Posted on 06/04/2022 6:51:17 AM PDT by Jacquerie
Like most Freepers, I don’t particularly care for youtube postings.
But in watching this documentary, the rare Freeper with an attention span will take away a deeper appreciation of the events faced by Vice Admiral Nagumo and Rear Admiral Yamaguchi on June 4th.
I suggest scheduling an hour or so when you can view it without interruptions. You’ll want to hit the pause and occasionally rewind to absorb the fateful decisions and fog of war at sea before the widespread use of a new technology called radar.
The Battle of Midway was a closer run thing than the outcome, the annihilation of the Kido Butai suggests. The IJN’s superior experience, training and aircraft almost countered the American intelligence advantage.
The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3).
Why Nagumo didn’t know the location of the American carriers on June 4th. Operation K.
The Japs could have won at Midway if they hadn’t chicked out. The Japanese had an overwhelmingly superior force when they tucked tail and ran. The Main Force and the Invasion Force were largely untouched. The Carrier Strike Force took heavy losses, but the Americans had little left at that point to deal with the two remaining Japanese fleets and the Escort Force. The Northern Force was not well positioned to support, but was roughly equal to what was left of the American forces.
Well done. Definitely worth the watch, and it also serves as a primer on naval and air strategy.
I listened to the first part years ago.
I was very happy when it was finished.
I learned so much from this YouTube videos, I ve watched everything he has produced.
19 year old Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” pilot Taisuke Maruyama torpedoed and sank the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor and hit the USS Yorktown with a torpedo at Midway.
“War Stories” with Oliver North S02:E03 “Battle of Midway” https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/525942/s02-e03-the-battle-of-midway?start=true
fyi: i’ve watched this several times. a complex engagement, so it takes a few times. watch Montemayor’s other vids as well. Very well done. highly recommended.
If the Japanese had attached a light carrier or transferred the air crew of the carrier Shōkaku to the Zuikaku and allowed it to sail with the Kido Butai the results of Midway would have been different. The balance of air power would have been in favor of the Japanese.
PING!
A VERY close run thing. Best book on this is “Shattered Sword.” These guys write like they served in the IJN. A perfect (for us) combination of bad decisions by Nagumo, timing (for different waves of our attackers), and luck (the scout plane not seeing the US carrier fleet).
The Japs got destroyed at Midway. It stopped their expansion across the Pacific.
They got their revenge six months later in The Battle of Iron Bottom Sound six months later off the waters of Guadalcanal.
Worst defeat for the USN in it’s history.
As with Pearl Harbor, the Midway operation depended on surprise.
Operation K failed to ascertain the location of our carriers. Combined with much heavier than usual American radio traffic and aggressive PBY air patrols, I would place the bulk of the blame w/Yamamoto for not accepting that the all-important element of surprise was not likely.
Of course, the loss of face for retreating before joining battle was not going to happen.
I’ll check out Shattered Sword.
Like most Freepers, I don’t particularly care for youtube postings.
I like You Tube.
There seems to be an endless supply of music, movies, tv programs, and educational material on you tube...all for free.
You Tube is my go to place for how to do something. From finding how to use a particular excel command to setting up a gazebo. I have yet to ask how to do something and not find an answer.
Would the Imperialist's and/or the Nazi's been able to stay in power? Would communism still have arisen somewhere else and become prominent? Would the U.S. still have become a superpower, only at a later date?
I think, based on our country's previous trajectory from founding up until WWII, the later of those scenarios would be the most likely.
The Japanese violated principle tenet of warfare by dividing their forces. They could’ve brought Junyo & Ryujo down from Alaska, and even brought Hiyo over from the main force far enough to support Kido Butai. Thats another 60 or 70 aircraft at Nagumo’s disposal.
But then again the Japanese main failing throughout the war was over complex planning.
#13 Plus the radar men would not have been ignored as they were that morning.
Other than gallant Torpedo 8 the handling of the entire Hornet air group was questionable at Midway. Enterprise and Yorktown’s air groups bore the brunt of the battle.
That would have been Nagumo. Yamamato wasn’t on the carriers.
Marc Mitscher fudged his after action report and should have never been bumped up to admiral.
I disagree. Surprise was not necessary at all. Japan had a massive preponderance of power.
1) Yamamoto blundered badly with a vastly overcomplicated plan. He should have massed the fleet at a single eastern point, and moved together, with the carriers.
2) He never should have launched Operation AL. Meaningless, with absolutely no strategic impact, yet it drained two light carriers that would have been crucial from providing CAP while the attack carriers carried out land/sea missions.
3) At the first sign of attack from the air, he could have charged his battleships/cruisers on fast attack at the American fleet. This would have forced significant dilution of the American air attack forces, making them choose to protect their own fleet from heavier sea attack or continue vs carriers. If they did the latter, Yamamoto could have closed and either brought the task forces under his guns or driven them off.
4) It was just as with Pearl Harbor, where a convoluted plan worked.
BTW, I wrote a novel called “Halsey’s Bluff”-—a counterfactual where the Japanese win Midway then all hell breaks loose. I had it fully vetted & endorsed by the Battle of Midway Roundtable vets who read it. I think it’s a pretty good yarn.
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