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On June 4-6, 1942, American naval forces in the Battle of Midway destroyed Japan's four front-line aircraft carriers and other ships, resulting in the Japanese reverting to a defensive role for the rest of the Pacific war, never to make another offensive attack; and starting the long road to their eventual defeat in 1945.
Two major factors led to the American victory:
1.) Decryption of secret Japanese radio codes that enabled the Americans to find out details of the oncoming Japanese attack;
2.) Incredible courage of the pilots of American torpedo bombers on June 4, who found themselves attacking front-line Japanese ships defended by highly-trained, experienced pilots flying vastly superior Zero fighters. The American torpedo bombers nonetheless pressed home their attacks, and were virtally wiped out while scoring NO torpedo hits on the ships... but served to draw the Japanese fighters down to low altitude and allowing higher-altitude dive bombers unopposed access to the Japanese carriers, sinking three and getting the fourth one a day later. Due to problems during launch and ensuing radio silence, the torpedo bomber pilots could not have known of the timely approach of the American dive bombers, which makes their selfless sacrifice even more amazingly heroic.
Six Japanese carriers had attacked Pearl Harbor to draw America into the war. Two of them were damage a few months later in the Battle of the Coral Sea, ands so were not included in the Midway attack. Of the four carriers America had (fortunately not in port on Dec. 7, 1941), one (Lexington) was sunk in the Coral Sea battle and another (Yorktown) damaged. Unlike the Japanese, the Americans patched the Yorktown together to enable it to fight at Midway, where it was eventually sunk after delivering air strikes on the four Japanese carriers.
Damage control on the Yorktown, decryption of the secret Japanese radio codes, and above all the incredible courage and sacrifice of the American torpedo bombers from the carriers Yorktown, Hornet, and Enterprise turned the tide of the battle. The Japanese called off their invasion of Midway, and their forces never recovered from the loss of their four front-line carriers and all their squadrons of seasoned, experienced fighter and bomber aircraft and crews.
On June 4-6, 1942, American naval forces in the Battle of Midway destroyed Japan's four front-line aircraft carriers and other ships, resulting in the Japanese reverting to a defensive role for the rest of the Pacific war, never to make another offensive attack; and starting the long road to their eventual defeat in 1945.
Two major factors led to the American victory:
1.) Decryption of secret Japanese radio codes that enabled the Americans to find out details of the oncoming Japanese attack;
2.) Incredible courage of the pilots of American torpedo bombers on June 4, who found themselves attacking front-line Japanese ships defended by highly-trained, experienced pilots flying vastly superior Zero fighters. The American torpedo bombers nonetheless pressed home their attacks, and were virtally wiped out while scoring NO torpedo hits on the ships... but served to draw the Japanese fighters down to low altitude and allowing higher-altitude dive bombers unopposed access to the Japanese carriers, sinking three and getting the fourth one a day later. Due to problems during launch and ensuing radio silence, the torpedo bomber pilots could not have known of the timely approach of the American dive bombers, which makes their selfless sacrifice even more amazingly heroic.
Six Japanese carriers had attacked Pearl Harbor to draw America into the war. Two of them were damage a few months later in the Battle of the Coral Sea, ands so were not included in the Midway attack. Of the four carriers America had (fortunately not in port on Dec. 7, 1941), one (Lexington) was sunk in the Coral Sea battle and another (Yorktown) damaged. Unlike the Japanese, the Americans patched the Yorktown together to enable it to fight at Midway, where it was eventually sunk after delivering air strikes on the four Japanese carriers.
Damage control on the Yorktown, decryption of the secret Japanese radio codes, and above all the incredible courage and sacrifice of the American torpedo bombers from the carriers Yorktown, Hornet, and Enterprise turned the tide of the battle. The Japanese called off their invasion of Midway, and their forces never recovered from the loss of their four front-line carriers and all their squadrons of seasoned, experienced fighter and bomber aircraft and crews.
The Battle of Midway is an amazing display of courage...and luck. Not only was the Japanese combat air patrol busy engaging torpedo planes at low level, but Yamamoto's carriers decks were full of aircraft that had returned from the initial raid on Midway. They were first armed with bombs with plans to do a second attack on the islands, when the US carriers were sighted. The order was given to re-arm them with torpedoes, which were more effective against ships. The US attacks coincided with them being rearmed, with the decks clogged with planes, fuel, bombs and torpedos. IIRC the Soryu, Akagi and Kagi were sunk with the first US attack. The remaining Japanese carrier, Hiryu, launched an attack on the Yorktown, damaging it severely, before being sunk by planes from the Hornet and Enterprise.
The Zero was a very capable fighter, especially in terms of maneuverability. However, it got that by being very light in weight. The Japanese sacrificed things we considered necessary on any fighter, armor plating behind the pilot, and self-sealing fuel tanks. These features made their designs very vulnerable and cost a lot of their best, most experienced pilots.
I salute the Naval Aviators on both sides of that horror show. Bravery is not limited to one side. We were very lucky our cariers were not at Pearl during the raid and that the Japanese did not hunt them down after.
The Zero was a very capable fighter, especially in terms of maneuverability. However, it got that by being very light in weight. The Japanese sacrificed things we considered necessary on any fighter, armor plating behind the pilot, and self-sealing fuel tanks. These features made their designs very vulnerable and cost a lot of their best, most experienced pilots.
Most of them also lacked radios, also removed for light weight.
And IIRC, the Japanese ships also had no radar capability, to warn them of approaching aircraft and/or let them know of the presence of enemy ships. I'm not sure if the American ships had radar or not.
Later in the war, the Americans developed new fighters designed especially to combat the Zero, such as the Hellcat and the Corsair. They had larger engines, the armor plate and self-sealing tanks you mentioned... and more and bigger guns. They could outspeed, outclimb, and out-dive the Zero, and when their bullet hit the Zero it tended to break up and/or explode in flames.
But none of that mattered at Midway, where none of those planes were available yet. The Zero was superior to anything it faced, and no American plane could hold it in their sights long enough to score many hits.
Yet even as they watched their friends blown out of the sky one after another, those American torpedo bombers (slower and much less maneuverable than the Zeros, and forced to fly a low, slow, straight course to aim their torpedos) kept boring in at the huge Japanese ships anyway. Out of 36 torpedo bombers (all the Americans had) that attacked that day, I believe two from one squadron and one from another, made it back to their ships. ALL the rest were destroyed... and yet they kept attacking anyway, until they died.
Simply incredible. I don't know if I would have had the guts to do what they did.
And it was because of them, above all else, that the tide of the battle (and the entire Pacific war) turned.
Last edited by Little-Acorn; 06-04-2012 at 01:07 PM..
Thank you for this keen reminder of how much we truly owe the Greatest Generation.
We likely won't be seeing too many liberal OWS slackers in this thread giving their thanks, or even giving a damn.
You just couldn't refrain from interjecting politics into the equation, could you. Yet wasn't it a "liberal" president who led our country to war and victory? Probably the same president you despise for his "liberal" policies.
You just couldn't refrain from interjecting politics into the equation, could you. Yet wasn't it a "liberal" president who led our country to war and victory? Probably the same president you despise for his "liberal" policies.
There's quite a bit of evidence that shows that FDR not only knew about the Pearl Harbor attack before it occurred but that he decided to let it happen to so that he could garner the support from the isolationist Americans to enter the war.
The fact that he moved ships around right before the attack doesn't help either.
Also it should be mentioned the damning predictions from Gen. William Mitchell in 1924:
Quote:
Afterward, Mitchell made an inspection tour of the Pacific and the Far East, after which he made his famous prediction that the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor on a Sunday morning.
Attack will be launched as follows:
Bombardment, attack to be made on Ford Island (in Pearl Harbor) at 7:30 a.m. ... Attack to be made on Clark Field (Philippines) at 10:40 a.m.
On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. and Clark Field just hours later.
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