Posted on 06/04/2007 2:29:23 AM PDT by Zakeet
The Battle of Midway was a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It took place from June 4 to June 7, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, about five months after the Japanese capture of Wake Island, and six months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that had led to a formal state of war between the United States and Japan. During the battle, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll (located northwest of Hawaii) and destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser while losing a carrier and a destroyer.
The battle was a crushing defeat for the Japanese and is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of World War II. The battle permanently weakened the Japanese Navy, particularly through the loss of over 200 naval aviators. Strategically, the U.S. Navy was able to seize the initiative in the Pacific and go on the offensive.
Much more information about this decisive battle can be found HERE and HERE.
There also would have been a constant reporting of the number of American casualties, proclaimed like a sports score, that the leftist media has played incessantly since the Viet Nam war, and continues to this day with Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t expect the media not to report our losses, but the incessant reporting of troop deaths, over and over and over again, and the gleeful trumpeting of milestone troop deaths (such as the 3,000th soldier killed in Iraq) makes me filled with rage and anger at our useless and sycophantic mass media.
And, is our “real world” training and simulation now (under all the limits of “safety” and OSHA and bureaucracy) reveal the problems that real war (not a phony politician’s “war” and ROE under the democrat’s media’s eye of reality TV)?
It’s better now: but under Carter? Under Clinton (again?) will we be training effectively?
Thats a bunch of crap.Id like to have someone tell me that face to face.I would “straighten” that ill informed person out.
Depending on which version of the historical record you believe, she either fired a full spread of topedoes that detonated against the carrier Soryu or didn't detonate against Kaga.
Short life: 1939 - June, 1942.
It turned the tide a lot quicker than was thought possible. Stalingrad was bigger. Bad time for Fascists.
The Sleeping Giant quote doesn't really have any reference. Most historians believe that it was an invention made by the media or filmmakers after the war. And the US certainly wasn't a giant at the Battle of Midway. The US Navy was outnumbered, outgunned, had less trained pilots, had less capable aircraft, etc. But thankfully, we were able to crack the Japanese code and with some genius planning and heroic sacrifice we were able to take out 4 Japanese carriers. If the Japanese would have succeeded in their plans at Midway there would have been 9 Japanese carriers to 0 US carriers. The West coast of the US would have been defenseless. Two realistic options would exist: ceasefire in the Pacific, or abandoning the Europe first strategy. Mentioning the so called "Sleeping Giant" quote only makes it look like the US position was less tenuous than it was and that defeat in the Pacific was impossible. It was very possible. On the morning of June 4, 1942 I doubt any betting man would have placed his bets on the US Navy which had no battleships and only 3 carriers in the Pacific.
The sleeping Giant statement may not be true.The industrial might of America is not open to debate.I agree we were fortunate to have great men that broke the jap code in Hawaii.The topedo planes were to go in low and draw the fighter cover down just above the waves.(tactics) The dive bombers arrived several minutes later and pushed over unapposed for the most part and struck the jap carriers.Tactics again.We caught the enemy in a moment of indicisivness as to what to reload their aircraft with and that doomed their carrier fleet over the next two days.
According to the Chicago Sunday Times Tribune, August 15 (or thereabouts), 1945, General MacArthur had sent to Washington the Japanese terms of surrender SEVEN MONTHS prior! In addition, according to the article, five official offers through American channels and two offers of surrender through British channels. MacArthur’s offers were not taken seriously. I just read the article today and it said that a Washington politician said, “MacArthur is a great general but a poor politician.”
Why didn’t the U.S. take up Japan’s offer of surrender in the early part of 1945 instead of killing millions of Japanese with the atomic bombs in June?
There was a tremendous program on the Battle of Midway (I believe) on the History Channel about the planes America used to turn the tide. I would love to get a copy of the program because it demonstrated how, in the early days of the war, the Jap Zeros were more efficent than the American planes. Then a Zero was captured in whole, sent back to the states where they found its weaknesses as well as strengths. Afterwards, the Hellcat fighter came out and, for every one Hellcat that was lost, 19 Zeros were shot out of the sky. God bless those pilots and their courage!
With regard to media abuse, both then and now, check out my Midway Dauntless Victory on Amazon, I devote an Appendix to it - things have not got any better since then.
Peter C Smith
http://dive-bombers.co.uk/MidwayVictory.htm
Bumping this thread to remember these valiant sailors, soldiers and Marines!
I wish Robert Ballard would go back out to Midway and look for her. He found the Yorktown a few years ago but was unable to locate any of the Japanese carriers.
The United States Navy suffered another blow in its attempt to stem the Japanese juggernaut ravaging the Pacific Ocean. Midway Island, perhaps the most vital U.S. outpost, was pummeled by Japanese Naval aviators. The defending U.S. forces, consisting primarily of antique Buffalo fighters, were competely wiped out while the Japanese attackers suffered few, if any, losses.
OR THEY MIGHT HAVE SAID:
MIDWAY ISLAND, “AN ENVIRONMENTAL EDEN” ACCORDING TO NATURALISTS OWING TO ITS ROLE AS THE SINGLE LARGEST BREEDING GROUND FOR PACIFIC KRILL AND POLYNESIAN PLANKTON, NOT TO MENTION THE MAIN GROWTH AREA FOR 300+ SPECIES OF SEAWEED, SUFFERED IRREPLACEABLE ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE IN THE ATTACK BY US NAVAL FORCES. “WHAT HAVE WE DONE?” SAID ONE UNNAMED DEMOCRAT ON THE HOUSE UNARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE. “IT CAN NEVER BE REPLACED.” THE LOSS OF HABITAT IS ALL THE MORE JARRING BECAUSE THE ATTACK WAS BASED ON QUESTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE PROVIDED BY A MYSTERIOUS “CODE PURPLE” GROUP WITHIN THE NAVY HEADED BY WILLIAM FRIEDMAN, A PURPORTED NEOCON.”
etc. etc.
es
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.