A gripping account of the final American bombing mission of World War II and how it prevented a military coup that would have kept Japan in the war. How close did the Japanese come to not surrendering to Allied forces on August 15, 1945? The Last Mission explores this question through two previously neglected strands of late--World War II history, whose very interconnections could have caused a harrowing shift in the course of the postwar world. On the final night of the war, as Emperor Hirohito recorded a message of surrender for the Japanese people, a band of Japanese rebels, commanded by War Minister Anami's elite staff, burst into the palace. They had plotted a massive coup that aimed to destroy the recordings of the Imperial Rescript of surrender and issue false orders forged with the Emperor's seal commanding the widely dispersed Japanese military to continue the war. If this rebellion had succeeded, the military would have proceeded with large-scale kamikaze attacks on Allied forces, costing huge casualties and just possibly provoking the Americans to drop a third atomic bomb on Japan over Tokyo-and continue to drop more bombs as Japanese resistance stiffened. Meanwhile, in the midst of an "end-of-war" celebration on Guam, Air Force radio operator Jim Smith and his fellow crewmen received urgent orders for a bombing mission over Japan's sole remaining oil refinery north of Tokyo. As a stream of American B-29B bombers approached Tokyo, Japanese air defenses, fearing the approaching planes signaled the threat of a third atomic bomb, ordered a total blackout in Tokyo and the Imperial Palace, completely disrupting the rebels' plans. Smith and his fellow crewmembers completed the mission, and a few hours later, the Emperor announced the surrender over Japan's airwaves, dictating the end of the war. The Last Mission is an insightful piece of speculative investigation that combines narrative storytelling with historical contingency and explores how two seemingly unrelated events could have profoundly changed the course of modern history. From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Small events with large results:
For those interested in the war in the Pacific, this is an extremely intriguing book. One of the authors was the radio operator on a B-29; the other has written a number of books on military history. The result is a marvelous combination of low-level details that only someone who fought in the war would know, with descriptions of high-level strategic issues written by a professional historian. This book's importance rests on a major distinction. Germany was defeated by invasion from the east and west.... more info
Super:
Engaging. This is the stuff movies are made of. I hope Steven Spielberg gets a hold of this. I would be more than happy to do the adaptation and take a deferred pay.
Important piece of history:
(EDIT: I'd rate the book four or five stars; somehow it is showing up here as three stars.) This book covers an important time in history, with events toward the end of WWII, leading up to Japan's surrender. What makes the book unique is the tie-in of author Jim Smith's bombing missions with the final events of the war, which is interesting in its own right. But of even more interest to me was the coverage of the general events leading to the end of the war. While this material is covered in... more info
Good, interesting book about late war bombing of Japan:
The Last Mission is subtitled "The secret history of World War II's final battle". This subtitle is a little misleading, in my opinion, as the book really focuses on late war (1945) bombing runs over Japan. One of the two authors of the book (Jim Smith) was on a B-29B bomber at the conclusion of the war, including what he calls "The Last Mission", which was a bombing run to attack a strategic oil refinery at Akita, with the routing taking the bombers directly over Tokyo. It is the routing of the... more info
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