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To: moonshot925

Actually it’s dubious that the Japanese could have actually captured Midway had they won the naval battle.

They didn’t do very well in the very limited number of OPPOSED amphibious assaults they tried in WWII; they were repulsed in the first assault at Wake, for example. They almost were beaten when they landed on Corregidor.
Everywhere else they just walked unopposed on to beaches, for the most part.

Midway was chock-full of very angry, very well armed, very well dug in pre-war Marines; it was VERY difficult to get in the Marines prior to the war because the service was so small, and so many guys wanted to because of the Depression.

The Japanese didn’t really bring enough troops to overcome the Midway defenses.


93 posted on 06/05/2012 4:02:11 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: Strategerist
The Japanese didn’t really bring enough troops to overcome the Midway defenses.

That's an understatement. The Japanese attack force was out numbered by the defenders.

A Japanese invasion of Midway would have been a slaughter. The only fire support would have been some cruisers, the Japanese battleships having mostly Armor piercing ammunition, not high explosive, making them useless. The fire support could not stay long because of fuel issues.

Midway was a fortress with IIRC, 7 inch and 5 inch guns, tanks, a PT Squadron, mines, several thousand marines, and no weak spots.

104 posted on 06/05/2012 4:20:07 PM PDT by GreenLanternCorps ("Barack Obama" is Swahili for "Jimmy Carter".)
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