- A Japanese attack on the US-held Pacific island of Midway triggers an extraordinary chain of events.
- Nobody knew the outcome of Midway. It changed the course of WW II
7th Dec 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. US is at war against the Axis powers. 8 Pacific Fleet battleships are critically damaged or sunk. Japan had superiority in terms of numbers and quality, when the war began. US was the 17th largest military in the world at that time. Kimmel is out. Chester Nimitz takes charge as Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Nimitz is a team player and inspires his troops from the get go. He has 4 ships to stop Japan: Aircraft carriers Lexington, Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown. Japan is taking territory at will. But Nimitz cant lose any more warships Meanwhile Roosevelt wants a headline grabbing operation. He cannot risk as been seen as passive. The plan is to bomb Tokyo, in a raid designed by James Doolittle. But his planes can only be launched in Japanese waters from one of Nimitz's carriers. One launched they will bomb Tokyo and then travel forward to China, where they have to land in Chinese territory, to avoid being captured by the Japs again. The bombers are not designed for carrier takeoff. But the raid takes off and bombs Tokyo. Japan is enraged and makes US carriers a priority target for the Japanese. Some bombs had dropped near the emperor's palace and the entire military command would have to commit suicide, if the emperor was killed on their watch. The emperor was divine.
Yamamoto argues for resources to finish off the US pacific fleet. To entice the US fleet out of Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto attacks Midway, 2 tiny islands midway in the Pacific ocean. But before Midway, Yamamoto gets an opportunity at Coral Sea, near Indonesia, to engage the Pacific fleet. 2 of his carriers are damaged, but Lexington explodes and sinks, while Yorktown is a smoldering wreck and presumably doomed. Japanese start thinking that the Americans are not very clever.
Yamamoto plans an elaborate attack on midway. Carrier planes will attack the Islands defenses and clear the way for ground forces. The attack will trigger the US fleet from Pearl Harbor. By the time the US fleet reaches Midway, Japan will have the Midway airfields and control of the skies. Yamamoto holds a battleship group in reserve. Nagumo is in charge of the carrier force designated to attack the US fleet. But Yamamoto and Nagumo don't like each other. He was a carrier man, and was picked only on the basis of seniority. Meanwhile Joseph Rochefort heads the crypto team at Hawai. Joseph's team intercepted messages talking about an attack on target designated AF. From May 1942, Rochefort remembers that a Jap cargo plane went past a location named "AF" and the only island close to it was Midway. Rochefort is convinced that an attack on Midway is at most a week away. But his report is dismissed.
On 4th June 1942, Japanese fleet approaches Midway. They start attacking the island at 6:20 am, but the Island's bombers are nowhere to be found. Infact, they took off earlier in the day, and now appear directly above the Japanese carrier fleet. The bombers are high altitude B-17 aircraft, which fly at 20,000 ft. The carriers are able to avoid the bombs by simply maneuvering the ships after the bombs were released. The zeroes from Jap carriers destroy the bomber fleet. Nagumo is enraged at the attack, and switches his remaining bombers (which were carrying torpedoes to attack ships) to bombs, to attack Midway Island again. It takes 2 hrs for the switch. But 30 mins later at 7:40 am, his reconnaissance planes spot a unidentified US warship near Midway. Nagumo is wrong footed and US ships weren't supposed to show up for another 3-4 days anyways.
Basically Rochefort reached Admiral Nimitz directly. To prove his theory, Midway sends a false emergency message that their water system is broken down. Later that same day, US intelligence captures a Japanese radio communication saying that AF is low on water. Rochefort had the proof and Nimitz buys into his theory. On the morning of the attack, Nimitz fleet is laying in wait near Midway. The US have 3 carriers, and Yorktown (which the Jap had sunk at Coral Sea), was back in action. Nimitz had the ship ready for battle in 3 days after it reached Pearl Harbor. At 7:00 am, Hornet and Enterprise launch their planes consisting torpedo and dive bombers. Meanwhile Nagumo still had some planes armed to strike ships. But Nagumo waits to have all is planes re-armed (again), before launching a strike against the US carriers. at 9:20 am, planes from Nimitz's carriers reach the Japanese fleet. But the planes are bombers, unprotected by fighters. The US at this time in the war was very bad at coordinated attacks involving planes from multiple decks. So, they had multiple squadrons in the air, but they were all flying in different directions.
The first to arrive were the torpedo bombers, which were outgunned by the zeroes and had a torpedo that only worked 10% of the time.The torpedo squadron is decimated. The next 2 squadrons are also decimated and overall only 4 planes return. Meanwhile, the dive bombers were off in the wrong direction. They are lost and low on fuel. Nagumo's fortunes have changed again !! His planes are rearmed with torpedoes and US fleet faces total destruction. At 10:45 am on 4th June 1942, Nagumo is winning. 5 mins later, the US bombers find the Japanese fleet. The bomber located a lone Japanese destroyer and decided to follow its wake, despite being low on fuel. 2 dive bombers squadrons from the Yorktown also reach the Japanese fleet at the same time. The Jap zeroes are scattered chasing the final torpedo planes. The carriers are defenseless. In 5 mins the US dive bombers land direct hits on 3 Japanese carriers, Soryu, Kaga and Akagi. All the ships were carrying fuel & explosives laden planes under-deck. The explosions rip the carriers apart. It was a holocaust. Zero fighters are forced to ditch in the sea and Nagumo has to abandon his flagship.
The remaining carrier, Hiryu, launches an attack against the US fleet. The Yorktown is crippled. But the dive bombers from Yorktown blow up the Hiryu. Yamamoto is 300 miles away with his battleships and realizes that the battle has been lost. 3000 Japanese and US servicemen were killed on a single day. After Midway, staring US in the face are the fortified Island chains of Gilberts, Carolines, Marshalls, Marianas. By 1943, US is producing an aircraft carrier every month, creating a fleet of over 90. Yamamoto is killed by US fighter planes. Nagumo oversees another defeat in Saipan. He commits suicide.
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