Posted on 06/03/2019 2:32:07 AM PDT by Jacquerie
Why was Midway such a critical victory? First, the fact that the U.S. Navy lost just one carrier at Midway meant that four carriers (Enterprise, Hornet, Saratoga, and Wasp) were available when the U.S. Navy went on the offensive during the Guadalcanal campaign that began the first week of August 1942. Second, the march of the Imperial Japanese Navy across the Pacific was halted at Midway and never restarted. After Midway, the Japanese would react to the Americans, and not the other way around. In the language of the Naval War College, the “operational initiative” had passed from the Japanese to the Americans. Third, the victory at Midway aided allied strategy worldwide.
That last point needs some explaining. To understand it, begin by putting yourself in the shoes of President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the beginning of May 1942. The military outlook across the world appears very bad for the Allies. The German army is smashing a Soviet offensive to regain Kharkov, and soon will begin a drive to grab the Soviet Union’s oil supplies in the Caucasus. A German and Italian force in North Africa is threatening the Suez Canal. The Japanese have seriously crippled the Pacific Fleet, driven Britain’s Royal Navy out of the Indian Ocean, and threaten to link up with the Germans in the Middle East.
If the Japanese and the Germans do link up, they will cut the British and American supply line through Iran to the Soviet Union, and they may pull the British and French colonies in the Middle East into the Axis orbit. If that happens, Britain may lose control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Soviet Union may negotiate an armistice with Germany.
(Excerpt) Read more at warontherocks.com ...
My Dad was in that battle on a destroyer. Truly the greatest generation.
Even then, the inexperienced pilots almost expended all their efforts on just one carrier - but McCluskey recognized the error at the last second and diverted others to two other carriers.
That victory was a gift from God and razor-thin.
Midway was one of the most important US naval battles of all time. The two most important game changers were not what the author of the article perceives.
The loss of experienced veteran Japanese naval aviators at Midway changed the air war and carrier war in the South Pacific onward. The most experienced carrier pilots in the world were lost, and because of a lack of effective training programs before and after, the experience was never recovered.
The loss at Midway by the Japanese gave the United States time. That was time to turn it’s industrial might into military equipment. By 1945, the US produced more military equipment than the rest of the world....COMBINED. The Japanese could never win a protracted war against such industry, they knew it, even if we had not realized it at the time. Midway deprived them of them of the initiative by allowing the US to gear up, and the Japanese not having the air superiority that they had enjoyed early in the war.
Good points. I would also add that it gave the US confidence. The only hope Japan ever really had was that the US would lose a few battles early on (as we did: we lost all of them) and that the US politicians and public would decide, “Hey, we can’t win this thing”.
After Midway, everyone in America was thinking, “We can win this.”
Japan’s only hope was gone.
bkmk
Those 5 minutes changed the world...
Your point about the loss of experienced aviators is an often overlooked point. In the subsequent carrier engagements in both the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and The Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the degradation in both the tenacious persistence and technical bombing ability (accuracy) of the Japanese attackers (when compared to Midway and before) was evident to the Americans being attacked. The Americans being attacked could see the difference.
Also often overlooked are the flaws in fundamental damage control design of the IJN vessels, the substandard training and implementation of damage control on those vessels, and the inability of Japanese shipyards to turn around repairs on damaged vessels.
A great book (Though hard to find) is “Shattered Sword” which discusses at length the poor Japanese approach to damage control design, training and implementation.
There is no doubt that the Japanese sailors had plenty of guts and determination when attempting to counter battle damage and fires, but the horrible design of damage control systems in terms of communication and firefighting aboard IJN ships worked against them. One well placed bomb could take out half the firefighting capability on a Japanese fleet carrier! (which as I recall, happened to at least one of the IJN carriers (Akagi?) at Midway...)
The design of the ships also impeded the ability of damage control teams to move about the ships. One of the carriers was designed with main passageways that were only four feet from deck to overhead, so that people laden with equipment had to crouch the entire way. I just cannot imagine that.
We were lucky at the Battle of Midway. But we had to be, we had a lot of things stacked against us. Even WITH some knowledge of IJN movements, that alone wouldn’t have been enough.
So absolutely, we were lucky. We made the most of our luck.
Don’t forget the “Thatch Weave,” which allowed U.S.pilots in inferior planes to chew up the Japanese Zeros.
Permutations and variations of the “Thatch Weave” are still in use today.
The Battle of Midway was a great thing, but don’t think there was any question about who was going to win the war. The Japs had a great front line, but they had no depth.
Yamamoto speculating on the results of an attack on Pearl Harbor: “In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.”
He was right, it was six months.
Churchill reflecting on having heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor: “Now at this very moment I knew that the United States was in the war .... So we had won after all! ... Hitler’s fate was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to a powder. All the rest was merely the proper application of overwhelming force.”
He was right, it was overwhelming force.
But that luck was the residue of good planning and tactics and, yes, heroism.
Oh, don’t get me wrong… I’m a big believer in making your own luck… I believe that we made our own luck and took advantage of it!
That doesn’t happen without planning and execution… :-)
“He was right, it was overwhelming force.”
*
You’re right. But, it’s beneficial to keep a few things in mind.
*if not for the bombs (little boy, fat man) we would have been faced with a couple of unfavorable alternatives; invade with the probability of as many as 500,000 casualties or more. Or, accept a negotiated peace.
*in the European Theatre; we were the arsenal for the allies and the Soviets provided the troops. They were the meat grinder that chewed up German troops, about 20M. Not to belittle American sacrifices, I lost an uncle and older cousin, but our 400,000 casualties in both theaters is small when compared to Soviet losses. However, without us the Nazis would have conquered Europe and forced the UK to capitulate and accept some sort of negotiated settlement which Hitler would have violated at first opportunity for sure. So, I’m not minimizing the US role.
Gotcha.
You are correct, “Shattered Sword” is a very good addition to the other literature on the battle of Midway.
One of the authors gave a 50 minute presentation which is well worth the watch as he raises some very interesting and contrary opinions on how it all played out.
Go here and enjoy: https://youtu.be/Y9rkKtK1b44
Ah, excellent! I am looking forward to watching it tonight.
I have to buy a copy of the book as well. It is one that I want to own...with books like this, I usually get the physical book, the audio book, and the Kindle version that I can mark up for reference.
It is that good.
not only pilots, most of those experienced Japanese engine and airframes mechanics went down with their ships.
Never heard of this “Thatch Weave” thing. Care to help us out, briefly? TIA.
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