Battle of Midway Reference

I am looking books/ references that are the most authoratative and accurate descriptions of the Battle of Midway. Does Prange's book, Battle of Midway fit the bill? Are there better ones? Thanks folks.

 

One of the latest, and possibly definitive book, on Midway is Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully (a 600 page monster) haven't finished it yet but it beats all other accounts I've read for the sheer amount of detail and balanced usage of Japanese sources as well as US ones.

 

A small Midway bibliography:

A Glorious Page in Our History by Robert Cressman, Steve Ewing, et. al.(1990)
The First Team - Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway by John Lundstrom (1984; revised 2nd edition 1990)
Shattered Sword: the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully (2005)
Miracle at Midway by Gordon W. Prange (1982)
Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal by John Lundstrom (2006)
Incredible Victory by Walter Lord (1967)
That Gallant Ship by Robert Cressman (1985 reprint 2000)
The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway U.S. Navy publication OPNAV P32-1002 (1947)
Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway
The Last Flight of Ensign C. Markland Kelly, Junior, USNR by Bowen P. Weisheit (1996)
No Right to Win: a Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway by Ronald W. Russell (2006)
Marines at Midway by R. D. Heinl (1948) USMC Monograph: Marines at Midway
A Dawn Like Thunder: the True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight by Robert Mrazek (2008)
Battle Report, Volume III, Pacific War Middle Phase by Walter Karig (1947)
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV, Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 - August 1942 by Samuel E. Morison (1950)
Midway Inquest: Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway by Dallas W. Isom (2007)
The Big E by Edward P. Stafford (1960)
The Unknown Battle of Midway: the Death of the Torpedo Squadrons by Alvin Kernan (2005)
Midway: Turning Point of the Pacific by VADM William Ward Smith (1966)
Rendezvous at Midway: USS Yorktown and the Japanese Carrier Fleet by Pat Frank and Joseph D. Harrington (1967)
They Turned the War Around at Coral Sea and Midway by Stuart Ludlum (2000)
SBD-3 Dauntless; the Battle of Midway by Daniel Hernandez (2002)
Midway: the Battle That Doomed Japan by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya (1955)

Others of interest and bearing on the subject of Midway:
And I Was There by Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton (1985)
Destined for Glory - Dive bombing, Midway, and the Evolution of Carrier Air Power by Tom Wildenberg (1998)
Double-Edged Secrets by Captain C. Jasper Holmes (1979)
Combined Fleet Decoded by John Prados (1995)
A Priceless Advantage by Frederick D. Parker (1993) http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/PTO/...a/Forward.html
A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy by Paul Dull (1978)
Sunburst - The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941 by Mark Peattie (2002)
The Barrier and the Javelin: Japanese and Allied Strategy, February-June 1942 by H. P. Willmott (1983)
Thach Weave - The Life of Jimmie Thach by Steve Ewing (2004)

Then there's actual reports:

Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Serial 01849 of 28 June 1942
Battle of Midway: 4-7 June 1942

Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet, Serial 01753 of 21 June 1942
Battle of Midway: Interrogation of Japanese Prisoners

Commander Cruisers, Pacific Fleet of 14 June 1942
Battle of Midway: ComCruPacFlt Report

Commander Task Force SIXTEEN, Serial 0144A of 16 June 1942
Battle of Midway: TF 16 Action Report

Commanding Officer, USS Hornet, Serial 0018 of 13 June 1942
Battle of Midway: USS Hornet Action Report

Commanding Officer, USS Enterprise, Serial 0133 of 8 June 1942
Battle of Midway: USS Enterprise Action Report

Commanding Officer, USS Yorktown, of 18 June 1942
Battle of Midway: USS Yorktown Action Report

Commander Destroyer Squadron SIX, Pacific Fleet, Serial 094 of 12 June 1942
Battle of Midway: Commander Destroyer Squadron Six Action Report

Commanding Officer, USS Hammann, Serial 2 of 16 June 1942
Battle of Midway: USS Hammann (DD-412) Action Report

VB-6 (Penland) ACA on carrier attack, Battle of Midway, 4 June 1942
Midway- Bombing Squadron 6

U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), BOMB AND TORPEDO DAMAGE - Coral Sea, May 8, 1942
http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/museum/War_Damage/23.pdf
Photos
http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/cgi-bin/War...ls=3&PgConst=9

U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5), BOMB AND TORPEDO DAMAGE - Midway, June 4 to 7, 1942
http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/mc/museum/War_Damage/25.pdf
Photos
http://www.dcfp.navy.mil/cgi-bin/War...ls=3&PgConst=7

Other interesting damage reports
WWII WAR DAMAGE REPORTS

NAVAL ANALYSIS DIVISION Interrogations of Japanese Officials OPNAV-P-03-100
(Not just Midway)
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/AAF/...IJO/index.html

VB-3
Comcast

NAS Midway (these are page by page, individual downloads)
WWW.PBY.COM Archive Documents: NAS/NOB Midway

VP recommendations for decorations (these are page by page, individual downloads)
WWW.PBY.COM Archive Documents: NAS/NOB Midway

VP folks memos noting awards of medals (these are page by page, individual downloads)
WWW.PBY.COM Archive Documents: NAS/NOB Midway

NAS Midway documents / war diary May 42 (these are page by page, individual downloads)
http://www.pby.com/Archives.nsf/NASM...enView&Start=1

MAG 22 (Kimes) report
Comcast

MAG 22 (McCaul) report
Comcast
(missing the last two lines on last page: “- - - to tell what happened to the remainder of his unit nor the results obtained by their attack.”

VMF-221 report
Comcast

VMSB-241 report
Comcast

VT-6 Laub ACA
Torpedo Six Action Report: 4 June 1942

VS-6 report
http://www.cv6.org/ship/logs/action1...vs6.htm#fourth

VB-5 report
Comcast

 

Remarkable list and I thank you. Severl of the books are familiar and a few I even have. But I was wondering if there is a book or two that might stand out for accuracy and illumination.

Thanks for taking the trouble.

TONY

 

For Accuracy and Illumination?

A Glorious Page in Our History

The First Team - Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway

Shattered Sword: the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Black Shoe Carrier Admiral: Frank Jack Fletcher at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal

and

No Right to Win: a Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway

Are among the best and not necessarily in that order. Were someone to say which one of these would I want, my reply would by any one of them (and I do, already, have all of them). I do have my personal favorite, but that's just a personal inclination and absolutely nothing to do with the quality of contents.

Rich