The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

From the Stone & Stone site:

The Corts Foundation, the force behind the excellent translations of the Japanese Senshi Sosho volumes—The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies and The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal—has provided news about the upcoming third and final volume, The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign:
"After the successful presentation of translations of volume 26 and volume 3, the preparations for editing the third part of our trilogy of the Japanese invasion in the former Dutch East Indies are in a final stage. This includes a complete chapter of volume 5, "Operations in Burma," and large parts of volume 34, "Army Air Drive to the Southern Pacific Area." The goal is to present this work by the end of 2020."

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

For those like myself not already familiar with work of the The Corts Foundation, both of the enormous volumes already published (672 & 784 pages respectively) are available for download, free to all, as open access digital (.PDF) editions. (So you don't have to shell out 80 to 90 euros for each unless a hardback copy is essential for you.) No doubt the third will be also.

A download link for each of the earlier volumes can be found on both The Corts Foundation site and that for the University of Leiden:

"The (Japanese) invasion of the Dutch East Indies" https://www.cortsfoundation.org/nieu...i-sosho-volume
and
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/35184

"The Operations of the (Japanese) Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal" https://www.cortsfoundation.org/news...i-sosho-volume
and also here: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/65910

Mr Kees Corts obviously also believed that in history the best way forward is to share the information.

To avoid wading through the Stone and Stone (very long, very specialised and ultra narrow viewpoint, with 50% comprising quotations) review, brief synopses for the published volumes taken from these web sites are:

for the first "The present book is the first complete and unabridged translation of a volume from the comprehensive Senshi Sōsho series. It enables military historians and the general public to see and study for the first time how the operation that put an end to Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia was planned and executed."

and for the second "The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal, volume 26 of the series, describes the Japanese Navy’s role in the campaign to gain control over the Indonesian archipelago – at that time the largest transoceanic landing operation in the military history of the world. It includes, among others, the first complete Japanese analysis of the Battle of the Java Sea, a much-debated battle that ended disastrously for the Allies and opened the way to Java for the Japanese." So this volume includes full coverage in the final chapter (IX starting at p.565 and ending p.659) of the raid by IJN's 1st, 2nd & 5th Carrier Divisions to Ceylon and into the Bay of Bengal. ("The Southern Task Force shall conduct the third carrier operation in the following way: it shall destroy the enemy power in the Ceylon area in a surprise attack, while striving to ensure a perfect escort at sea for [the forces of] the Burma operation.")

For background on this historical project a good start point is the landing page of The Corts Foundation web site: https://www.cortsfoundation.org/

I suspect all of the above may only be new for me. However, my purpose here is to highlight that even though these immense volumes are very much pitched at a specialist readership, the fact that they are free resources also makes them readily availabe as an invaluable reference tool for those who wish only to take the odd dip into these waters.

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

Print copies in the U.S. are handled by the University of Chicago Press.

It's hard to beat "free download" for such an expertly produced piece of history but for all who want a hardback copy for their personal library there is good value here when considering page count and cost

The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies
(University of Chicago Press 2015)
Edited and Translated by Willem Remmelink
Distributed for Leiden University Press
Compiled by the War History Office of the National Defense College of Japan
672 page with illustrations - hardback
$87.50

The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal
(University of Chicago Press October 2018)
Edited by Willem Remmelink
Distributed for Leiden University Press
Compiled by the War History Office of the National Defense College of Japan
696 pages w/ illustrations - hardback
$89

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books...o23349569.html

https://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/b...o31289684.html

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

Thank you. I prefer printed books.


Ed

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

So do I, Ed, almost every time.

Perhaps my point slipped by you? I don't have 200 dollars or even euros burning a hole in my pocket. Nor do I have the shelf space for a couple of very large volumes that are of relatively peripheral significance to me, or where I am only really interested in a few sections of the text.

However, I do have space for these as PDF files and am perfectly prepared to accept with open arms the open access terms. Together those mean that I can use these texts even though I would have probably only bought them as books once I have my lottery jackpot safely in the bank and have moved into my new mansion. In other words they are now in the reach of everybody, everywhere, for free instead of having to arrange a trek to a specialist library. To my way of thinking that is a distinct plus. (And you get to electronically search large acreages of text very quickly.)

Agreed also, the standards of electronic publishing are often execrable. (Books scanned and checked by people that cannot even read English, and work signed off and paid for by people that haven’t even read it over.) However, in this case a university has been involved in the preparation of the electronic text and that lifts the product above the normal flotsam.

The campaign in the Netherlands East Indies is a relatively narrow interest, and probably for most of us where it would lead is of considerably more relevance. So it's worth pointing out here that the next part of the story can also be found as a gratis download in the shape of 'Army operations in the South Pacific area: Papua campaigns, 1942–1943' on the website of the Australian War Memorial:
http://ajrp.awm.gov.au/ajrp/ajrp2.ns...e?OpenDocument.
“This book is a translation of sections of the Japanese official history (Senshi sôsho), covering the invasion of Rabaul, the battles along the Kokoda Trail and at Milne Bay, and the destruction of the Japanese forces at Buna, Gona and Giruwa in northern Papua.”
Unfortunately, in this case the translator seems to have no familiarity with any military or aviation terminology but you can 'get' most of the story. (‘airbase unit’ clearly means a land-based naval air unit but what, oh, what is an ‘establishment unit’? From the composition maybe an airbase construction unit?)
Certainly, with this text you can track how the cutting edge of the southern advance, the 24th Air Flotilla was replaced by the new 25th Flotilla from 1st April, 1942. The planning was then for the 25th to be replaced by the 26th Air Flotilla during August 1942 but the American landings on Guadalcanal and Tavutu went and upset things.

Lots of joy here then for those that wish to dig and delve and learn a lot!

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

No, your point was clear. I recommend caution. Rarely are things truly free as regards downloads from the internet. I prefer no unwanted code on my computer.


Ed

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

This is quite a feat on the part of the Dutch. The Senshi Sosho volumes were written in a peculiar classical form of old Japanese that was not taught in Japanese schools after 1945. So not only is reading and translating these volumes extremely difficult for foreigners but also for Japanese born prior to 1935 or so.

For those interested, the Australians have also translated several volumes of this work, particularly the volumes concerning New Guinea. IIRC, more information can be found on the Australian War Memorial website.

L.

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

I'd say that too many taking the option of free pdf might jeopardise further volumes ever appearing.

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

Ed, I place my faith in ESET. It blocks downloads of any files where it detects a threat. Any files I have any suspicions of I also scan manually with it. ESET updates itself several times a day. If there is code in there rather than data it has a very good track record of finding and neutralizing it. And then regular scans of everything and regular backups.
At least with PDFs we are talking about a standard file format that is not tied tightly into any specific hardware or a set of T&Cs from amazon or apple etc. that can be changed on you at a moment's notice.

Thank you, very much for that insight on the changing styles of written Japanese, Larry. Most informative. I had no idea. Your recollection is pretty accurate. We are talking about the same item, although the Australians say they actually took sections of Senshi soshu (maybe from more than one volume?) and brought them together into their single work 'Japanese army operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua campaigns, 1942–43.' However, all together this book is only 232 pages long. (A bound version is also available at a very reasonable price.)

Jukka, it's worth reading up on open access and the non-onerous restrictions of this licensing. Something relatively new on the landscape, but a valuable addition.

To your fears, the endowment of The Corts Foundation funds these open access arrangements. Part of the Foundation's Mission Statement is "To fund research and the publication and translation of books". It exists to make the information as accessible as possible, not to turn a profit. So it's very different to the normal publishing model.

Re: The Struggle in Sumatra and the Air Campaign
 

For all interested in the history of the air war over Java & Sumatra - forthcoming from William H. Bartsch in 2020,

Desperate Gambit: Project X and American Airmen in the Dutch East Indies, 1941-42

It will include extensive coverage of the B-17 crews of the 7th and 19th Bomb Groups (+some LB-30 crews).


http://www.writingthepacificwar.com/index.html