- Holmes, W. J. Double-Edged Secrets.
Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute,
[1979] 1998. ISBN 1-55750-324-9.
-
This is the story of U.S. Naval Intelligence in the Pacific theatre
during World War II, told by somebody who was there—Holmes
served in the inner sanctum of Naval Intelligence at Pearl Harbor
from before the Japanese attack in 1941 through the end of the
war in 1945. Most accounts of naval intelligence in the war
with Japan focus on cryptanalysis and use of the “Ultra”
information it yielded from Japanese radio intercepts. Holmes
regularly worked with this material, and with the dedicated and
sometimes eccentric individuals who produced it, but his focus is
broader—on intelligence as a whole, of which cryptanalysis was only
a part. The “product” delivered by his shop to warfighters in the
fleet was painstakingly gleaned not only from communications intercepts,
but also traffic analysis, direction finding, interpretation
of aerial and submarine reconnaissance photos, interrogation of
prisoners, translations of captured documents, and a multitude of
other sources. In preparing for the invasion of Okinawa, naval
intelligence tracked down an eighty-year-old seashell
expert who provided information on landing beaches from his
pre-war collecting expedition there. The total material delivered
by intelligence for the Okinawa operation amounted to 127 tons
of paper. This book provides an excellent feel for the fog of
war, and how difficult it is to discern enemy intentions from the
limited and conflicting information at hand. In addition, the
difficult judgement calls which must be made between the risk
of disclosing sources of information versus getting useful information
into the hands of combat forces on a timely basis is a theme throughout
the narrative. If you're looking for more of a focus on cryptanalysis
and a discussion of the little-known British contribution to
codebreaking in the Pacific war, see Michael Smith's
The Emperor's Codes
(August 2001).
December 2004 