The latest book in the Campaign series (#156), is on the rather daring Doolittle raid on Tokyo in 1942. Undoubtedly most of us already know at least something about it and have seen the movie '30 Seconds over Tokyo', which is told from Ted Lawson's point of view.

Probably few actually realize how short the development time was in getting the raid together and planned. Nor that this required the full cooperation of both the Navy and the Army, who had rarely worked together before. Nor that most of the hierarchy of the US military thought it was not the best idea and that it put into danger resources that were sorely needed during these early years of the war.

Yet, all involved were able to overcome their personal fears and do what was best for the country at that time, and that was to carry out a successful offensive operation against the Japanese.

Though Doolittle thought he'd be court-martialed for losing the entire strike force, the mission caused such concern in Japan that it was a huge strategic success. Instead of disgrace, Doolittle returned a hero, was awarded the Medal of Honor and promoted to general.

In this book, the author, Clayton KS Chun,  takes us through the opposing forces, the planning stages of the operation, the voyage across the Pacific and does his best to tell us as much as is known about each of the 16 different bomb runs made by Doolittle's aircraft. This includes a superlative selection of maps and outstanding illustrations by Howard Gerrard. 

There is much more to the story than the simple voyage and bombing runs, and all that is brilliantly told in this book. It is one of those that any student of the period must have in their library.

August 2006

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