Battle of Midway Anniversary...

[TheTman]

Was June 4-7.

Seventy years ago on June 4th, the Battle of Midway began. Many Americans know at least something about the story of the massive naval battle that turned the tide in World War II.

But there is another story from Midway that few know about and is worth remembering.

In 1942, the American military broke the Japanese Navy’s top-secret code. They figured out that the Japanese were going to attack the strategically located Midway Island. Midway would be the jumping off point if the Japanese were going to try and attack Hawaii, so Midway had to be defended at all costs.

Marines were rushed to Midway Island to defend it against invasion. They had no illusions about what would happen if the Japanese got their invasion force ashore. Among the Marines, there was another group who knew the long odds they faced.

These were the Marine aviators.

They knew they would be facing the Japanese Zero, which at the time was the best fighter plane in the world. A few of the Marines flew modern Wildcat fighters, which could hold its own in a fight against a Zero. Most of the Marines flew old Buffalo fighters.

The Buffalo was an old, obsolete fighter that was being removed from service as fast as it could be replaced. It was no match for the Zero. The Marines at Midway were among the last combat units still flying the Buffalo.

On June 4, 1942, the radar units at Midway showed the approach of a large fleet of Japanese aircraft. The air raid alarm was sounded and the Marines in a few Wildcats and more of the old Buffalo aircraft took to the skies.

The Marines fought well and caused serious damage to the attacking Japanese.

Most of those Marine aviators who answered the call of duty that day gave their lives for this nation, seventy years ago today.

Their sacrifice was not in vain.

The Marines’ defense of Midway delayed the Japanese attack. The next day, the United States Navy attack the Japanese, sinking four of their aircraft carriers and wiping out their corps of pilots.

The Japanese fleet never sailed that far east again.

It would take another three years and hundreds of thousands of American lives, but our enemy would be defeated.

Today, over 90% of that greatest generation are now gone. The few remaining survivors of those fateful days are now in their 90s.

Few today remember the sacrifices of those Marines seventy years ago. Today, we should take a moment to remember those fallen Marines and if you are fortunate enough to still have a relative who served during World War II take a moment to thank him.

We won’t have many more chances to express to them the thanks of a grateful nation.



Our Veterans need you. Now you can help at The Veterans Site, every day, with a simple click, at no cost to you. Visit http://www.TheVeteransSite.com today!

[O'Dell]

Thanks for reminding us. As a student of WWII naval history, I think about this battle often. Just six months after Pearl Harbor, our Naval and Marine aviators turned back the Japanese and started the three year trek across the Pacific. Of course, there was much heavy combat remaining and many American, along with their allies, and Japanese lives would be lost before the end, but this battle was the turning point.

[getsome]

Thank you Thetmanski for posting that, we can never thank those Vets enough for what they did...As I recall and perhaps O'Dell being a history buff can answer this but wasn't it just by chance that we found those Japanese carriers and as luck for our side would have it they had decided to change out torpedos for bombs and were rearming and fueling their aircraft just as we attacked catching them with their pants down and if those planes had been able to take off we most likely would have lost Midway...

The thing that has always baffled me is how was such a small country with no natural resources and whose main export at that time was cheap pot metal toys able to build such a massive naval armada with cutting edge weapons and aircraft...Where did the huge amount of steel and aluminum come from?...Where did the technology and machine tools come from?...Why didn't anyone notice this gigantic military build up and figure out what they were up to?...

I have heard that much of their aircraft design technology came from the Germans which makes sense but I still want to know where they obtained the massive amount of high strength steel to build a Navy that was equal to and possibly better equipped than the U.S. and how did they do it is such a short period of time unless they had lots of outside help....

[Sage]

Thanks for the post. I truly agree that they were and are Americas greatest generation.

[TheTman]

I don't know much about the battle except what I saw on the move Midway, but in the movie, it seems like a PBY search and rescue plane had a minor problem and took off late, and after the others had turned back, it spotted the Japanese Fleet. Later, a Japanese scout plane found the American fleet, so I believe the Japanese planes were having bombs that were meant for Midway Island, changed to Torpedos to go after our fleet, and that's when our attacks began and they couldn't get enough planes in the air to fend of all the waves of attacks. I belive they lost 4 carriers, and sank one of ours the Yorktown, leaving us with just 2 carriers, the Hornet and the Enterprise I think. It was a major victory for the USA, keeping them from capturing Midway Island and having a base from which to attack Hawaii, Fuji, and Samoa whichever they intended to go after, not to mention the sinking of the 4 carriers. If you have Netflix instant watch, there is a National Geographic documentary about Midway. I don't know how accurate the Movie was, I'm guessing pretty close to the facts. I imagine the National Geographic documentary would be more factual. That article on Wikipedia goes into a lot more depth, and better tells the situation with the Japanese aircraft changing from bomb to torpedos or whatever they were doing on deck. Plus they had planes returning and had to have a place for them to land.
At the time I think we only had 3 carriers operational, so losing one was pretty bad. Military historian John Keegan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keegan) has called it "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare." Wikipedia has a pretty good write up of it at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway
As far as the Steel needed for the Warships, I think Japan must have a pretty good source of iron ore, since the cheap Japnese steel ran the American steel mills out of business in the last 60 years or so. Plus they had already captured parts of China and had access to it's resources. By 1940 Japan was the sixth largest producer of steel in the world. They pour out cars by the milliions so they must have a good supply of iron ore somewhere. As far as the fleet going unnoticed, I'm not sure that it was, we were well aware of their China campaign, and I've heard the Whitehouse even knew in advance about Pearl Harbour, and perhaps that's why none of the carriers were there. The time of the Battleship was waning, and the time of the carriers was taking over as far as naval to naval combat was concerned, so we could afford to lose a couple battleships, and let the Japanese think they'd really screwed us up. I've always wondered just how much Washington knew what was coming, if they believed it or not, and what actions they took.
Anyway, we broke the backbone of the Imperial fleet, and began to turn the momentum in the war.
I agree, they were one of America's greatest generations. Most of them kids 17-21 when they enlisted, some even younger. The patriots of the Revolutionary War was also a great generation. Fighting on through some pretty tough hardships, and defeating the greatest power of the time, and creating the great nation of ours. I can't say one was greater than the other, I just give them both a lot of credit for their courage, and willingness to fight on during tough situations.

[O'Dell]

There was some luck involved in the battle, good on our side and bad on the Japanese. Indecision also costs the Japanese dearly, something we had little of. The key was the breaking of the Japanese Naval code and ignoring the feint toward the Aleutians. Nimitz know when they were coming and knew their target. The loss of four fleet carriers plus another ship or two, and the elimination of a great many of their first line pilots broke the back of the Imperial Navy. The Japanese wanted to lure us out for a decisive battle, but they never expected to be facing three fleet carriers. They thought the Yorktown was out of action from the Battle of the Coral Sea the previous month. BTW, that battle even though it was generally considered a draw, was crucial too. It denied the Japanese the ability to attack southern New Guinea and Australia.

The Yorktown wasn't actually sunk in the battle. She was badly damaged, but had managed to get up steam. Unfortunately, she steamed through the crosshairs of a Japanese submarine and was lost to the sub's torpedos.

As far as steel is concerned, I don't think Japan has much if any. Coal is about the only natural resource she has in abundance. That's why our submarines made such a concentrated effort throughout the war to isolate her from the resource-rich Southeast Asia. By the end of the war Japan was operating on fumes in just about every resource.

As a side note, when I was a kid in the early fifties, I had a toy car made in Japan. I took it apart and it still had the Pabst Blue Ribbon label on the inside.

[O'Dell]

I have heard that much of their aircraft design technology came from the Germans which makes sense but I still want to know where they obtained the massive amount of high strength steel to build a Navy that was equal to and possibly better equipped than the U.S. and how did they do it is such a short period of time unless they had lots of outside help....

The Japanese did get some limited technical help toward the end of the war from the Germans, but it was mostly a matter of too little, too late. They never got their version of the ME 262 jet fighter into production, partly because we were bombing them on a daily basis. They did build their idea of a V-1, but they turned it into a manned suicide aircraft. It used a rocket engine rather than a pulse jet. It had to be carried into battle under a G4M bomber and our solution was to shoot down the bomber before he could launch the Baka Okha [Cherry Blossom] flying bomb.

They came up with the A6M Zero on their own, and it was a big surprise to our pilots. It had it faults, but at the time was better than our best Naval fighter, the F4F Wildcat. [Brewster Buffalos as previously mentioned were mostly gone except for the Marines on Midway. They were hated by everyone except the Finns who used them well against the Russians.]

The F4F could only fight the A6M on an even basis by superior tactics, such as the 'Thatch Weave'. Of course, by 1943, when the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair appeared, all bets were off. Either could handle the Zero handily.