title: Battle of the Bismarck Sea
author:  Lex McAulay 
description: How significant could a single, three-day World War II air-sea battle be when considering the entire history of the war? McAulay succeeds in highlighting this battle in his exciting story set in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) of the war. McAulay first sets the stage for the battle and then vividly presents the action from the perspective of the American and Australian pilots and Japanese sailors who fought and died in the carnage. This contribution to military history reminds us that war in the air and on the sea is no less horrific than on the ground. The battle was a solid defeat for the Japanese and further entrenched Allied air power in the SWPA, speeding up the eventual successful end of the war. The role of Allied 5th Air Force Commander Kenney in this successful campaign is also a useful addition to the massive material on World War II. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.<br /><i>- Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.</i><br />Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: ^ A BANTAM WAR BOOK p
  STIRRING SEA ACTION—
  THE CHASE AND SINKING OF
  THE BISMARCK
  WSBSm
  BY LUDOVIC KENNEDY
  SPECIALLY ILLUSTRATED EDITION
  I
  
  THE ENEMY IN SIGHT
  The minutes passed,
  agonizingly slowly: any moment
  now
  they
  would
  see
  the
  great
  ship which
  until
  this
  moment had been to
  all of them only a name. No one
  on
  the bridge
  said anything, every eye,
  eve-
  pair of
  binoculars was trained to starboard: there was no sound
  but the bows slicing the water and the wind tearing and
  snatching at the halyards. Then, from above, came the
  voice,
  a
  thin, reedy
  cry,
  but no doubting
  its urgency:
  '*Enemy in sight!''
  The
  14-inch guns
  in their huge turrets began swinging
  round. From below the rim of the horizon the tops of
  two
  masts
  appeared,
  the
  superstructures
  of the
  ships
  themselves. Black they seemed in the dawn light, black
  and
  sinister and powerful.
  This was the enemy, come
  out of its
  lair, and to those in the British ships who had
  never seen a German warship before, there was some-
  thing
  evil
  in
  the