Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I haven’t spent a lot of time with it, but I noticed one astonishing entry on page 889: It’s the third paragraph which isn’t just troubling, it’s just plain wrong. Really, really wrong (unless somehow I’ve missed the point of books, movies, and TV documentaries):
The Battle of Midway was the decisive battle of the Second World War in the Pacific. There were troops stationed on Midway, including small aircraft squadrons. The island had immense strategic value — without it, the United States would have been essentially helpless in the critical months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hawaii would probably have been occupied by the Japanese in a second attack, leaving the west coast of the U.S. vulnerable to attack.
Japanese naval forces did indeed attack Midway, early in June, 1942, but Japanese troops never set foot on the islands, and Americans, in a near-run battle, sank three of the four aircraft carriers that Japan had committed to battle (although the fourth carrier stayed far to the north toward the Aleutians as "back-up").
History.com says, “The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
It can’t be a “typo”. Typos turn words like “Midway” into “Midwya”. Typos generally don’t rewrite history. I just don’t understand how a postal historian like Thomas H. Boyle, Jr., who was obviously a dedicated researcher, could blunder so badly in a matter of basic WWII history. Boyle was a WWII U.S. Navy veteran and an “avid stamp collector” according to his obituary.
Not surprisingly, I'm not exactly confident that other information in this massive tome is accurate.
Bob
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Japan lost all four of its carriers in the battle; three on the first day and one on the third.
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My bad. David is correct. 
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Maybe the author was thinking the invasion of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians, which some argue was a diversionary attack in support of the main effort at Midway. I don’t think Attu was recaptured until 1943. Still that’s a pretty big error to imply Midway was occupied by the IJA.
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Possibly he had an assistant doing some of the research, like most authors do. He is still responsible for such a gross error, but who doesn't make erorrs?
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06:01:06am
I think the author got Wake Island confused with Midway. Wake fell and the` Japanese took prisoners,
One small technical point about the Japanese setting foot on Midway.
A week or two after the smoke cleared an American destroyer came upon a lifeboat with 20-30 Japanese 'sailors or aviators'.
Captured, these guys were held on Midway for a short time.
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I recently purchased a copy of Airmail Operations During World War II, by Thomas H. Boyle, hoping that it would help me sort out the provenance of some of my wartime airmail covers. It's an expensive book, but I've read glowing comments about it.
I haven’t spent a lot of time with it, but I noticed one astonishing entry on page 889: It’s the third paragraph which isn’t just troubling, it’s just plain wrong. Really, really wrong (unless somehow I’ve missed the point of books, movies, and TV documentaries):
The Battle of Midway was the decisive battle of the Second World War in the Pacific. There were troops stationed on Midway, including small aircraft squadrons. The island had immense strategic value — without it, the United States would have been essentially helpless in the critical months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hawaii would probably have been occupied by the Japanese in a second attack, leaving the west coast of the U.S. vulnerable to attack.
Japanese naval forces did indeed attack Midway, early in June, 1942, but Japanese troops never set foot on the islands, and Americans, in a near-run battle, sank three of the four aircraft carriers that Japan had committed to battle (although the fourth carrier stayed far to the north toward the Aleutians as "back-up").
History.com says, “The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
It can’t be a “typo”. Typos turn words like “Midway” into “Midwya”. Typos generally don’t rewrite history. I just don’t understand how a postal historian like Thomas H. Boyle, Jr., who was obviously a dedicated researcher, could blunder so badly in a matter of basic WWII history. Boyle was a WWII U.S. Navy veteran and an “avid stamp collector” according to his obituary.
Not surprisingly, I'm not exactly confident that other information in this massive tome is accurate.
Bob
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re: Major historical error in "Airmail Operations During World War II"
Japan lost all four of its carriers in the battle; three on the first day and one on the third.
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re: Major historical error in "Airmail Operations During World War II"
My bad. David is correct.
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re: Major historical error in "Airmail Operations During World War II"
Maybe the author was thinking the invasion of Attu and Kiska in the Aleutians, which some argue was a diversionary attack in support of the main effort at Midway. I don’t think Attu was recaptured until 1943. Still that’s a pretty big error to imply Midway was occupied by the IJA.
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re: Major historical error in "Airmail Operations During World War II"
Possibly he had an assistant doing some of the research, like most authors do. He is still responsible for such a gross error, but who doesn't make erorrs?
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
04 Aug 2023
06:01:06am
re: Major historical error in "Airmail Operations During World War II"
I think the author got Wake Island confused with Midway. Wake fell and the` Japanese took prisoners,
One small technical point about the Japanese setting foot on Midway.
A week or two after the smoke cleared an American destroyer came upon a lifeboat with 20-30 Japanese 'sailors or aviators'.
Captured, these guys were held on Midway for a short time.
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