1942 Battle of Midway (Part 5/6)

[gopconservative78]

Checkmate Baby!

[DezzyBryant88]

OWND!!! U.S. IS BEAST!!!

[cbohar84]

Two people dislike historical documentaries

[jigsaw556]

1st mistake: packing all 4 carriers nicely together to be eliminated/fucked

2nd mistake: change weapons again instead of just attacking with bombs

3rd mistake: attacking a country with five times the industrial production its like a 4th grader trying to bully a 10th grader on the schoolyard...

I´m German so I like to point out other peoples mistakes =)

[Ranillon]

@jigsaw556 Actually....

1) There are good, even necessary reasons for putting the carriers together such as coordinating flight operations and pooling defensive fire.

2) Bombs for ships are a different type than those for ground targets. Without the right weapons the Japanese would have been wasting their time. But, more recent research shows this really wasn't as big a deal in the timing of the battle anyway.

3) Completely right here!

[CallofDutyBlackOps28]

10:21... soon the American's were screaming BONZAI of their own with the Dive bombers

[CallofDutyBlackOps28]

soon... 9:20 AM... The U.S inexperienced Aircraft Carrier force, came chewing down the Empire of the Rising Suns' neck.

[Dogmeat1950]

the American Torpedo Planes failed in their attack but it changed the course of the battle, 5 mins later, American Dive bombers with fighter Escorts didn't have to worry about Japanese fighters within those 5 mins 3 Japanese Carriers where sunk.

[nozscrap]

IJN ignored war games result before Midway.war game and real game are same.

i guess these orange carriers on vid are IJN Shinano.

[Defossion]

This video fails to explain or even mention the lack of fighter cover for the US torpedo planes.

[phadil]

@Defossion Fighter cover will not make any difference. neither the American fighter nor their pilot were any match to the japanese. Only after the appearance of Corsair and the Hellcat that American fighters can match the zeros on equal term.

[01209348]

@phadil i would like to call that incorrect, think of the flying tigers and we had many aces and the thatch weave and how our planes could take a lot more than theirs could... it was the non expierience and the lack of use of tactics... as for midway island. the buffalo was out of date ( first monoplane) but the wildcat could win

[ManchesterUnited4444]

@Defossion 1:38



[Kanold]

Japanese got Raped!

[SachaVassilevsky]

Japanese people all have small penis, that's why the Jap-Devils lost the war

[HerculesRockefellerr]

This is such an epic story....like a chess game that decided the course of WW2 for half the world, I dont know why more people dont know about this battle

[RyanStileswliia]

@HerculesRockefellerr

I celebrate the victory at Midway every first week of June. It should be a national holiday like the Battle of Lexington and Concord.

[NamVetBuck]

@RyanStileswliia This was filmed aboard the USS Hornet CVS-12 , and each year they have a special memorial service on the anniversary of Midway. I know , because I served on her in 2000.

[ParadigmPenguin]

John Kerry performed brilliantly during Midway.

[Darkrunner1975]

Yorktown! 

[Darkrunner1975]

Go Yorktown!



[monsterzeroJr]

The Japanese fell victim to their own aggressive samurai spirit.

Even at the peak of the Japanese air supremacy at Midway, the combat air patrol umbrella of Zero fighters consisted of just 16 Zero fighters to defend the 4 carriers. It was this puny number of Zeros that beat off the initial American torpedo and level bomber strikes.

The umbrella could have been more than 16 Zeros, but that would mean fewer Zeros to fly to Midway to engage in air combat, strafing and other Samurai-like heroics.

[randy109]

Even though we broke their Naval codes the IJN still had the advantage at Midway. They had 4 of their best carriers with aircraft and pilots that were arguably far better than anything the USN had at the time. Nagumo's poor decisions do not do him justice. Nagumo's decisions were tough ones and Lady Luck was with the Americans. Midway was an epic battle and easily could have been an American defeat. We were brave, but more importantly we were lucky!

[haleyfamily1975]

@randy109 Thanks. I didn't pick that up from watching this video.

[toof]

@randy109 i wish that this program talked more about the gamble the UN took at Midway in terms of revealing the fact they cracked Indigo/ Purple.

[donsargent]

@toof

the UN didn't exist yet

[DemocracyDefender]

@donsargent I think he meant USN

[oldcremona]

The new book "Shattered Sword" explodes the myth that the Japanese were "5 minutes" from launching their counter-strike when the SBD's struck at 10:20. Akagi had even just landed CAP fighters at 10:10. The truth is that the Japanese were a good 40 minutes from launching when disaster struck.

[hill9868]

Midway myth No 3: The Japanese Scout plane No 4 from the IJN cruiser Tone was half an hour late launching and so therefore was half an hour late in finding the US Task Force. Fact: If Scout No 4 had taken off on time, chances are it would have missed the US Carriers altogether. The only reason it managed to find the US ships when it did was that it veered off course.

[rmstorms]

@hill9868 Seems as though someone has read "Shattered Sword". Amazing book!

[hill9868]

@rmstorms Yep! Thats a great book. Actually, though, I learnt about scout no 4 from the book 'Return to Midway' which was about R.G. Ballards exploration of the wreck of the Yorktown. And the truth about Torpedo 3 I learnt from Gordon Prange's 'Miracle at Midway' which mentioned how some of the Enterprise's SBD crews, after completing their attack, spotted some TBDs just beginning theirs.

[hill9868]

Midway myth No 2: Nagumo's carriers were just beginning to launch their attack on the US carriers when the SBD dive-bombers struck from above. Fact: The deck-crews were still quite a while from getting the Japanese strike force ready for launching when the SBDs began their attack.

[hill9868]

Midway Myth No 1: The US Torpedo groups had finished their attacks on Nagumo's carriers and the survivors were heading home by the time the US dive-bombers arrived. Fact: Yorktown's Torpedo 3 commenced their attack on the carrier Hiryu AFTER the Enterprise's dive-bombers had completed their destruction of the Kaga and Akagi.

[hill9868]

Why does Peter Snow have to EMPHASIZE every third or fourth WORD with a pronounced NOD of his head? Is he trying to SOUND more dramatic in his DELIVERY and give himself whiplash at the same time? And I love the way he says 'All-weddy' instead of 'already'. Just teasing, I like this documentary very much.

[vk45de]

It seems the Japanese were fine as long as they had fighters in the air but once they don't anymore, their ships went down easily. American aircraft on the other hand were no guarantees, but American aircraft carriers can take quite a few hits.

[hill9868]

@vk45de Yes it seems that way. One possible explanation was that the US carriers were better-equipped with fire-fighting and damage-control equipment and personal. Another was that the aviation fuel the Japanese used was a crude mixture (due to Japan's already severe oil-shortage) and it was highly flammable. A third posible reason may be that the US dive-bombers carried 1,000-pounders whereas the Japanese dive-bombers carried smaller bombs.

[thekrazeone]

thekrazeone somehow someway confusion and fate set in caught a huge break attacking with no air cover radar radar

[therullstol]

epic, loved it!!

[n8tivguitar]

lmao this old man is always walking fast.

[tommydangerx]

These guys don't give the best info on the battle... especially saying the Hornet's Bomber 8 and Torpedo 8 pilots were untrained and that some of them had never even practiced a dive bombing or torpedo air attack. That's bullshit. Read "Miracle at Midway"...

[tommydangerx]

@tommydangerx One of the primary reasons the US Navy torpedo bomber were so badly mauled is because they were old Devestator torpedo bombers with no fighter cover. The Americans also used (4) B-26 Maruder bombers fitted with torpedos in the attacks on the Jap fleet.

[rmstorms]

Something was definitely wrong with the Hornet Airwing. None of the 2 squadrons of SBD's ever found the target and most ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea. The airwing commander was not well liked and not a very good tactician or leader. If Torpedo 8 hadn't violated orders and went out on there own none of the airwing would have found the target. It's too bad because the battle could have been over on that first strike and Yorktown wouldn't have been sunk.

[MadAndyD96]

Not definately, the Yorktown sank after taking torpedo's from a japanese type b submarine. I-134 or 1-156 i think (not checked) And a collision to her escorting destroyer during evasive manouever. She still may have perished that way even if the carriers were eliminated sooner.

[rmstorms]

Yorktown was dead in the water when she was torpedoed, If all 4 japanese carriers were sunk on the first attack, Yorktown would have been untouched. Actually it was I-168.

[MadAndyD96]

@rmstorms Ah yes, Good point actually, Didn't think of it that way. Not trying to say your wrong but there may still have been a chance that Yorktown would have been found by I-168, (Checked now) Although it would have been a much smaller chance, as the crew of I-168 wouldnt have had details on the location of Yorktown from their comrades aboard the Imperial Japanese Navy Carrier Strike Force.

[hill9868]

@rmstorms Historian Hugh Bicheno says a similar thing in his 2004 book 'Midway'. If Bombing and Scouting 8 from USS Hornet had found Nagumo's carriers, all four of the Japanese flat-tops could have been knocked out in one throw, thus sparing the Yorktown.

[Toddinfantry]

Absolutely right, this series is always filled with bad facts and poor video editing.

[dumgum222]

see most battles are people who aren't train properly vs people who train properly and the ones who hadn't train well wins. Like africa warfare nazi vs british they won.

Italy they won

Red army they beat the german tiger tanks

[Azulitokun]

so youre suggesting nations sholdnt train their people?

[dumgum222]

no I was pointing tat mostly battles are won by untrain armies

[MadAndyD96]

I agree partly, but in your examples, the trained forces lost due to bad desicions, or failiure to realise something, such as Midway. With Nagumo not sure of the US Carrier's location. Also, the US Planes couldnt have got there at a better time, Unprepared and unescorted carriers...with torpedo's, dive bombs, fuel pipes and oil strewn across the deck. It, like many things was helped by glorious luck. Not suggesting nothing else was involved, but it was an important factor That as well as courage

[rlilewis]

This story is amazing, one second I think the Japs will win, then the Americans, then the Japs again and finally back to the Americans.

[hatemf23]

kind of like stalingrad which is the other turning point of ww2

[NCTaikoDrumboy]

Time index 7:50... Regrettably, Mr. Snow Sr. got his facts crossed. The bombing squadron from CV-5 YORKTOWN, 17 planes strong, chose to make their attack run against KAGA. The CV-6 ENTERPRISE bombing squadron, much larger at 37 planes, divided themselves between AKAGI and SORYU. Bombing 5 landed the first blow, planting four bombs on KAGA. The planes of Bombing 6 racked up hits seconds later in rapid succession. The results for all three carriers were devastating...

[rmstorms]

Actually the commentator is correct. Kaga was attacked by VB-5 and VS-6 from Enterprise. Lt. Dick Best, commander of VS-6 realized that both squadrons were attacking Kaga and took three planes to attack Akagi. Soryu was attacked by VB-5 from Yorktown.

[NCTaikoDrumboy]

I've read the report from Bombing Squadron 5's CO, Lt. Cmdr. Maxwell Leslie. It stated that his squadron attacked a large aircraft carrier with its superstructure on the starboard side. Since both AKAGI and KAGA were larger than SORYU, and AKAGI's "island" was on her portside... Also, Snow forgot to mention that several planes lost their bombs when they activated their electric arming switches. These planes led the attack and drew fire while the others released their bombs via manual control.

[rmstorms]

Lt. Cdr. Leslie was CO of VB-3 from Yorktown. They attacked and sank Soryu. VB-5 was sitting on the deck of Yorktown at the time of this attack. Get you're facts straight, you are wrong!

[hill9868]

@rmstorms One reason that there was a debate after the battle as to which air-group had destroyed which carrier is that there was a popular perception (largely false) that the IJN Kaga was a lot bigger than the other three carriers and so each dive-bombing squadron wanted to take credit for getting her. I agree, though. Bombing-3 from the Yorktown got the Soryu. The Enterprise's pilots got the Akagi and Kaga.

[rmstorms]

@hill9868 Most people don't understand that American carriers had 2 squadrons of SBD's, a VB and a VS. (bombing and scouting). Enterprise and Hornet launched both of their SBD squadrons while Yorktown launched only 1. Personally I think not launching his 2nd SBD squadron with or without fighter cover was the biggest mistake of Fletcher's career.

[hill9868]

@rmstorms. Yes. Considering how, despite the great victory of which he was the primary architect, Fletcher was penalised for losing the Yorktown and never quite received the credit he deserved. The SBD crews did well. Minus the two of McClusky's planes that turned back and the four of Leslie's group that had lost their bombs, that meant 44 SBDs dropped their bombs over Nagumo's carriers. They achieved at least nine direct hits- an impressive ratio for moving, heavily defended targets.

[rmstorms]

@hill9868 Most of Fletcher's heaviest critisism stems from his actions during Guadalcanal. Personally I think Fletcher did a great job, it's always easy to play monday morning quarterback.

[hill9868]

@rmstorms. Agreed. He certainly made fewer errors than Halsey, Spruance and Mitscher later did. Sadly Fletcher was destined to be like General Meade at Gettysburg and be one of those victors that history tends to overlook. And after all, the Guadalcanal campaign did more damage to the Japanese Navy than Midway did.

[hill9868]

@rmstorms. Ditto the Japanese dive-bombers of Kobayashi's squadron from the IJN Hiryu. Of the six or seven Vals that actually managed to unload their bombs, they scored three hits on the USS Yorktown, plus a couple of damaging near-misses. So-called 'near-misses' could sometimes cause greater damage to a ship's integrity than a direct-hit up-top.

[Interloper83]

Crazy the way racism works. If not careful, all of this derogatory nonsense would coax me into ignorant racism. The key is to no allow anyone or anything to influence your opinion. There has never been a soldier who benefited from going to war. Clearly we are pawns and I for one will not surrender my life for a fight that is not mine. Japan and U.S are distinctions created by men to divide us. Just names because we are all human in the end.

[UllM4C5]

you wish they got beat in korea, vietnam and somalia

[UllM4C5]

US pilots are rubbish

[TheZuikaku]

rubbish.

[FXThug]

A lot of US ASS kissin in tihs video.

[roadrodent1952]

Maybe that's due to the fact that the US was the only Allied force there???

[icool001]

the most unbiased doc i ever seen.

[Jovian84]

gee how'd you like to be the japanize recon pilot who gave nagumo the wrong intel?

[kidwonder2001]

Whomever it was had to swim in the end anyway...

[hanvo216]

what the hell happen to the japanese battleships that was escorting the carriers ? in part 1 they showed heaps of jap ships why only 4 in the battle ?

[roadrodent1952]

They were there. Two battleships plus 15 other ships (A mix of a four crusiers and 11 destroyers, I think).

[NCTaikoDrumboy]

You are correct. Escorting Nagumo's carriers were two battleships (HARUNA and KIRISHIMA), two heavy cruisers (TONE and CHIKUMA), one light cruiser (NAGARA) and eleven destroyers. Cruiser TONE is notable here... her crew had problems with the seaplane catapult, so their scout plane's launch was delayed. Ironically, that was the plane which first sighted the American ships. Also, Nagumo transfered his flag to the cruiser NAGARA after AKAGI was hit.

[PhatMan2k20]

They were useless... It was and still is all about the aircraft carrier...

[roadrodent1952]

The escorting shipos put up a pretty good flak "screen".  The Japanese AA guns on many of their ships were pretty good. Still, AA fire does not stop an air attack. At its best it "trims" down the attackers some plus disrupts some of said attackers bombing runs. Old Yorktown's screen did some fairly good damage to the Vals and Kates that attacked but she was still hit by both groups.

[WingsofGold4045]

Midway, in a way. Was an important U.S. base, because it was halfway between Japan and Hawaii, so. It served both as a airfield/fortress and small naval port. Yes, I believe we could have managed the war in the Pacific without it. But in way, it helped us by japanese makin a big mistake, and costing them a huge part of the war. Yes, we did lose 1 ship, but for 4 of their carriers for our 1? Yes. we lost a lot of brave soldiers, but they lost a lot more

[WingsofGold4045]

Yes, Japan attacked Alaska/Islands for diversion from Pearl Harbor.... We lost attack on P.H. (obviously, from news paper articles, videos and movies) But the whole tide of the war changed in our favor at Midway... Sinking 4 Jap's carriers, and quite a few other ships, not to mention about 300 some odd planes (some of japanese finest pilots also). It did not permanently stop the Jap. Navy, but put a serious blow to their offensive force. Atleast, from then on, they were mainly on Defense.

[gotcha109]

ah so

[WingsofGold4045]

This Battle changed history. If the U.S. lost, there would have been no stopping the Japanese... Even if we only sunk 1 or 2 carriers, (and we still lost) the Japanese navy was the strongest untill this day (During Midway). Yes, it was a very long haul/drawn out battle in the Pacific Theater, but this Battle was the turning point of the war. Without the Japanese Carriers, they could no longer do long range Offensive attacks. Making them start going on Defense to protect their gains in the west

[tsuyoshi15]

If the U.S. had lost the battle of midway, where would japan attack/invade next?

[WingsofGold4045]

I would say, either Australia, or Alaska (the u.s.) because there would be hardly any resistance from the u.s., let alone, much of anyone in the Pacific. The u.s. would have to send ships from the Atlantic, which would take months to get to the Pacific, and just with the u.s. repairing some ships after the battle of Coral Sea, the Japanese advanced a lot during a matter of 6 months or so. So, yeah.

[tsuyoshi15]

What about perhaps new guinea, austrailia, or hawaii? Could Japan try to invade those places?

[WingsofGold4045]

I said Australia... & by Australia, I mean Australia, New Guinea/New Zealand, & all the islands out in the west Pacific. And why would they want to attack Hawaii again? They attacked Pearl Habor already (Midway was after Pearl Harbor). If they attacked Alaska, they could make attacks from land (go through canada and attack the northern U.S.,) & also use it as a naval port and airbase as well. Hawaii, all you can use it is as a navy port. 3000 miles from any big land area (U.S. and or Asia)

[tsuyoshi15]

Sorry, did I say 'Australia', I ment India, or to attack the soviet union. As for Hawaii, why not use it as a staging area for a invasion of the U.S., via along side with your idea to atack through Alaska and Canada.

P.S. Did I understand this correctly of the Alaska invasion?

[WingsofGold4045]

The original idea of WW2 was, Germany was going to get Europe, Italy was going to get Africa, and Japan was going to get Asia. Japan attacked U.S., 1) because they were running low on oil that our ships were blocking their shipments, and 2) germany didn't want u.s. to help/aid britain and attack germany, so they had japan keep us busy. why Japan did attack Alaska in the first place, I don't know, but there was a brief time during the war, where they did attack Alaska, but we took it over quick

[WingsofGold4045]

we then used it to do long range bombing (b-24 liberators) to attack Japanese and also a port... But Japanese continued to attack islands in the pacific and china also... Why they kept attacking when we had volunteers go over there (Flying Tigers, you may have heard of them in movies or something) but they flew P-40's and flew for china because their airforce was not very good. But the Axis powers (germany, japan and italy) made many mistakes which cost them the war. in my oppinion

[Isolder74]

Japan attacked Alaska as a diversion.

[MadAndyD96]

@tsuyoshi15 i think Hawaii. If japan made her way to Pearl Harbour at Oahu, and conquered that naval base, She'd be able to Bring up a whole invasion fleet to America, And If they managed that, I think Roosevelt would've started to panic and begin negotiations to protect his country via surrender or appeasement.

[guitarsmasher68]

If they won they would of attacked Pearl Harbor again and captured it, that was one of the plans by the japanese if they won

[JonathanAnon]

I thought most reasonable historians agreed that even without Midway that the power of America's industry would have seen them through no matter what, but that winning the war would have just taken much longer?

[BlackBirdZGTR]

I think it would depend severely on what would of happened during the time the US regained their offensive capabilities. IF Japan won midway with their carriers unscratched and all the US carriers sunk they would of had a total of 8 fleet carriers by august (Hiyo and Junyo commisioned in June-August). The US carrier forces would be equal to the Japanese carrier forces by around late 1944 if their ship constructions remained the way they were. That gives Japan a good 1-2 years to wreck havok.

[MadAndyD96]

@WingsofGold4045 The IJN still had carriers, Zuikaku and Shokaku, two main fleet carriers, as well as numerous Escort or Light carriers such as Ryujo and her sisterships.

[WingsofGold4045]

@MadAndyD96 ... im sure, but after they lost at Midway. What would they use really? escort/light carriers could only carry up to like 20-30 planes (where normal carriers 40+) I suppose every little bit helps, but cant do much if you lost 300 planes (that costing like 300+ or so pilots and a few million dollars of planes? or 40,000 dollars a plane about)

[stephentsang2000]

hell yeah~ fucking Jap paper kite planes and metal scrap ships ~

[DAGPGPH]

It wasn't only luck. US Naval Intelligence did a remarkable job cracking out the Japanese codes. Plus, Nagumo hesitated in crucial moments of the battle. While Admiral Yamaguchi(on Hiryu) had told him when USS Yorktown was spotted, to attack whatever the planes were armed(with bombs, waiting for the next strike at Midway island)

[lesmcluffalot]

Kewlios

[optionqb]

Although I'm not a naval historian, Midway has struck me as one of the most fortunate sea victories of all time. All of the little factors/intangibles went in favor of the U.S. Anything less than that, and Midway could have been a dramatically different battle. A close one...thank God it turned out the way it did.

[ssgkillsuall]

@optionqb your absolutly right the japanese could of invaded hawai if they won

[chromaholic]

@optionqb The reason the Japanese lost, in my mind, is because they were the aggressor and wasted their opportunity on the island instead of the enemy carriers. If the US was attacking, they probably would have been the ones to lose.

[Turnback]

@chromaholic They Japanese didn't know the carriers were going to be there. The mission was to attack and occupy Midway. When the American carriers were discovered it changed everything. They did not plan for a carrier battle.

[RyanStileswliia]

@optionqb

God Bless Joseph Rochefort and the Statisticians who broke Japan's JN25 code. They were the real unsung heroes of this battle!!

[ppp9922]

@optionqb

don't forget how significance the victory was to the united states in the battle of the Pacific

[FutureWarrior2006]

the IJN got pwned.

[roadrodent1952]

@FutureWarrior2006

There was an interview of a Midway dive bomber pilot some time back (that I heard about) where the pilot pointed out that the Battle of Midway was fought as much on luck as it was on anything else. For the US the luck "broke" their way instead of the IJN.