Posted on 06/04/2015 8:49:14 AM PDT by Retain Mike
“...The dry-dock, repair shops, and tank farm were intact. The carriers, their escorts, and the submarines stood ready to take the offensive...”
And right there you see, even through the Havoc that Japanese naval air assets DID create, the mistake that they made.
There’s an amazing book that was published some years ago - “Descent into Darkness” - that details the salavage divers and their efforts to refloat and repair the battleships. Oklahoma was pulled right-side up by those same facilities that were not destroyed.
Worth the read if you can find it.
Also, breaking their codes and being able to read the Japs’ mail helped big time.
We really should have tried to understand the Japanese and offer them jobs...
My dad was just an infant at the time, so I was still many years from being born. But for some reason, the Pacific war … especially this battle … has always garnered my attention.
Thanks for posting this detailed article.
Yes, thanks to you for posting your well written essay.
Edwin T. Layton’s biography ‘And I Was There’ is a must read for background info on Pearl Harbor and Midway. In addition to intelligence information, Layton lays out the Naval bureaucratic infighting that got Joe Rochefort transferred to a dry dock command on the West Coast after his brilliant work predicting the Japanese attack on Midway (the worst sin is being right in the eyes of bureaucrats). Layton’s book shook things up to the extent that Rochefort finally got the official recognition he deserved, albeit in the 1980s.
I look at it as simply giving us something of a fighting chance. The Japanese had a vastly superior force, both numerically and qualitatively. In such a match up, good intel doesn't usually matter.
Remember that we did not win because of the element of surprise. Hours passed without a single hit on the Japanese. We won because brave men continued to press the attack into the jaws of death, from which few of their compatriots were returning.
It is said that the Japanese were overconfident. I don't think so. They had every right to be very confident and expectant of victory. They destroyed most everything that came at them. Japanese aircraft and flyers were world class. But the Americans chose to fight to the death to stop the Japanese, and that shear tenacity was enough to force an opening and deliver victory.
In the annals of warfare, Midway is not a matter of the lucky arrow, but of the inexplicably tenacious warriors.
Victor Davis Hanson, “Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power”
Has a very good chapter on the Battle of Midway.
Midway turned the war in the Pacific. After this decisive battle, it was island-hopping and a terrible terrible grind to August 1945. But the strength of the Japanese Imperial Navy was broken and they never recovered. Hats off to the brave men who fought this battle, especially to the many who did not return.
Yamamoto was dead on with his prediction. After Midway, Japan was basically on the defensive.
bttt
“...We won because brave men continued to press the attack into the jaws of death, from which few of their compatriots were returning....”
True that. On Dad’s side Two of my uncles were Pacific Marines, one was Army. One of Dad’s cousins, 22 years old Marine, never left Iwo Jima. Mom’s side had a Marine there as well.
Dad was Airborne in Europe, fighting the other maniacs.
Our family was well-represented there.
“...In the annals of warfare, Midway is not a matter of the lucky arrow, but of the inexplicably tenacious warriors. ...”
The image of dive bomber pilot Earl Gallaher, looking over his should and saying into the mic “Arizona, I Remember You!” as he watched his bomb explode on Kaga... That is indeed American, Tenacious, and courageous.
THAT’S our People... and always will be.
God bless them.
Shattered Sword is on my to do list. This is an essay I post annually and every year I find something new in my sources. Great idea about use of those Japaese carriers.
I have that book, but just haven’t gotten around to reading it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.