The Conquering Tide

The Conquering Tide continues Toll's masterpiece explaining the nuances of the Pacific War. It continues on the narrative begun in Pacific Crucible especially highlighting the necessity of intelligence on the war and the difference it made in the course of the war.

Conquering Tide picks up from Pacific Crucible in the aftermath of the Battle of Midway and follows until the Americans have a commanding lead in the war. It chronicles the island hopping campaign the Allied forces employed that allowed the Americans to eventually turn the tide of the war and crush the Japanese in a war the Americans did not want to enter.

One of the biggest takeaways from the book is leadership's 'failure to pursue' and the opportunities that were squandered because of it. This idea has existed throughout history, but seems to rear its head regardless of the era of war in which it is occurring. The basic premise is that when a battle has been won the winners should pursue the losers even in their retreat to squash the weak remnants of their troops. This failure has occurred repeatedly throughout history, from Grant's failure to pursue Lee to Spruance's failure to pursue Nagumo after Midway. Often the justifications for the failure are weak: exhausted pilots, fog of war, etc. The problem is that the losers of the battle would face these identical issues, if not to a greater degree. Thus, failure to pursue is a cardinal sin of leaders in wartime.

Another large takeaway is the vital importance of accurate intelligence in war. This was demonstrated multiple times in Pacific Crucible, specifically at the Battle of Coral Sea (when misidentifications of ships caused both fleets to misfire their planes) as well as the Battle of Midway (when American codebreakers sprung a trap leading to the destruction of 4 aircraft carriers). This trend continued throughout the war and played a crucial role in the Solomon Islands Campaign. In this case, coastwatchers throughout the Solomons were able to warn the Allied fleets in advance of inbound warplanes, often flying from the large Japanese base at Rabaul. The importance of this advanced notice cannot be overstated, as the US was able to scramble its fighters to intercept the inbound planes and take down or scatter the bombers. This helped the US win the grueling Battle of Guadalcanal and eventually expand northwards into the Marianas.

Finally, Toll does a fantastic job of focusing on the important aspects of the war, from the high level decision-makers to the low-level pilots and shipmates. He paints a picture that focuses on the atrocities of war and the grueling conditions (especially the marines) that the soldiers faced. This paints a riveting tale and gives readers insight into the situations that won the war for the Americans.