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June 4, 1942: An anniversary oft neglected
Posted by civil truth on June 4th, 2009
The Battle of Midway
Skandenberg at RedState today narrates the fateful events that reversed the course of the war in the Pacific. Excerpts follow:
When early June rolls around each year, June 6th is accorded a great deal of reverence for the well-known events of the Normandy landings of 1944. On the decadal anniversary years, there are major ceremonies and there is extensive news coverage. Sadly, an equally (at least) important anniversary on June 4th goes largely neglected. On June 4th 1942, an outnumbered American fleet won a staggering upset victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy in the waters near Midway Island. This battle was arguably the single most important military action by the United States during the entire 20th century. However, Midway remains largely forgotten and uncelebrated…
With Midway seized by surprise, barely more than 1000 miles from Pearl Harbor, the American fleet would be forced to sail forth to contest the seizure. The Japanese would pounce on the outnumbered Americans, destroy the remaining American aircraft carriers, and force the end of the war with Japan’s conquests intact and recognized as permanent.
Unfortunately for Admiral Yamamoto, his calculations were off in two important ways. First, the Yorktown had not in fact been sunk [in the Battle of the Coral Sea]… Second, Yamamoto and the Japanese High Command were still unaware that their naval codes had been cracked by American Naval Intelligence. Fully aware of the Japanese plans, the Americans prepared to turn the tables and set a trap for the Japanese.
Just as the [Japanese] order to launch the airstrike had been given, suddenly and without warning the dive-bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown appeared on the scene. The earlier fighting had exhausted the Japanese combat air patrol, and the fighter planes had landed and been cleared below decks to free up the flight decks for the airstrike. The American planes were able to attack without opposition, and the results were catastrophic.
In a span of less than five minutes, the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were all hit by multiple bombs. As the bombs burst among the waiting Japanese aircraft, fuel and ordinance began to explode in a chain reaction. As the fires spread, the carelessly stacked ordinance in the hangar decks also began to detonate. Within minutes, the three great ships were burning wrecks. In just a few astonishing minutes, a handful of planes and men had devastated the Japanese fleet and ended any notion of Japan winning the war at Midway.
Midway was a great victory, but a defensive one. The Japanese had been decisively beaten, but at the height of their tide. Midway assured that Japan would not win the war; the only hope for Japan from that point would be to try to make the coming American counter-offensive so costly that Americans would lose heart and seek to negotiate some reasonable peace with Japan rather than fight onward to complete victory…
Henceforth, the initiative passed (permanently) to the Americans. By August, the first American offensive in the Pacific got underway – down in the South Pacific, in the Solomon Islands…
It’s worth reading the whole post at RedState, in honor of the many pilots and others who died.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I recently saw a TV program about the battle, on the Military Channel, I think.
At Midway, the Yorktown was hit by two waves of Japanese planes. The first attack set her on fire, but did not sink her. The second wave later finished her off. But, in another miscalculation, the Japanese thought that they had sunk two separate American carriers, when they had actually hit one twice. As a result, the last Japanese carrier, the Hiryu, found herself battling two, not one, American carriers.
June 4 is also the anniversary of another historical event.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Just because I left RedState does not mean you are free of my comments. I do enjoy reading your stuff BTW. I am still waiting for your diary on David Letterman as you pointed out on Redstate