Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II (General Military)

A fresh look at the disastrous Java Sea Campaign of 1941–42 which heralded a wave of Japanese naval victories in the Pacific but which eventually sowed the seeds of their eventual change in fortunes. In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese juggernaut quickly racked up victory after victory. Desperate to secure resource-rich regions in the Pacific and ensure their continued dominance of South East Asia, Japanese forces were determined in their efforts to conquer Malaya, Singapore and the oil-rich islands around Java Sea - Borneo, Sumatra and Java itself. In the face of this seemingly unstoppable tide stood a small Allied force - American, Australian, British and Dutch. Thrown together by circumstance; cut off from reinforcements or in many cases retreat; operating with old, obsolete equipment and dwindling supplies, there was little hope of victory. Indeed, the month-long Java Sea Campaign, as it subsequently became known, quickly evolved from a traditional test of arms into a test of character. In the face of a relentless enemy and outnumbered, outgunned and alone, they defiantly held on, attempting to buy weeks, days, even hours until a better line of defense - and offense - could be established. These were the men of the US Asiatic Feet, the British Far Eastern Fleet, the Royal Netherlands Navy's East Indies Squadron and the Royal Australian Navy. And their supporting units like Patrol Wing Ten, the Royal Netherlands Naval Air Service, the US Army Air Force's 17th Pursuit Squadron and submarines of all these fine nations. A campaign that has been too often either ignored by historians or criticised for poor command decisions, this is the story of the sailors and the airmen at the sharp end, and how they fought and endured the first months of the War in the Pacific. Author Jeffrey Cox conducts a thorough and compelling investigation of the Java Sea Campaign, the first major sea battle of the Pacific War, which inflicted huge costs on the Allies and set the stage for Japan's rout across the Pacific and Indian oceans.Few events have ever shaken a country in the way that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the United States. The Japanese forces then continued to overwhelm the Allies, attacking Malaya with its fortress of Singapore, and taking resource-rich islands in the Pacific in their own blitzkrieg offensive. Allied losses in these early months after America's entry into the war were great, and among the most devastating were those suffered during the Java Sea Campaign, where a small group of Americans, British, Dutch, and Australians were isolated in the Far East – directly in the path of the Japanese onslaught.It would be the first major sea battle of World War II in the Pacific. Cover 1 Contents 3 PROLOGUE 5 On The Day Before 8 Just a Little More Time 26 Breakdown 50 Finding Trouble 66 Shooting at Venus 110 Slapped Together 124 Luck - The Battle of Balikpapan 148 Bloody Shambles 160 Can't Catch a Break - The Battle of the Flores Sea 170 A Thousand Cuts 188 Too Clever by Half - The Battle of Badoeng Strait 220 No Breath to Catch - Preliminaries to the Battle of the Java Sea 238 Nerk Nerk Nerk - The Sinking of the Langley 278 One Shell - Day Action of the Battle of the Java Sea 294 A Turn too Far - The Second Part of the Battle of the Java Sea 320 A Hopeless Plan - The Escape from Java 338 Dancing in the Dark - The Battle of Soenda Strait 352 Nowhere to Run - The Second Battle of the Java Sea 366 To the Winds - Escape Attempts from Java 382 Aftermath - Not Quite Vanquished 414 Notes 429 Bibliography 487 Imprint 493