Fortnight of Infamy

Fortnight of Infamy : The Collapse of Allied Airpower West of Pearl Harbor, December 1941

While America was preoccupied with the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, an even greater tragedy was unfolding across South East Asia. From Wake Island to Burma, the Empire of Japan opened the largest front in the history of warfare: an aircraft-driven invasion of colonial possessions throughout the Far East that crumbled the entire Western imperial legacy of the nineteenth century.

Events during the first two weeks of battle set the stage for the greatest military defeats America and Great Britain have suffered during any conflict. Fortnight of Infamy offers the first comprehensive overview of the collapse of Allied air forces during the period between 8 and 24 December 1941. Written for a wide audience, it gives readers both a cockpit view of the desperate actions that took place and an understanding of why such heavy losses occurred. The narrative account includes enough detail and analysis to hold the interest of serious students of Pacific War aviation and enough exciting descriptions of air combat to attract those with little knowledge of the subject.

Explaining how and why the Japanese were able to win a quick victory, John Burton points to US failures in the concepts for employment of airpower and a significant underestimation of Japanese ‘air-mindedness’ and aviation capabilities, failures that resulted in the loss or surrender of more than 200,000 troops at Bataan and Singapore.

John Burton
Hardcover 351 pages