Yep, anyone that hasn’t read “Shattered Sword” doesn’t really know anything about Midway.
In sum, Midway was no miracle. We won Midway because we were better across the board. Better ships, better aircraft, better damage control, etc.
And we weren’t really outnumbered in the key things that matter (total aircraft,etc.) They had one more CV but we had three CVs and an additional unsinkable CV (Midway.)
The really interesting thing is that even if we’d lost the Naval battle, it’s overwhelmingly likely the huge numbers of well-trained, heavily-armed, and dug-in Marines on Midway would have annihilated the Japanese invasion force and they could not have captured the island.
Midway and Battle of the Bulge are probably the two greatest American victories under trying circumstances in both World Wars. Both Germany and Japan made the mistake of thinking our troops were weak and couldn’t handle adversity.
Walter Lord’s book is probably the best account of Midway I have read. Battle: The Story of the Bulge is the best on that battle. Both are amazing accounts of bravery, skill and luck (both good and bad) that were part of these amazing victories.
Who wrote that, would be interested to read.
“The battle is won, or lost, before the first arrow is fired.”
That said, flying 100 mph with Zeros on your tail......those were men to be proud of.