Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese land-based bombers pounded Wake Island, the American advanced base that was key to the U.S. Navy's strategy in the Pacific. Throughout the next two weeks, the Wake Island garrison survived nearly daily bombings and repulsed the first Japanese attempt to take the atoll. The determined defenders provided a badly needed lift to American morale. Cressman was the first to make extensive use of Japanese materials to identify the enemy order of battle and the roles each unit played ...
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Soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese land-based bombers pounded Wake Island, the American advanced base that was key to the U.S. Navy's strategy in the Pacific. Throughout the next two weeks, the Wake Island garrison survived nearly daily bombings and repulsed the first Japanese attempt to take the atoll. The determined defenders provided a badly needed lift to American morale. Cressman was the first to make extensive use of Japanese materials to identify the enemy order of battle and the roles each unit played in the drama to provide a moving account of the heroism of the defenders in the face if tremendous odds.
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In "A Magnificent Fight," Robert Cressman has honored many a Wake Island defender whose names have been otherwise lost to history. "A Magnificent Fight" is one of those few Wake Island books that the author has devoted much of the writing to what fictional writers would call "character development." This book is a slow starter and I would not recommend it to casual readers of history as much of it reads like an encyclopedia. Scholastically, this book covers all the main points of the engagements at Wake and reflects a tight compression of data. I particularly appreciate Mr. Cressman's devotion to naming as many individual combatants, Japanese and American alike. I found particular difficulty with Cressman's writing style, "A Magnificent Fight" seemed to lack the flow or syntax that Wake Island stories generally possess. This may not be a problem for some readers, but its just one of those quirks that I noticed right off. I did appreciate the fact that while many scholars will devote numerous chapters to the POW experience, "A Magnificent Fight" does not. The bulk of the context is dedicated to the events leading up to and through the battle for Wake Island. While Cressman's analysis fairly evaluates the Navy's tactical decisions that would forsake the garrison, he is critical of the U.S. Navy commanders of the two submarines assigned to patrol the seas around Wake, whom Cressman supposes may have given the garrison the tactical advantage it certainly needed. Cressman has further contributed to evening the playing field between the slighted garrison commander CDR W. S. Cunningham and the well publicized hero and Marine Artillery commander MAJ James Devereux. The book concludes with a keenly fair analysis of the so called "Cunningham-Devereux Controversy" and a critical review of the wartime motion picture "Wake Island." Additional valuable appendix entries also close the book.
