Yamamoto was a great leader but his arrogance cost his country dearly at Midway. Had the Japanese run their 'war games' in April objectively, they might have foreseen the battle that awaited them. A couple officers pointed out to the Admiral that if the U.S. were already in position, the results could be disastrous. Yamamoto didn't want to hear it. So, the bulk of his fleet remained 600 miles west of Midway.... and the rest, as they say, is history.
@presleyrules Well said. For some reason I can never stop reading or watching the story of this battle. To me the biggest mistake Japan made was not enough scout planes. Only seven where used to try to find the US carriers.
The US used at least 30. See the enemy first and you win
@presleyrules What "couple of officers" said this?When?Where?I'm reading a detailed log of Kido Butai's timeline and journal entries concerning the Palmeira ruse, invasion of Tulagi, Coral Sea, and Midway-can't find any evidence of "arrogance" on the part of Isoroku-san.Also, this documentary gets it ALL wrong.
@lemonite1 The wargaming of the Midway operation was done on Yamato on May 1st and again on the 25th. These excercises clearly showed that if US carriers were in an unexpected location, Kido Butai was vulnerable. No officers actually said this to Yamamoto, but the results of the excercise spoke for them.
@rmstorms What did the wargames entail? Who did them? What was their intent? How was Kido Butai vulnerable? What is your point? That, Isorokusan planned it wrong? IJN did not really hold the initiative in the Pacific before Midway?The IJN mo was wrong and were scarred of Isorokusan?
@lemonite1 In a comment you made a couple of years ago, you stated that you read the book "Shattered Sword". The book clearly describes the events of the wargames and what they entailed. Are you saying you have no idea about the events of May 1st aboard Yamato? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
@rmstorms No, the intent of the war games was a rubber stamp on operations pre Coral Sea. Yamamoto knew it's flaws but was willing to take a gamble just to get at the remaining U.S carrier task force. Most of the IJN's high command wanted to either secure the Pacific perimeter or to further push back the remaining U.S held territory. Even to Yamamoto, MI was a compromise with the majority of the high command.
@lemonite1 Go back and read your comments. You claimed ignorance of these wargames. If you read "shattered sword", then you know that Yamamoto, Ugaki, and Nagumo were all present. You state that the wargames were a rubber stamp. You jumped all over presleyrules for stating the wargames were unrealistic. The question still stands, Why did you claim to have no knowledge of the wargames when you obviously did? You know that Kido Butai suffered serious during the wargames and was ignored.
@rmstorms I didn't state that it was a rubber stamp, the book does.The wargames were unrealistic and no way a barometer to the real thing;they were a formality to see if the high command would approve.The book states that many conditions were not given to the red or blue constituents, and it is not known whether this was Yamamoto's intent.On May 1st, It wasn't even known amongst the high command what his intent was yet.
@rmstorms I never claimed ignorance inre. wargames, I merely asked you.You know damn well they roll dice on that "game."Presleyrules alluded that Yamamoto, being in the dark about the wargame's outcome, was the cause of Kido Butai's demise.What I want to know is if that is your opinion?I need to know way more specifics because after reading a whole bunch on the subject, I find myself siding with the writers of "Shattered Sword" :Midway contains mostly myths and assumptions.
@lemonite1 "What did the wargames entail? Who did them? What was their intent? How was Kido Butai vulnerable?" Those are your words! Obviously you knew more than you led us to believe. There is no information in "Shattered Sword" that backs your claim of the IJN high command not knowing Yamamoto's intent. Operation MI was formally presented to The Emporer on April18th. The May 1 wargame was a formal rehersal of Yamamoto's plan. The IJN high command already approved operation MI.
@rmstorms I'm asking you. You never answered the questions. No, May 5th general shape of the battle sent to GHQ. May 12th-initial operation orders sent to GHQ. Lower Level commands were not cut till 20th May. The entire fleet had a hard time distributing the new codebooks btwn May 1st to May 27th JN25B-JN25V. Can't leave without those now can you? Oh, I see what you are alluding to. Again, answer the questions.
@lemonite1 Obviously operational plans change. Carrier division 5 was originally part of the Midway operation, but the damage suffered at Coral Sea changed things. The only reason I commented was because you criticized someone who was obviosly less educated than we are on the subject. Presleyrules comment was simplistic but not wrong in regards to the wargames. "Shattered Sword" refers to the wargames as, "scripted silliness" and "unreality". I certainly don't think Yamamoto was arrogant.
@lemonite1 Persleyrules never alluded to Yamamoto being in the dark. Go back and read his post! If you agree with the writers of "Shattered Sword" than ultimately you must agree that the failure of the Midway operation is on Yamamoto. My opinion is in complete agreement with the authors of "Shattered Sword" and that you need to go back and reread this book. Every "fact "you attribute to this book is false!!
@rmstorms I think what you allude to is the flaws in the time tableDuring the wargame, Nagumo stated that it would take an extra day for provisions+prep(May 26th).Yamamoto misstake is the fact that Tanaka's invasion force would then be a day ahead of schedule and risk being detected, but Yamamoto was willing to take the risk.
@lemonite1 The flaws in my opinion is the plan assumed the US would respond. When you talk about risks, what does that really mean? Japan's most important and valuable asset was its 6 fleet carriers. The rewards of this operation were not worth the risk. "Shattered Sword" makes a good argument that the invasion had very little chance of success. What if the US carriers stayed in port? The risk was just not worth the reward.
@rmstorms How is it false? I'm directly stating the book. If the book believes that the failures of Midway were Yamamoto's fault due to arrogance and wargames, then fine,I don't believe that part of the book. I agree that Yamamoto took a risk.I do side with the book that 1.The carriers were not designed for the type of battle at Midway.2.There are many myths surrounding the battle.
@lemonite1 I never attributed the wargames as being the single reason for the IJN defeat at Midway. I also never called Yamamoto arrogant. The book states many reasons for the defeat. My critcism of the plan is it relied on the US to react the way Yamamoto expected. After what occurred at Coral Sea, The IJN should have realized they were fighting an opponent with much more capability. Shoho took more ordnance than all 4 carriers at Midway. US carrier capability was underestimated.
@rmstorms Fine, then every fact I attribute to the book is false, I don't care. I still don't believe that Yamamoto's wargames attribute to flawed planning at Midway.You believe that when you can't even tell me how these wargames are played or who played these wargames.Your reasoning is flawed. Answer the questions;Who played these wargames? How are they played?
@lemonite1 I agree that wargames aren't perfect, but they do have some value and militaries still do them today. If you go to your copy of "Shattered Sword" and refer to pg. 61-63, when US carriers appeared in a very similar position to where they were on June 4th, Akagi and Kaga were both sunk. Yamamoto's Chief of Staff Ugaki intervened and revised the # of bomb hits from 9 to3. If you read the book than why are you asking questions that you know the answer to?
@rmstorms My opinion is that expected or unexpected(wargames results being insignificant to Isorokusan),Yamamoto's intent was a showdown with the remaining U.S Carriers. Midway AL was a compromised ploy to him.The plan really wasn't flawed because of course, he got what he wanted.Where I think he was flawed was in believing that Kido Butai was ready,wargames had nothing to do with it.
@greatwave1 Yes of course i care to talk about it. The japanese leaders were so unlucky either in pearl harbor and midway. If in pearl harbor there was a third wave they can easily exclude the main pacific uss navy base from the war. They were very unlucky that amercian intelligence read their codes. if they attack midway just after they attacked pearl harbor and stay all the time very agressive uss navy would be destroyed and Japan should win the pacific war. Yamamoto was the greatest leader.
Would the battle of Midway been any different had not Yamamoto divided his forces to the aleutians, which seems to me been needless? Anyone care to comment or speculate...?
@greatwave1 I believe it would have been different. There are many "what if's" about Midway, not the least of which is, what if someone in the IJN had thought it suspicious that Midway had broadcast "in the clear" (uncoded) that it's water condensors had broken down right before the Japanese were planning to attack it? Considering America's industrial strength, though, I'm not convinced a Japanese victory at Midway would have done much more than prolong the war.
I just saw the really good film, Yamato, about the largest battleship ever to sail and be sunk. Then I surfed into Midway. The Japanese plan was known in advance which severely compromised their chances, despite their long range highly manuverable but ultimately vulnerable Zero fighters. The Pacific crucible is probably my favourite area of WWII, because the Sun always seemed to shine despite the horror and death!
i reckon cordellhull was delighted as churchill to have the USA involved in the war. midway? US were damn lucky. nagumo was always a hesitant commander. he could've devastated pearl harbour[as he should have] but he didn't. a country as huge and rich in resources as the US w japan a tiny nation w very limited resources. low in POL and a military junta as backward in RnD as it was in it's assumptions of superiority. then hitler declares war on US?? wot a tit!
Actually, there were Douglas SBD-1, SBD-2, and SBD-3 dive-bombers on the U.S. carriers at Midway. The carriers all had Douglas TBD-1 torpedo planes and the new Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat (basically an updated F4F-3 with folding wings) fighters. On Midway itself, there were PBY-5 Catalinas, Grumman TBF Avengers, Brewster F2A-3 buffalos ("Flying Coffins"), F4F-3 fighters, SB2U-3 Vindicators (aka Vibrators, or Wind Indicators), B-17s, and B-26s.
/Midway lost about 33% of its planes during the battle. The carriers, however, lost about 50% of their planes -- especially the torpedo planes (90% lost). The B-17s fared the best, with only an 11% loss rate.
After all the blockades of Japan (oil, iron) and money by Mr. Roosevelt, how could the US be surprised by the attack of Pearl Harbour? The indian tribes where allso surprised by the attack from the east but they had no commentator with a professional voice. I could not spear a tear for what happened, except for the ruthless behaviour of the white race! Sneak attack? it`s only bad if it`s done by the loosers, right?
@StaffanGoldschmidt President Teddy Roosevelt,in the early 1900s, wanted Japan to be the main power in the northern Pacific because he believed them to be the most 'civilised' (Westernised) of the Asian nations. The US assisted the Japanese military expansion and applauded when Japan defeated Russia in 1905. Japan in the 1930s may have become a monster but it was one that the USA helped to create, however un-intentionally that may have been.
@JackieFan123 No, that was the Roswell aliens just after they finished faking the moon-landings and hiring Elvis to shoot JFK. If you have a different opinion about something, mate, maybe try coming up with some ideas of your own rather than just resorting to personal abuse- its called acting like an adult.
@hill9868 he's right guy, that makes no sense, why would they want Japan to rule the pacific? if they wanted a "westernized" country to do so then it seems they would have backed Russia during the Russo-Japanese war...
@temperex Back in the late 1800s, the USA and UK tended to be suspicious and wary of Russia. Even in my country Australia, they were worried about a possibe Russian invasion and they built stone forts all along the east and south coasts back in the 1890s. Teddy Roosevelt thought that Japan would be a good choice to help stop Russia and China expanding their influence into the Pacific. The USA and UK would have had no idea back then of what Japan would become by the 1930s.
@waibes23 Yes, Nagumo commanded the Carrier Striking Force. Yamamoto was overall commander but he was in the Bombardment Force 400 miles behind so it was pretty much Nagumo's battle to fight. Nagumo was never quite comfortable as a carrier admiral and after the stresses of the last six months, he was tired and lacking self-confidence. A number of Japanese senior officers believed that Admiral Yamaguchi on board the Carrier Hiryu should have gotten Nagumo's job.
@hill9868 thanks for the fact, but i wanna ask, isnt it true that officers commit suicide when they lose any battle than to surrender in the name of the emperor?
@waibes23 Hi. Good question. From what I have read, some did and some didn't. Even though there was some pressure from above at times, it was down to the personal choice of the officer concerned. And Japanese High Command didn't want to lose too many able officers through suicide. Admiral Nagumo initially refused to leave the Akagi when it was sinking but was persuaded to leave by his staff. Admiral Yamaguchi, however, refused to leave the sinking Hiryu and went down with her.
@hill9868 thanks for the fact again my friend.. you know im fascinated on World war movies... and i want to know more .... not only because WWI and WWII are part of the history; but because of the essence,lessons and importance they teach us. i want to know more...thanks!
war is pretty much a short version of; a waste of human life, money, crude oils, machinery, brilliant scientific minds, and time. it does nothing good for no one. sure, we have our reasons to fight. But is there a reason to kill?
After many years of studying WW2 my opinion is that Midway WAS the definitive turning point for the Japanese eventual loss of the Pacific to the American. I know it was only 7 months into a long fight, but after Midway the Japanese NEVER truly threatened the Americans again. We were capable of building dozens of heavy carriers in the time it would take the Japanese to make 2 or 3. The day before Midway the IJN had true naval superiority in the Pacific. Day AFTER Midway they were deficient.
@randy109 True. Japan's shortage of resources was always its Achilles Heel and they needed a swift decisive victory at Midway to have any hope of winning but they failed. The IJN fought well in the Guadalcanal Campaign 42-43 and they inflicted some painful body blows on the US (and Australian) Navies but that was a campaign of attrition and eventually they were doomed to lose because the US could always ship in reinforcements and supplies faster and in greater quantities.
@zoyclem I don't think so. I'm pretty sure the developer went bust after their second game, which was like Total Annihilation but set in the dark ages or something. *cry*
So did the Japanese realize the reason they had been completely and utterly undone and trapped was because their codes had been busted? How did they respond to this in the next battles?
@mistersmith6000 Not really and they would not admit it anyway. The Japanese were very stuck on old tradition and this made it very hard for them to make changes.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
America and British were mostly evil! AND the SOVIETUNION! They have killed much more people than Germany and Japan! Germany just wanted order in Europe and paradise for his nation! America and British made horribly a lot of terror bombings mainly against civilens! They have completely destryed Köln, Drezda, Berlin, Hamburg, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Nagasaki, Ozaka, Nagoya, and many other cities!!!!
great respect to these brave pilots who drove their planes to face enemies fighter, and anti-AA gun fire. in the WWII, japan and German were evil no matter how powerful they were. USA and other countries actually directed the world to a obviously better way. i bought a CV6 enterprise hat to memorize her, the greatest CV in WWII.
its hard to believe that 100 plane took down that fleet .15 support ships would of owned those planes or did some massive damage. But it looked like they got slaughtered
not really. where do you think the attack missles, and the intercept missles to killl those missles are comming from? ships, subs, land instilations and airplanes launched from ships and airfieds. and the ground war is what happes after sea and air fight is waged same as allways. its just that the missle has replaced the gun. I'm of course not talking about a MAD situation those kinds of wars dont happen for a reason.
I think it would be over in seconds. A pair o f/18's could take out those 4 carriers and the rest of the battle group without losing a sweat. Or an attack sub could just stab them in the back. Even the the unmanned predator could drop some on the carriers. Last 5 minutes if.
carriers arent blind, and their not defenseless either, and honestly i dont think a single f/18 can carry enough ordinance to do that kind of damage even if it gets to the target. think of all the bombs it took to sink those battleships and carriers of ww2.
A pair of f/18's is different from a single. However, they can carry over 17,000 pounds of ordinance I think, and can be equipped air to ground missiles like the harpoon missile. New age tech, those missiles have gps. Those bombs in ww2 are nothing close to the power that can be unleashed now. Today though, it would never go down like that. It would be unnecessary for those fighters to even see the carrier on the horizon before dropping fury. We have the capability to strike from anywhere.
17,000 lbs? srsly? DAMN! But still modern naval radar is no joke and there are allot of "eyes" in the fleet. with destroyers that can engage ballistic missles and satellites I wonder how those decidely unstealthy f/18's will get within range. just like with midway its a game of detection, above and below the water. its just that there's more punch in smaller packages.
@cowboyfan35 The US Taskforces had 43 TBD Devastators embarked on the 3 US carriers at the start of the battle. By the battle's end, they took home just three. Of the 82 TBD Crewmen who took part in the fighting on June 4th, only 14 were still alive to see the sun go down, and that included two men from the USS Enterprise's Torpedo Six who had to survive 13 days in a life raft before they were found and rescued.
Plays a hunch? What really happend was that an American submarine was spotted by the Japanese and engaged by a Japanese destroyer. After trying to sink the sub for a few hours the destroyer began to try to catch up with the carrier group. The SBD pilots spotted the destroyer at heading at flank speed to the carriers. Basically the Japanese destroyer pointed the way to the American pilots.
Thanks to the Navy pilots the battle of midway was the turning point of the war for Japan, the lost of four carriers and top Japanese pilots was just to hard to overcome.
No I believe the torpedo bombers performed terribly. They were just too vulnerable to both enemy fighters and anti aircraft fire. This battle really proved that dive bombing enemy shipping is far superior to torpedo bombing them.
Luck played a HUGE part. Cloudy skies, not sure where the enemy is, and catching them at the exact time the fighter escorts are refueling. Every time the US bombers came up against Zero's they got slaughtered, but none were in the air at 10:22. That would have changed 8 minutes later.
Actually they were only greatly defeated or slaughtered once, the 25 TBDs that were initially shot down. The fact that torpedo bombing involves approaching at such a low altitude makes them extremely vulnerable to enemy fighters. SBDs would have faired substantially better as they had at the Battle of Coral Sea.
Actually, luck did play a part in this event. Although our codebreakers had a damn good hunch about where the Japs would strike next, they were not totally certain that "AF" was, in fact Midway. They set up a radio trap to confirm it, by sending out a wire, in the clear, that Midway has suffered a breakdown of their fresh water condenser". the Japs, in code, said: AF is having trouble with their condenser! Done! AF was Midway, and the rest is history.
I was reading B H Liddell-Hart's (huge) book on WWII recently. I found it interesting that he said the US carrier group were sent to catch the Japanese task force by surprise--but says nothing about HOW the US Navy knew where and when to go. This was, of course, before the information about the role played by code-breaking was made public.
NOW I'm gonna hafta check other books on this battle from before the mid-80s. How did they explain this? Luck?
God bless Joe Rochefort and the code breakers who holed up in that stinky basement at Pearl...and changed the balance of power in the Pacific by giving America the Jap attack intelligence: Midway early June! A Masterful and heroic series of events that ensued in about 5 minutes sunk 3 Jap carriers, and the war turned in our favor. a 4th carrier was sunk shortly after. Perhaps the greatest naval battle ever fought, with the biggest consequences.
2 Battles - first the Battle of the Coral Sea,
Next Midway, the turning point in the Pacific....
BMD101 2 days ago
whos doing a project ??
cochezno 1 week ago
the Japanese did not except prisoners. Yet i hold no grunge. Get an army you fools!!!! An navy
enverpasha55 1 month ago
this video is vary editionanal
mike1423able 1 month ago
The battle at Midway surely was America's midway to its victory against the savage Jap empire.
SuperYT4Ever 2 months ago
tremendous documentary..lots of great footage and info in only 10 minutes
97bruin 6 months ago
Мне понравился отчет об одной эскадрилье Б-17 после боя - "Личного состава (живых) - 1 человек, материальная часть отсутствует"
Повезло американцам. Реально повезло, что пикировщики подошли во время избиения торпов
timeniazaipal 6 months ago
Payback Is A Bitch.
67irishfire 6 months ago
narrator is?
13lackLight 7 months ago
@13lackLight Peter Coyote?
llib90630 7 months ago
the most profound statement in this is Yamamoto saying "He decided to wait".
batmandeltaforce 7 months ago
Yamamoto was a great leader but his arrogance cost his country dearly at Midway. Had the Japanese run their 'war games' in April objectively, they might have foreseen the battle that awaited them. A couple officers pointed out to the Admiral that if the U.S. were already in position, the results could be disastrous. Yamamoto didn't want to hear it. So, the bulk of his fleet remained 600 miles west of Midway.... and the rest, as they say, is history.
presleyrules 7 months ago
@presleyrules Well said. For some reason I can never stop reading or watching the story of this battle. To me the biggest mistake Japan made was not enough scout planes. Only seven where used to try to find the US carriers.
The US used at least 30. See the enemy first and you win
onede 7 months ago
@presleyrules What "couple of officers" said this?When?Where?I'm reading a detailed log of Kido Butai's timeline and journal entries concerning the Palmeira ruse, invasion of Tulagi, Coral Sea, and Midway-can't find any evidence of "arrogance" on the part of Isoroku-san.Also, this documentary gets it ALL wrong.
lemonite1 6 months ago
@lemonite1 The wargaming of the Midway operation was done on Yamato on May 1st and again on the 25th. These excercises clearly showed that if US carriers were in an unexpected location, Kido Butai was vulnerable. No officers actually said this to Yamamoto, but the results of the excercise spoke for them.
rmstorms 5 months ago
@rmstorms What did the wargames entail? Who did them? What was their intent? How was Kido Butai vulnerable? What is your point? That, Isorokusan planned it wrong? IJN did not really hold the initiative in the Pacific before Midway?The IJN mo was wrong and were scarred of Isorokusan?
lemonite1 5 months ago
@lemonite1 In a comment you made a couple of years ago, you stated that you read the book "Shattered Sword". The book clearly describes the events of the wargames and what they entailed. Are you saying you have no idea about the events of May 1st aboard Yamato? PLEASE EXPLAIN.
rmstorms 5 months ago
@rmstorms No, the intent of the war games was a rubber stamp on operations pre Coral Sea. Yamamoto knew it's flaws but was willing to take a gamble just to get at the remaining U.S carrier task force. Most of the IJN's high command wanted to either secure the Pacific perimeter or to further push back the remaining U.S held territory. Even to Yamamoto, MI was a compromise with the majority of the high command.
lemonite1 5 months ago
@lemonite1 Go back and read your comments. You claimed ignorance of these wargames. If you read "shattered sword", then you know that Yamamoto, Ugaki, and Nagumo were all present. You state that the wargames were a rubber stamp. You jumped all over presleyrules for stating the wargames were unrealistic. The question still stands, Why did you claim to have no knowledge of the wargames when you obviously did? You know that Kido Butai suffered serious during the wargames and was ignored.
rmstorms 5 months ago
@rmstorms I didn't state that it was a rubber stamp, the book does.The wargames were unrealistic and no way a barometer to the real thing;they were a formality to see if the high command would approve.The book states that many conditions were not given to the red or blue constituents, and it is not known whether this was Yamamoto's intent.On May 1st, It wasn't even known amongst the high command what his intent was yet.
lemonite1 5 months ago
@rmstorms I never claimed ignorance inre. wargames, I merely asked you.You know damn well they roll dice on that "game."Presleyrules alluded that Yamamoto, being in the dark about the wargame's outcome, was the cause of Kido Butai's demise.What I want to know is if that is your opinion?I need to know way more specifics because after reading a whole bunch on the subject, I find myself siding with the writers of "Shattered Sword" :Midway contains mostly myths and assumptions.
lemonite1 5 months ago
@lemonite1 "What did the wargames entail? Who did them? What was their intent? How was Kido Butai vulnerable?" Those are your words! Obviously you knew more than you led us to believe. There is no information in "Shattered Sword" that backs your claim of the IJN high command not knowing Yamamoto's intent. Operation MI was formally presented to The Emporer on April18th. The May 1 wargame was a formal rehersal of Yamamoto's plan. The IJN high command already approved operation MI.
rmstorms 5 months ago
@rmstorms I'm asking you. You never answered the questions. No, May 5th general shape of the battle sent to GHQ. May 12th-initial operation orders sent to GHQ. Lower Level commands were not cut till 20th May. The entire fleet had a hard time distributing the new codebooks btwn May 1st to May 27th JN25B-JN25V. Can't leave without those now can you? Oh, I see what you are alluding to. Again, answer the questions.
lemonite1 4 months ago
@lemonite1 Obviously operational plans change. Carrier division 5 was originally part of the Midway operation, but the damage suffered at Coral Sea changed things. The only reason I commented was because you criticized someone who was obviosly less educated than we are on the subject. Presleyrules comment was simplistic but not wrong in regards to the wargames. "Shattered Sword" refers to the wargames as, "scripted silliness" and "unreality". I certainly don't think Yamamoto was arrogant.
rmstorms 4 months ago
@lemonite1 Persleyrules never alluded to Yamamoto being in the dark. Go back and read his post! If you agree with the writers of "Shattered Sword" than ultimately you must agree that the failure of the Midway operation is on Yamamoto. My opinion is in complete agreement with the authors of "Shattered Sword" and that you need to go back and reread this book. Every "fact "you attribute to this book is false!!
rmstorms 5 months ago
@rmstorms I think what you allude to is the flaws in the time tableDuring the wargame, Nagumo stated that it would take an extra day for provisions+prep(May 26th).Yamamoto misstake is the fact that Tanaka's invasion force would then be a day ahead of schedule and risk being detected, but Yamamoto was willing to take the risk.
lemonite1 4 months ago
@lemonite1 The flaws in my opinion is the plan assumed the US would respond. When you talk about risks, what does that really mean? Japan's most important and valuable asset was its 6 fleet carriers. The rewards of this operation were not worth the risk. "Shattered Sword" makes a good argument that the invasion had very little chance of success. What if the US carriers stayed in port? The risk was just not worth the reward.
rmstorms 4 months ago
@rmstorms How is it false? I'm directly stating the book. If the book believes that the failures of Midway were Yamamoto's fault due to arrogance and wargames, then fine,I don't believe that part of the book. I agree that Yamamoto took a risk.I do side with the book that 1.The carriers were not designed for the type of battle at Midway.2.There are many myths surrounding the battle.
lemonite1 4 months ago
@lemonite1 I never attributed the wargames as being the single reason for the IJN defeat at Midway. I also never called Yamamoto arrogant. The book states many reasons for the defeat. My critcism of the plan is it relied on the US to react the way Yamamoto expected. After what occurred at Coral Sea, The IJN should have realized they were fighting an opponent with much more capability. Shoho took more ordnance than all 4 carriers at Midway. US carrier capability was underestimated.
rmstorms 4 months ago
@rmstorms Fine, then every fact I attribute to the book is false, I don't care. I still don't believe that Yamamoto's wargames attribute to flawed planning at Midway.You believe that when you can't even tell me how these wargames are played or who played these wargames.Your reasoning is flawed. Answer the questions;Who played these wargames? How are they played?
lemonite1 4 months ago
@lemonite1 I agree that wargames aren't perfect, but they do have some value and militaries still do them today. If you go to your copy of "Shattered Sword" and refer to pg. 61-63, when US carriers appeared in a very similar position to where they were on June 4th, Akagi and Kaga were both sunk. Yamamoto's Chief of Staff Ugaki intervened and revised the # of bomb hits from 9 to3. If you read the book than why are you asking questions that you know the answer to?
rmstorms 4 months ago
@rmstorms My opinion is that expected or unexpected(wargames results being insignificant to Isorokusan),Yamamoto's intent was a showdown with the remaining U.S Carriers. Midway AL was a compromised ploy to him.The plan really wasn't flawed because of course, he got what he wanted.Where I think he was flawed was in believing that Kido Butai was ready,wargames had nothing to do with it.
lemonite1 4 months ago
69年前の本日6月4日が、日本の運命を決定ずけたミッドウエー海戦です。現実に対するまずい対応は現在もそのままですね。東電福島原発の現在の対応といい、管内閣不信任決議案といい、当時と同じで、まったくの独りよがりで、全然進歩がないですね。やはり単一民族の島国根性は、外国人を日本に移住させないと治らないでしょう。
hideyuki25 8 months ago
Only 1 man can back from vt-8?
Daffa137 8 months ago
@greatwave1 Yes of course i care to talk about it. The japanese leaders were so unlucky either in pearl harbor and midway. If in pearl harbor there was a third wave they can easily exclude the main pacific uss navy base from the war. They were very unlucky that amercian intelligence read their codes. if they attack midway just after they attacked pearl harbor and stay all the time very agressive uss navy would be destroyed and Japan should win the pacific war. Yamamoto was the greatest leader.
MaxPolej 8 months ago
@MaxPolej The japanese would have done far more damage at Pearl Harbor if they had bombed the huge oil
storage tanks, rather than sink some battleships, that were old and obsolete any way.
federalwarhawk 8 months ago
HAHAHA look at the shape of australia at 1:00. herp a derp..
deevo101 8 months ago
@deevo101 nom nom nom
AttilaRAGE11 8 months ago
@deevo101 thats mexico dumbass
DressedWings 3 weeks ago
thats crazy
mysterychild212 9 months ago
Would the battle of Midway been any different had not Yamamoto divided his forces to the aleutians, which seems to me been needless? Anyone care to comment or speculate...?
greatwave1 9 months ago
@greatwave1 I believe it would have been different. There are many "what if's" about Midway, not the least of which is, what if someone in the IJN had thought it suspicious that Midway had broadcast "in the clear" (uncoded) that it's water condensors had broken down right before the Japanese were planning to attack it? Considering America's industrial strength, though, I'm not convinced a Japanese victory at Midway would have done much more than prolong the war.
Arbeedubya 9 months ago
admirals at war, they met at midway
dotcombatgames 9 months ago
My grandfather was in this at the age of 17!! USS New Orleans CA-32! Besides being a great family man this is my most prized element of him!!
elvisfan22 10 months ago
I just saw the really good film, Yamato, about the largest battleship ever to sail and be sunk. Then I surfed into Midway. The Japanese plan was known in advance which severely compromised their chances, despite their long range highly manuverable but ultimately vulnerable Zero fighters. The Pacific crucible is probably my favourite area of WWII, because the Sun always seemed to shine despite the horror and death!
NiallatUTube 11 months ago
ahh a gutural voice made the battle
StaffanGoldschmidt 1 year ago
i reckon cordellhull was delighted as churchill to have the USA involved in the war. midway? US were damn lucky. nagumo was always a hesitant commander. he could've devastated pearl harbour[as he should have] but he didn't. a country as huge and rich in resources as the US w japan a tiny nation w very limited resources. low in POL and a military junta as backward in RnD as it was in it's assumptions of superiority. then hitler declares war on US?? wot a tit!
narred 1 year ago
07:14
ILIKEPIE46 1 year ago
a very important victory for the allies in geostrategic terms
Mikele22000 1 year ago
4 portaviones perdidos en un solo dia, eso si que fue desastrozo.
0tatiana0 1 year ago
If you underestimate your enemy, you have already lost half of the war.. Japanese should commit suicide before they start the war.. :)
Sexomaniakos4ever 1 year ago
i got a boner watching this
illinois918918 1 year ago
Actually, there were Douglas SBD-1, SBD-2, and SBD-3 dive-bombers on the U.S. carriers at Midway. The carriers all had Douglas TBD-1 torpedo planes and the new Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat (basically an updated F4F-3 with folding wings) fighters. On Midway itself, there were PBY-5 Catalinas, Grumman TBF Avengers, Brewster F2A-3 buffalos ("Flying Coffins"), F4F-3 fighters, SB2U-3 Vindicators (aka Vibrators, or Wind Indicators), B-17s, and B-26s.
rhall4th 1 year ago
/Midway lost about 33% of its planes during the battle. The carriers, however, lost about 50% of their planes -- especially the torpedo planes (90% lost). The B-17s fared the best, with only an 11% loss rate.
rhall4th 1 year ago
i love your videos!
poisonNova123 1 year ago
Fuck yea
livin305 1 year ago
@livin305 FU2
StaffanGoldschmidt 1 year ago
After all the blockades of Japan (oil, iron) and money by Mr. Roosevelt, how could the US be surprised by the attack of Pearl Harbour? The indian tribes where allso surprised by the attack from the east but they had no commentator with a professional voice. I could not spear a tear for what happened, except for the ruthless behaviour of the white race! Sneak attack? it`s only bad if it`s done by the loosers, right?
StaffanGoldschmidt 1 year ago
@StaffanGoldschmidt President Teddy Roosevelt,in the early 1900s, wanted Japan to be the main power in the northern Pacific because he believed them to be the most 'civilised' (Westernised) of the Asian nations. The US assisted the Japanese military expansion and applauded when Japan defeated Russia in 1905. Japan in the 1930s may have become a monster but it was one that the USA helped to create, however un-intentionally that may have been.
hill9868 1 year ago
@hill9868 you are so full of shit...........no wonder you have brown eyes. USA backed Japan? lemme guess USA also bombed the WTC.
JackieFan123 1 year ago
@JackieFan123 No, that was the Roswell aliens just after they finished faking the moon-landings and hiring Elvis to shoot JFK. If you have a different opinion about something, mate, maybe try coming up with some ideas of your own rather than just resorting to personal abuse- its called acting like an adult.
hill9868 1 year ago
@hill9868 he's right guy, that makes no sense, why would they want Japan to rule the pacific? if they wanted a "westernized" country to do so then it seems they would have backed Russia during the Russo-Japanese war...
temperex 1 year ago
@temperex Back in the late 1800s, the USA and UK tended to be suspicious and wary of Russia. Even in my country Australia, they were worried about a possibe Russian invasion and they built stone forts all along the east and south coasts back in the 1890s. Teddy Roosevelt thought that Japan would be a good choice to help stop Russia and China expanding their influence into the Pacific. The USA and UK would have had no idea back then of what Japan would become by the 1930s.
hill9868 1 year ago
is that admiral Nagumo?the one speaking?
waibes23 1 year ago
@waibes23 Yes, Nagumo commanded the Carrier Striking Force. Yamamoto was overall commander but he was in the Bombardment Force 400 miles behind so it was pretty much Nagumo's battle to fight. Nagumo was never quite comfortable as a carrier admiral and after the stresses of the last six months, he was tired and lacking self-confidence. A number of Japanese senior officers believed that Admiral Yamaguchi on board the Carrier Hiryu should have gotten Nagumo's job.
hill9868 1 year ago
@hill9868 thanks for the fact, but i wanna ask, isnt it true that officers commit suicide when they lose any battle than to surrender in the name of the emperor?
waibes23 1 year ago
@waibes23 Hi. Good question. From what I have read, some did and some didn't. Even though there was some pressure from above at times, it was down to the personal choice of the officer concerned. And Japanese High Command didn't want to lose too many able officers through suicide. Admiral Nagumo initially refused to leave the Akagi when it was sinking but was persuaded to leave by his staff. Admiral Yamaguchi, however, refused to leave the sinking Hiryu and went down with her.
hill9868 1 year ago
@hill9868 thanks for the fact again my friend.. you know im fascinated on World war movies... and i want to know more .... not only because WWI and WWII are part of the history; but because of the essence,lessons and importance they teach us. i want to know more...thanks!
waibes23 1 year ago
war is pretty much a short version of; a waste of human life, money, crude oils, machinery, brilliant scientific minds, and time. it does nothing good for no one. sure, we have our reasons to fight. But is there a reason to kill?
LurellePiano 1 year ago
@LurellePiano i agree! in war no one is victor, everybody is a victim
waibes23 1 year ago
@waibes23 piss off man! WE WON WWII and killed the jap bastards!!!!
MegaUsalover 1 year ago
At least all humans have war in common. That's one thing we can all relate to.
WhyMustYouFail 1 year ago
After many years of studying WW2 my opinion is that Midway WAS the definitive turning point for the Japanese eventual loss of the Pacific to the American. I know it was only 7 months into a long fight, but after Midway the Japanese NEVER truly threatened the Americans again. We were capable of building dozens of heavy carriers in the time it would take the Japanese to make 2 or 3. The day before Midway the IJN had true naval superiority in the Pacific. Day AFTER Midway they were deficient.
randy109 1 year ago
@randy109 True. Japan's shortage of resources was always its Achilles Heel and they needed a swift decisive victory at Midway to have any hope of winning but they failed. The IJN fought well in the Guadalcanal Campaign 42-43 and they inflicted some painful body blows on the US (and Australian) Navies but that was a campaign of attrition and eventually they were doomed to lose because the US could always ship in reinforcements and supplies faster and in greater quantities.
hill9868 1 year ago
USA PWNS !!
Oldnavy360 1 year ago
Has anyone here ever played "Total Annihilation"? Does that cannon at 0:32 not look EXACTLY like a Big Bertha?
13lackLight 1 year ago
@13lackLight ,
I used to play it. Is it still around (i.e. newer versions)?
zoyclem 1 year ago
@zoyclem I don't think so. I'm pretty sure the developer went bust after their second game, which was like Total Annihilation but set in the dark ages or something. *cry*
13lackLight 1 year ago
So did the Japanese realize the reason they had been completely and utterly undone and trapped was because their codes had been busted? How did they respond to this in the next battles?
mistersmith6000 1 year ago
@mistersmith6000 Not really and they would not admit it anyway. The Japanese were very stuck on old tradition and this made it very hard for them to make changes.
Toddinfantry 1 year ago
I really like that narrator's voice.
gsmittyuniy 1 year ago
Comment removed
conoconnor 1 year ago
What are you talking about? Please be more specific.
Toddinfantry 1 year ago
Well done, Americans.
otterboxiphone 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
America and British were mostly evil! AND the SOVIETUNION! They have killed much more people than Germany and Japan! Germany just wanted order in Europe and paradise for his nation! America and British made horribly a lot of terror bombings mainly against civilens! They have completely destryed Köln, Drezda, Berlin, Hamburg, Hiroshima, Tokyo, Nagasaki, Ozaka, Nagoya, and many other cities!!!!
DaireBoldizsar 2 years ago
Moron.
HapaLife 2 years ago
great respect to these brave pilots who drove their planes to face enemies fighter, and anti-AA gun fire. in the WWII, japan and German were evil no matter how powerful they were. USA and other countries actually directed the world to a obviously better way. i bought a CV6 enterprise hat to memorize her, the greatest CV in WWII.
JohnWMichell 2 years ago 2
ALL THE WAY SON
xXTERMINATORx 2 years ago
its hard to believe that 100 plane took down that fleet .15 support ships would of owned those planes or did some massive damage. But it looked like they got slaughtered
hanvo216 2 years ago
It is hard to hit 300 knots-moving target at roughly 10,000 feet...
Paun991 2 years ago
I've often wondered what a battle of this scale would look like with todays technology.
Jovian84 2 years ago
all you'd see are missle contrails and flashes of light on the horizon. there's no reason to fight a ground war, or even a naval war, these days.
hascat 2 years ago
not really. where do you think the attack missles, and the intercept missles to killl those missles are comming from? ships, subs, land instilations and airplanes launched from ships and airfieds. and the ground war is what happes after sea and air fight is waged same as allways. its just that the missle has replaced the gun. I'm of course not talking about a MAD situation those kinds of wars dont happen for a reason.
Jovian84 2 years ago
i bet pretty damn quick
utar88utar 2 years ago
I think it would be over in seconds. A pair o f/18's could take out those 4 carriers and the rest of the battle group without losing a sweat. Or an attack sub could just stab them in the back. Even the the unmanned predator could drop some on the carriers. Last 5 minutes if.
xZER0C00Lx 2 years ago
carriers arent blind, and their not defenseless either, and honestly i dont think a single f/18 can carry enough ordinance to do that kind of damage even if it gets to the target. think of all the bombs it took to sink those battleships and carriers of ww2.
Jovian84 2 years ago
A pair of f/18's is different from a single. However, they can carry over 17,000 pounds of ordinance I think, and can be equipped air to ground missiles like the harpoon missile. New age tech, those missiles have gps. Those bombs in ww2 are nothing close to the power that can be unleashed now. Today though, it would never go down like that. It would be unnecessary for those fighters to even see the carrier on the horizon before dropping fury. We have the capability to strike from anywhere.
xZER0C00Lx 2 years ago
17,000 lbs? srsly? DAMN! But still modern naval radar is no joke and there are allot of "eyes" in the fleet. with destroyers that can engage ballistic missles and satellites I wonder how those decidely unstealthy f/18's will get within range. just like with midway its a game of detection, above and below the water. its just that there's more punch in smaller packages.
Jovian84 2 years ago
i always wonder where were the japanese cruiers and destroyers? .It seems odd that they didnt sail with the carriers??
hanvo216 2 years ago
They WERE with the carriers! Two battleships, a few crusiers and a batch of destroyers were with the carriers.
roadrodent1952 2 years ago
Just curious, what's the name of the Americain torpedo bombers and the American dive bombers?
As in, are they P-51s? P-38 Lightnings? :)
lqiyun7 3 years ago
I think they were:
Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless Dive Bomber
Douglas TBD-1 Devastator Torpedo Bomber
Spence44 3 years ago 2
NO HEILCAT AND WILDCAT DUDE
xXTERMINATORx 2 years ago 2
lol one of my fav world war II planes (y)
XXWxwwxWXX 2 years ago
@xXTERMINATORx........spence was right sort of they were SBD-2 Dauntless Dive Bombers
and devastator torpedo bombers
cowboyfan35 1 year ago
@cowboyfan35 The US Taskforces had 43 TBD Devastators embarked on the 3 US carriers at the start of the battle. By the battle's end, they took home just three. Of the 82 TBD Crewmen who took part in the fighting on June 4th, only 14 were still alive to see the sun go down, and that included two men from the USS Enterprise's Torpedo Six who had to survive 13 days in a life raft before they were found and rescued.
hill9868 1 year ago
@hill9868 yes devastators like I said but the dive bombers were SBD-2 Dauntless Dive Bombers
cowboyfan35 1 year ago
@cowboyfan35 Yes they were.
hill9868 1 year ago
@Spence44 I know that we are not stuipad!!!
dusan97x 1 year ago
@dusan97x Not wot!?
peterkar 1 year ago
Plays a hunch? What really happend was that an American submarine was spotted by the Japanese and engaged by a Japanese destroyer. After trying to sink the sub for a few hours the destroyer began to try to catch up with the carrier group. The SBD pilots spotted the destroyer at heading at flank speed to the carriers. Basically the Japanese destroyer pointed the way to the American pilots.
Icarusdecending82 3 years ago
Thanks to the Navy pilots the battle of midway was the turning point of the war for Japan, the lost of four carriers and top Japanese pilots was just to hard to overcome.
joevet66 3 years ago
Yeah especially because the Japanese economic capacity seriously lacked the ability to quickly replace the carriers.
Icarusdecending82 3 years ago
Divebomber or torpedo bomber, U.S. navy airmen rocked that day. More ballsy sons of bitches you can't find, Patton would acknowledge today. RIP.
fuhmeregan 3 years ago
No I believe the torpedo bombers performed terribly. They were just too vulnerable to both enemy fighters and anti aircraft fire. This battle really proved that dive bombing enemy shipping is far superior to torpedo bombing them.
Icarusdecending82 3 years ago
... like rats or mice in the water! lol. little simian, base savages.
fuhmeregan 3 years ago
Luck played a HUGE part. Cloudy skies, not sure where the enemy is, and catching them at the exact time the fighter escorts are refueling. Every time the US bombers came up against Zero's they got slaughtered, but none were in the air at 10:22. That would have changed 8 minutes later.
Doza130 3 years ago
Actually they were only greatly defeated or slaughtered once, the 25 TBDs that were initially shot down. The fact that torpedo bombing involves approaching at such a low altitude makes them extremely vulnerable to enemy fighters. SBDs would have faired substantially better as they had at the Battle of Coral Sea.
Icarusdecending82 3 years ago
Actually, luck did play a part in this event. Although our codebreakers had a damn good hunch about where the Japs would strike next, they were not totally certain that "AF" was, in fact Midway. They set up a radio trap to confirm it, by sending out a wire, in the clear, that Midway has suffered a breakdown of their fresh water condenser". the Japs, in code, said: AF is having trouble with their condenser! Done! AF was Midway, and the rest is history.
kenwood3865 3 years ago
I was reading B H Liddell-Hart's (huge) book on WWII recently. I found it interesting that he said the US carrier group were sent to catch the Japanese task force by surprise--but says nothing about HOW the US Navy knew where and when to go. This was, of course, before the information about the role played by code-breaking was made public.
NOW I'm gonna hafta check other books on this battle from before the mid-80s. How did they explain this? Luck?
KonradAdenauer 3 years ago
God bless Joe Rochefort and the code breakers who holed up in that stinky basement at Pearl...and changed the balance of power in the Pacific by giving America the Jap attack intelligence: Midway early June! A Masterful and heroic series of events that ensued in about 5 minutes sunk 3 Jap carriers, and the war turned in our favor. a 4th carrier was sunk shortly after. Perhaps the greatest naval battle ever fought, with the biggest consequences.
kenwood3865 3 years ago 2
thanx
niniluvspotchi 3 years ago