of this Audible narrative. Horikoshi provides both front and end matter for this book. As such (although I can't say for certain), it seems like a primary source from which Miyazaki took notes for the war-side of "The Wind Rises" (the romance-side is famously taken from Tatsuo Hori's book "The Wind Has Risen").

One final note on the narration. I'm almost sorry to admit, this AI-driven narration is pretty good. Hilariously, years are pronounced as regular numbers, and there are annoying pauses throughout, but overall this exceeded my expectations. I would not want to hear all or even most audio books narrated this way, but if Virtual Voice gets fringe books like this into audio, so be it.

Japanese perspective of Pacific air war

I found it quite interesting to hear how Japanese aviation figures viewed the air war. While the book dragged at times, it contains a ton of interesting insights.

One commenter noted that the authors did not mention atrocities inflicted by Japanese forces. While true, that's not the place of this book. Overall, the authors express a good deal of remorse for following Japanese leadership and the hardships they inflicted on people around the Pacific. They also discuss, albeit briefly, the factors unique to Japanese society underlying the people's fanatical support for the war.

The authors support the notion that the Japanese government, knowing that the war was lost, was willing to sacrifice its citizens fighting a US invasion. While they don't say it, and they certainly decry the horror of the atomic bomb, they give the impression that they understand why it was used.

So, not a ton of flying (although there are some really interesting personal, stories of particular missions) but, if you'd like to understand how Japanese leadership saw the war, especially the air war, and what they could have done differently, this is a super worthwhile title!

An outstanding history.

I was raised by naval captain who served in WWII. I have read many histories about the Pacific war. This history ranked among the best. Clear, fair, informative. I have been moved by this Japanese perspective. For me, makes clear war is always wrong because both sides have good people in the fighting. Can we justify war?