The US won the Battle of Midway due to divine intervention. Everything went right for the US, and everything went wrong for the Japanese. The battle should have been a crushing defeat for the US Navy.
My Dad was the the flight engineer on one of the Catalinas. The Catalinas were expendable. They kept searching until they had to ditch after running out of fuel. All of his crew survived 3 days in a life raft until picked up by our guys. After Dad got out of the hospital, Dad got 30 days Survivor's Leave. He went to Chicago and married Mom. Then it was back to the War and a new Catalina. What a magnificent generation.
I can’t get a kid to come to work whens he’s got a cold 🥶. Your Dad went back to a WORLD 🌎 WAR after surviving 3 days on a life raft and 30 days leave. Awesome 💪🏽 Greatest Generation and Humble about it. Today they throw the word Hero around if ya go to work. 🤦🏽♂️ No WWII servicemen every called them selves heroes. All the Heroes are dead and buried in Europe and Pacific They would tell you. God Bless the Vets ❤️🙏🏼🇺🇸
I love the PBY as do everyone I know , after the war there were lots of PBYs available some of these became erstwhile “winibagos”by some now rich WW2 veteran pilots ! I always dreamed of having one for just that !
Battle of the Coral Sea was the first battle where carriers battled each others hundreds of miles apart, and not in sight of each others. Midway was the second.
I seen several channels now that make that mistake. Makes me wonder where they are getting their information. On a more minor note, being sunk in Pearl Harbour is hardly getting "sent to the depths". Most were quickly re-floated.
What most people don't know is that pearl had warnings but ignored them one of our ships sunk a Jap sub outside the harbor and a radar station reported planes but were told they were a flight of B-17s plus they didn't get the fuel and ammo depot
Finest masterpiece of WWII commentary: giving details I never knew until you. I have family in Europe and the Pacific, so I'm all ears that helped them survive.
I mean no disrespect towards the video creator(s) for the comment I’m going to make. You have my utmost appreciation for taking the time to put this video together. Sometimes the comment threads provide a more accurate history than the actual videos…I’m not saying that’s the case here, but the first few threads seem to offer a vastly different perspective as to what was happening on the Japanese carriers during the battle than the video depicts. I don’t know enough to jump in to any of the discussions, but I love history, and I’m gleaning a bunch of book titles to use as research… So once again, I will say thank you to both the creator(s) of the video and those in the threads who are offering other sources to look at. I am truly thankful for all of the information that has been shared, as well as the time and effort the creator(s) have devoted to the making of this video.
This video repeats the obsolete perception that the Japanese carrier decks were packed with a strike that was ready to take off when the US dive bombers attacked. In fact, their decks were mostly clear except for a few fighters landing to refuel or ready to take off as the Japanese had just fought off several US torpedo bomber attacks. They were keeping their decks clear to handle the CAP. The 2019 movie Midway got it right, showing the Japanese carrier decks mostly clear. Many of their Zero fighters were still in the air having just shot down US torpedo bombers and previous attacks from Midway, and they hadn't spotted the strike because they couldn't while they were under attack. Instead, the strike planes were still below in the hangers. It was Japanese practice to refuel and arm aircraft inside the hanger bays. When the US dive bombers hit, their bombs exploded amongst fueled and armed aircraft causing those huge explosions and fires that doomed the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Even Japanese documents of this battle say what he was saying they were rushing to change weapons and fuel up so they didn’t have time to get all the planes down to the middle deck to refuel to send back up
Who cares. Always speculating over repeated irrelevant nonsense. Whether the IJN flight decks were full or not or refueling or not refueling or had the IJN launched in time is anybody claiming it would have change the out come of the war in this scenario? Obviously no so STFU already. 😂 All folks do is throw up this constant smoke screen and enclosed one’s mindset into a “carriers vs carriers” battle. Does anybody do any research? The US Naval War College studied the Battle of Midway and already concluded that the IJN should have used their surface ships. Look at the IJN vessel advantage. Envision IJN battleships shelling Midway and the IJN carriers are further west behind a Midway surface ship attack force. The carriers are loaded 2/3 fighters not bombers. Now what do the US carrier planes do when they are alerted that Midway is being attacked and it’s still nighttime.
I have seen the Hollywood movie Midway. An excellent movie. But this one takes first place. It gave me details and insights not seen before. Love the narrative. And it heightens the sacrifice and commitment to their service to our country. They are all heroes! Thank you for your service!
@@halojump123 Well you certainly didn't have to. However in the end the Soviet Union would have won and their reach would have included Western Europe. You would have had a far more formidable adversary to appease having appeased Hitler.
@@MrHuggybear62 It was a necessity. Great Britain would never have been able to achieve a successful invasion of Western Europe on their own. Germany would have been overwhelmed eventually by the Soviet Union based on sheer numbers. The result would have likely led to a conflict between the US and the USSR in the latter half of the 20th century with probable catastrophic results.
Thank you for the wonderful video. Japan's first mistake in this war was the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the second mistake was the invasion of the Pacific Ocean.
No. Their mistake was at Midway. They blew it. The US had a puny task force. 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers plus of course 3 carriers and the obsolete planes on Midway. The IJN had 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, and 64 destroyers plus 9 carriers available and over 500 planes. This includes the Aleutians force and leaving Carrier Zuikaku behind. Face it. The IJN blew it. The US Naval War College even stated this. The IJN should have used their surface ships and should have defeated the Americans at Midway.
@@f430ferrari5 Right. Along with the overall plan being unnecessary over complicated with its feints and diversions instead of being more direct to their main goal.
As a Brit, listening to someone with an American accent, thank you for speaking an intelligible form of our shared language without the need to mangle it at every opportunity in order to re-assert a long-won sense of "independence". To go against the prevailing trend speaks, to me, of maturity and self-confidence.
I'm British and fully aware of the real significance of the Battle of Midway, (I've visited Normandy and seen Omaha beach and the VAST American WW2 cemetery there too), the Battle of Midway was everything that the attack on Pearl Harbour wasn't, as that didn't destroy any American aircraft carriers, yet, about 20 accurately dropped bombs, by brave and skillful American pilots, basically "FINISHED Japan off" by wiping out a number of their aircraft carriers, Midway, Stalingrad and the Battle of Britain, were the 3 "events" that secured the eventual Allied victory over the Axis powers, one at sea, Midway, (Americans), one on the ground, Stalingrad, (Russians), and one in the air, Battle of Britain, (British Empire, plus others), those 3 "events" proved that the Allies could defeat the Axis powers, at sea, on land and in the air.
As an american I can't love churchill, I like him plenty enough. USA loose midway , japeesies still loose war. Brits loose air battle, germeens still loose war.turning points, per winston - more vital than air battle - battle of the atlantic. If lost Stall in wouldn't of had Petro or tanks to get to berlin.
Maybe scratch tanks, instead bullets, beans & bandaid, lots of trucks (rubber). Its ok, never expect anything less than that out dated proclamation from our wonderful Brits, always welcome my freinds.
@@daviddoherty2841 the Battle of the Atlantic, was fought by the Germans using WW1 equipment and tac tics, the German U boats, weren't exactly submarines, they were basically surface ships, with the ability to dive and the Wolf Pack attacks, were first practiced during WW1 too, whereas the Allies used WW2 equipment and tac tics, like breaking the Enigma codes, the use of the cavity magnetron and Lee light to locate U boats, extending air cover to the whole of the North Atlantic and deploying weapons like the Hedgehog, as soon as the Allies closed the "air gap" over the North Atlantic, it was, game over, for the German U boats.
For those that noticed a large dock area on the map with no ships.....this dock area was built about twenty years ago, also the orientation of the main runway of RAAF DARWIN was different in 1942. The pictured runway is the current runway, Also some of the featured military installations featured on the map were built at later dates after the raid.other than this it was an accurate representation of events.....except it is R double A F, this is how it is pronounced in Service and government.
Four large cruisers? No. Four fleet carriers. After saying Naguma had Four large cruisers, he then gave the names of the four fleet carriers. Small mistakes. However, the editor should have caught the small slip. But, no big deal.After all, I'm pretty sure everyone watching the video knew what was intended.
Me and my daughter were on the aircraft carrier intriped in Manhattan they had a simulation of a kamikaze attack it was upsetting. But the ship is amazing. Also 270 sailors died the best of us .
Am sure I remember reading that the Japanese flight deck crews were just as elite as their pilots and much more efficient than their US counterparts. In terms of damage control the US were innovative and inventive, if you had an idea your rank didn’t matter, you were listened to and constant improvements were made.
if you want to know the complete and accurate story, read the book Shattered Sword, published 2005. The first story of Midway from the Japanese prospective and Japanese Navel Doctrine. The Aleutian campaign was not a feign. It was planned to disrupt the U.S. support of and cut communications with Australia. This piece would be much more accurate with this book being a main resource during production.
Shattered Sword is excellent. Craig Symonds "The Battle of Midway" (2011) is another excellent book. His Chapter 11 also details the Japanese arming and fueling aircraft in the hangar deck, not the flight deck.
I don't believe the battle of Midway is the first time in naval history where the opposing fleets never saw each other. The honors for that go to the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4, 1942)?
Two errors here: 1) A major error here is that the Japanese carriers had planes armed and ready to take off on the flight decks. In fact, they were mostly below being prepared. You hear this a lot, largely because of Fuschida's false reporting after the war. 2) The Japanese turned to Kamaakazes BEFORE the United States began bombing Japanese cities. The turning point was the Great Marianas Tukey Shoot (June 1944). It showed that the Japanese were no longer capable of normal flight operations and air combat.
Your first point is inaccurate and stems from Parshall and Tully's "Shattered Sword". Their primary source- Senshi Sosho- is not the official history which they claimed it to be, as it was neither commissioned nor endorsed by the Japanese government. The 102- volume series predominantly represents the view of Japanese veterans and much less historians, and the background to the production of it is one of heated debate in Japan in the decades after the war as to Japan's responsibility for the conflict. An example of face- saving in the work can be found in the volume covering the battle of Midway itself- where a great deal of the responsibility for the defeat is placed onto the shoulders of a petty officer. The senior surviving officer of Soryu- Executive officer Hisaishi Ohara- stated for the United States Strategic Bombing Survey immediately after the war that Soryu's strike aircraft (18 Vals and 3 Zeros) for the attack against the U.S. carriers was on her flight deck awaiting the order to launch when the ship was attacked. Last landing time of aircraft aboard Soryu was 0950- giving the flight deck crew ample time to spot the strike. This is right in line with VB- 3s after- action report which stated that Soryu had many aircraft spotted aft. Similarly, Kaga's senior surviving officer- Air officer Takahisa Amagai- stated for the USSBS that Kaga had approximately 30 aircraft in her hangars, six fighters in the air, and the rest (approximately 20 aircraft) on her flight deck. Last landing time of aircraft aboard Kaga was 1005- giving the flight deck crew enough time to move approximately 20 aircraft- via three elevators- to the flight deck, although few if any were spotted. This is right in line with Cmdr. McClusky's after- action report, in which he stated that Kaga's flight deck was covered with planes. The small gap in time between the end of the dive bombing attack (@ 1030) and the beginning of the launch of Hiryu's retaliatory strike on the U.S. carriers (@ 1050) makes clear that Hiryu's strike (18 Vals and 3 Zeros) had to have been on her flight deck when the dive bomber attack began. Japanese flight deck crews regularly took approximately half an hour to spot approximately 20 aircraft. They simply lacked the time to spot 21 aircraft and bring an additional three Zeros to the flight deck in just 20 minutes- even if they had reacted instantly, which they did not. Only Akagi's attack aircraft were in her hangars- and she had 6 Zeros on her flight deck in the act of launching when Akagi was attacked. And Fuchida? Likely suffered from PTSD, as his personal memoirs have many memory errors of no historical relevance whatsoever. He very likely conflated the launch of Akagi's CAP with the launch of the strike which he knew was being prepared. Other than that, his account that three aircraft attacked Akagi and obtained two hits squares with the actual number which attacked the ship and the number of hits which the Japanese recorded. Parshall and Tully stated in their work that CAP launches prevented spotting of any strikes. This is untrue, as both photographic and filmed interview evidence makes clear that then Japanese could and often did launch CAP sections from abreast of the carrier's islands. Why does any of this matter? Parshall and Tully have not hesitated to fling dirt into the faces of our aviators by saying that their statements of Japanese aircraft on the carriers' flight decks were "lurid tales" for which they can "be forgiven"- and all for the purpose of 'revising history'- and possibly selling books. It's worth pointing out that Commander Ohara and Lieutenant Commander Amagai are both mentioned in "Shattered Sword" but their postwar statements are not- because they directly contradict the central revelation in "Shattered Sword" Likewise, the short time gap in the case of Hiryu is simply passed over in silence. Some authors count on people to just read history- but not necessarily study it. Sincere regards...
@@manilajohn0182 Guilty as charged. My view of the battle is largely based on ''Shattered Sword'' I will add that there is some actual evidence here. The Mudway B-17s bombing Kido Butai took photographs. and there were no strike aircraft on the decks. Also important to understand is that Japanese carrier doctrine was to arm the strike aircraft in the hangers and only bring them on deck to launch. And here the Japanese were very efficient, much more so than the Americans. My understanding is that Kido Butai could do that in only a little over a half hour.
@@dennisweidner288 Yes, since the publication of their work, the B- 17 photographs have often been used to assert that Japanese carrier flight decks were clear when the dive- bombing attack began. However, the photos in question were taken a few hours prior to the onset of the dive- bombing attack- in the 0700- 0800 time frame. They are thus no indicator of the state of the flight decks when the dive- bombing attack began, as the Japanese could spot approximately 20 aircraft in half an hour- and this is something which the authors are well aware of. In fact, it's the last landing time of aircraft aboard each carrier which determines when or if any aircraft may have been spotted, because aircraft could not be spotted aft for launch if landing operation were imminent. Now, Parshall and Tully have stated in their work that CAP launches would also have interfered in the spotting process because as far as they're aware, the Japanese did not launch CAP aircraft from amidships. They're either guilty of sloppy research or of something worse. Look here on youtube for the video: "Fuchida and the Flight Deck Myth with Jonathan Parshall" Go to 16:20 in the video and you'll see a B- 17 photograph of Hiryu. Then listen to Parshall himself as he points out the three- aircraft Zero CAP slated to launch at 0825. Take a photo of this still and zoom in- and you'll see that the aircraft all have their tails splayed outwards and are thus 'not' being towed aft. They are in fact in take- off position. See also "Harada Kaname's Story: the Battle of Midway"- and listen to him relate on how he launched from 'forward' of Hiryu's island. Both of these clearly indicate that, despite the author's claim in their book that they knew of no instance of it, the Japanese could and did often launch fighters from the area of the island- and that the authors 'did' know about it. Cheers...
@@manilajohn0182 Thanks for this. I like learning new stuff. Quite frankly I have no dog in this fight and am only interested in knowing the facts. You certainly sound like you know what you are talking about. My only concern here is your personal attacks on Parshall and Tully. You write, "Parshall and Tully have not hesitated to fling dirt into the faces of our aviators by saying that their statements of Japanese aircraft on the carriers' flight decks were 'lurid tales' for which they can 'be forgiven'- and all for the purpose of 'revising history'- and possibly selling books." Now both men are certainly capable of errors. All historians are. But you suggest unprofessional, even sinister motives. This suggests to me a hidden agenda on your part. I greatly respect both of these historians. I do not believe for one moment that either would falsify their account to sell books, Thus I would like to see a disinterested respected historian to confirm what you are saying. Do you know of a recognized historian who has looked into it?
@@dennisweidner288 I'll keep this one short. I have no agenda. Rather, a solid case can be made that it's the authors' who have one. Either that or they're guilty of some dismal research. IF you would apply that same standard of skepticism to them that you have applied to me, then you would 'not' have accepted what they have said without question- but would have already cast about for other works to study instead of asking me for some. Understand that it is a great mistake to believe any author simply because they have had a book published. Whatever one reads regarding military history should be subject to critical and objective analysis. Here are some 'few' that you've asked for: 1. "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord; 2. "Miracle At Midway" by Gordon Prange; 3. "Midway: Dauntless Victory" by Peter Smith; 4. "The Nagumo Report" by Chuichi Nagumo (available online); 5. United States Strategic Bombing Survey: Interrogations of Japanese Officials; 6. "The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal"; 7. The Invasion of the South: Army Air Force Operations, and the Invasion of Northern and Central Sumatra; 8. The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies. The most reliable are comtemporary- nos. 4 and 5- followed by 3 and then 2. The last three are English translations of volumes from Senshi Sosho. The forwards to each volume provide some information regarding the contentious state of debate in 1960s Japan regarding the degree of her responsibility for the war. It was heated enough that universal agreement could not be reached on what to even call the war. The two authors of "Shattered Sword" have established- to their clear credit- that there was no attack five minutes from launch when our dive bombers attacked. That said, their contention that all Japanese attack aircraft were in their hangars when our dive bombers attacked is false. Those who stated otherwise were marginalized by the authors- Fuchida by allegations of dishonesty, our pilots and gunners by claims of tale- telling, Ohara and Amagai by silence, and Hiryu's minimal time gap between the end of the dive bomber attack and the beginning of launch of her retaliatory strike likewise by silence. Hope this helps, and good luck reading...
After recovering the Midway strike force... closing the Gap with the Americans was a critical mistake for the Japanese as they had longer range strike aircraft
I’ve always wondered whether it was amazing luck or divine intervention that we were about to catch the Japanese with 3 carriers refueling and rearming planes in the same location making them totally vulnerable all at the same time. Why were the Japanese carriers all in the same area? Wouldn’t it have made it tactically more safe to have their carriers split up and so much more difficult to locate? Add to the equation that our dive bombers were searching for them and completely unsure of their location. Then factor in our catching the Hiryu …the 4th fleet carrier in the same vulnerable condition and able to sink her as well. Our only carrier out of 3 that was lost was the already badly damaged Yorktown which was so seriously battered at Coral Sea that it was estimated it would require 3 months to make her ready for service. An amazing victory against overwhelming odds.
The odds were not as long as has been reported. The Americans only had a few less planes and the use of the Midway airfields made the difference. Especially the scouting by the PBYs. Most problems the Americans experienced were due to inexperienced pilots and crew. Inexperienced leadership also was a factor, the Americans had no expertise in joint carrier operations.
Nobody ever wonders why Japan thought America would fold and give up if enough naval forces were sunk. Just 35 years earlier that strategy had worked against Russia, a huge country spanning 9 time zones.
Great footage not often seen. Several historical inaccuracies but they’ve already been covered by other comments. 6+ minutes of subtitled Japanese was a poor choice to conclude such an otherwise good documentary. Although I do understand why the choice was made.
This imperfect video is perfect for falling asleep too. The beauty of it all is if one falls asleep for nap just see how long the video ran. I clocked a 50 minute nap from this one.
Bombs and Torpedoes were everywhere as the Ordinance Department was totally consumed with getting proper ordinance up to the flight deck and had no one to deal with the exchanged ordinance to be brought below and stored....
I saw the 1976 movie, Midway, with Charleton Heston on TV many years ago. That was the first time I had known about that battle. The scene in that movie, was when one of his officers asked how the Emperor would be informed of such a devastating defeat at Midway. His answer was. It will be me to inform the Emperor. That had to be embarrassing?
The Raiden could go head to head P47 in firepower or head to head with a Hellcat in a turn and climb fight, plus it had high altitude intercept speed with superchargers. The Raiden never got to see glory but it was a legit Ace Fighter
26:36 you said the type 91 torpedo could be released at an altitude of 300 meters. That's 984.25 feet. Good luck with all that! Wikipedia says, release altitude is 66 feet. Just FYI
First off. Only one bomb hit the flag ship. Not 2. Second, the intercepted team that "never found the enemy" were the ones that actually destroyed the 2nd and 3rd ships
Whats with these back to back commercials on utube now. Very annoying! Now ya have to wait 10secs and push skip twice to get back to the vid. Pain in the Bumb!
battle was not fought exclusively with aircraft carriers. b17 bombers, torpedo planes took off from midway to engage in the battle. plus the marines based at midway, defending the island against a possible invasion,
The Americans weren’t outnumbered. The Japanese aircraft carriers carried 62 planes on average while the Yorktown class carried 90 this meant it was 270 planes versus 242 planes. Plus midway had another 90 planes.
A) the B-17 did NOT have a retractable ball - only the B-24 had one. B) the B-17 couldn't hit a ship at sea to save it's life ! I don't think they hit one the whole war.
They did sink one destroyer- Mutsuki. However, Mutsuki was aiding another vessel and was dead in the water when attacked. Says much about the pre- war belief that B- 17s were capable of sea control.
A b-17 did hit two life boats being pulled by a u boat flying a red cross flag. Killing 2 life boats full of ppl out of 4. I think 124 ppl died The German u boat accidentally hit a passenger cruise ship. The captain of the u boat realized it, and tried to save as many as possible. It was a war crime that we covered up. The worst part is the pilots radioed in they sank a u boat, when they didn't. They just killed mostly cvilians, and a few Italian prisoners.
I find that I am essentially an atheist. However, occurrences like Midway come very close to changing my mind. There were several similar strokes of bad luck and judgement for the evil Axis. I will concede that He didn't make it easy to prevail.
Yeah I don't think so. The original movie midway was made Based on a book by one of the foremost historians of World War 2 Cornelius Ryan. Also they have footage showing it! Not everybody died. The survivors are telling the same story. You remember how they said there was only one pilot that survived torpedo 8? That was ensign George Gay. His plane would shot down, his rear gunner killed, but he survived it. He had a ring side seat and watched the whole battle from his inflatable Survival raft. The pronunciation may have been sour, but the facts were the facts.
Airplanes take 1000's of hours to build, very expensive assets, the pilots who fly them are key to any war, the thought of crashing your countries airplanes intentionally is insane, especially the pilots, it takes a great deal of training to train pilots, our pilots and sailors and soldiers are important to us, not human bombs. God bless these brave men. 🇺🇸
80 years later, one may equivocate about the kamikaze, but in America we didn’t judge that on the basis of merit, we judged the tree by the fruit it produced. Japan used the tool of destruction, pain and death to achieve conquest, later used destruction, pain and death in defense of the homeland and finally used destruction, pain and death as a defense against the reality that Japan had lost the war. The fruit of that tree was: destruction, pain and death for its own sake. We do not see merit in that.
I can’t believe how much ammo and munitions were wasted OFF TARGET….the torpedos for years were built with flaws in regard to NOT exploding on contact. How much sooner could this war have ended had we been more accurate AND had a better plan than sending men into machine gun nests the moment they departed landing ships.
That whole useless torpedoes is just unbelievable. I watched a video about it. It was just the arrogance of the manufacturer that it took so long to replace them. Makes you wonder if it was espionage. Because to believe the stupitdy of the truth lowers my belief in mankind even more. Profits over the lives of US servicemen
This island is a bird sanctuary. I happen to have lived there in the year of 1970. When my father was in the navy. Birds are literally everywhere. I couldn't wait to get away from it.
What a magnificent generation. These boys of 19-20 years old were the finest generation that American ever produced period.what men they were,thank God for the way they were raised. Government is working against the American family as I speak!,
7:00 They could acknowledge the agony of shame sweeping through the Japanese military high command for not protecting Tokyo and the emperor that they thought was a god (a god who needed glasses) but never acknowledged an agony of shame for the murderous deeds that their filthy armed forces did to Nanking, China. 8:05 There's old Tojo standing inside the Imperial Palace Hotel, an earthquake-proof building designed and built by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright between 1917 and 1920.
In this battle, the Americans knew three of the Japanese cards in 5-card poker. We broke their code, we had the Catalina plane, and the Japanese had really crappy intel. We can see you!!! When the Japanese first wave bombed Midway and saw that the Americans were aware of them coming, they should have skadattled with their 4 aircraft carriers. The Japanese Navy biggest mistake was assuming that the US aircraft carriers was stationed at Pearl even though there was no intel to support that assumption.
We had partially cracked their code, not fully. We knew they were going to attack Midway because of a ruse back in Pearl about their water sanitation plant being defective. But reading their transmissions wasn't like getting a postcard. A lot of it was still undecipherable.
That is true but is also true that their decks were in fact littered with Bombs that were on there plains to be used against Midway and were swapped out fog naval bombs and torpedoes that they were going to send out before they could get tj😢
Check out 1942 bombing of Tokyo aircraft hornet .and Jimmy Doolittle and his crue Jimmy said if any one doesn't want to go it's OK ,they all went , I probably wouldn't have gone . Not really ..my grandfather was black watch dad 1st airborne I just missed all maybe a good thing.
In your video ( 1:10:22 ) and ( 1:10:45 ) you describe how on June 4, 1942, at approximately 10.20 in the AM, the first American bombs begin falling on Japanese carrier flight decks filled with strike aircraft, engines turning, awaiting takeoff for a second strike at the still functioning Midway Naval Air Station. I think you are incorrect regarding these Japanese carriers having any strike aircraft on their flight decks when attacked that morning by the American forces. Historians Jon Parcell and Anthony Tulley, authors of Shattered Sword, pretty much the definitive work currently today on the Battle of Midway have proved the flight decks were free of aircraft when USN bombs began falling that morning. The minor exception were the few CAP aircraft coming and going to rearm and to occasionally refuel, but all bombers and Midway Island bound attack a/c were all still down below in the crowded hanger decks being fueled and rearmed.
Japan and Yamamoto were fools. They took on too many targets at once, Wake, Guam and the Philippines, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong. . They would have had better chances if those assets were used to follow up the Pearl Harbor raid and taken the islands of Hawaii. As damaging as the attack was, they failed to destroy the submarine facilities, or fuel storage, shipyard repair, sea planes, or intel section. there 8 large cruisers, 33 destroyers, 4 submarines and 50 ships of various sizes. 1.4 million gallons of bunker oil, Loss pf which would have added two years to the war.
Roosevelt may have been a popular president, as he was the longest sitting president (literally and figuratively), he was also a warhawk who enacted policies that pushed an already desperate Japan into a position where the only option the saw was full scale war with the US, giving Roosevelt his excuse to join the European war.
FDR lost a son in a battle, gave his own golden years. Maybe" it was as you said, his motive - could be any one or all three, power, money or end the depression. If I go there , it will be for end the depression
FDR saw hitler & toto for what they were just as Mussolini- dangerous imminent threats, freaken wild ass lunatics . By 1942 they had the track record, all 3, no mind reading needed. What was needed NO ONE wanted to give. BLOOD, TIME, MONEY.
Years before 1942(12/7/41) look at what the japs were doing to chinee, Burma's, the list of country's goes on. We as American don't support that crap w/ Petro, iron , rubber etc..As FDR did then we would do today, stopthe support.
Dropping bombs from that altitude takes some time for the bombs to reach the earth 🌏 This gives the ships traveling at speed the ability to change course before the bombs reach them. Thats what I saw 👀 in another video. Which makes sense.
This video is not done correctly, let alone several mistakes that I caught watching it. Especially stating that the flight decks were full of planes ready to strike. Ridiculous!!
Once more a WRONG video approach about the 5 critical minutes around 10.25 when dauntless dove against Japanese carriers. There was NO STRIKE GROUP ON THE FLIGHT DECKS OF THE JAPANESE FLAT TOPS APPART FROM SOME CAP FIGHTERS. The shuttered shord (book) is your friend. All of your analysis about the 5 blowing minutes is based on a source (Fouchidas lies). Appart from that critical mistake it was a nice try
Japan vs. China. Fenton China and Glass, or Bel-Fram. Orings and cork gaskets. Or rubber meeting the road. Avia. Made in... Walmart. Mother, should I build a wall? Firewalls and malware. Bytes. Mega, giga, pico, nano, milli. Microns. One thousandths of inches or millimeters? You choose. I'm real close to buying a see through architecturally ratioed ruler and breaking out a map alongside the media. Anybody got a map or MAP gas? Yellow bottle. Blue Rhino anybody? Racing fuel? JP4? Volvo? Saab? Cannon Macmillan? Burgettstown? St. Clairsville? The Mason Dixon Line and underground railroads. I'm tired of being railroaded. COMPRENDE?
Having trouble keeping it all together? Must be! Suppose you are just having a routine psychiatric disintegration??? Best of luck re-integrating with reality!
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That place had flying cockroches as big as skateboards and geckos living in doors eating whatever is leftover. And the cockroches are the desert.
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The US won the Battle of Midway due to divine intervention. Everything went right for the US, and everything went wrong for the Japanese. The battle should have been a crushing defeat for the US Navy.
My Dad was the the flight engineer on one of the Catalinas. The Catalinas were expendable. They kept searching until they had to ditch after running out of fuel. All of his crew survived 3 days in a life raft until picked up by our guys. After Dad got out of the hospital, Dad got 30 days Survivor's Leave. He went to Chicago and married Mom. Then it was back to the War and a new Catalina. What a magnificent generation.
Holy shit. What a story /life. I love the PBY, what a cool plane. ☮️
@@Marco90731 +1
Greatest Generation fought and defeated fascism, the worst generation is aiding and abetting it!!! Grrr
I can’t get a kid to come to work whens he’s got a cold 🥶.
Your Dad went back to a WORLD 🌎 WAR after surviving 3 days on a life raft and 30 days leave. Awesome 💪🏽 Greatest Generation and Humble about it. Today they throw the word Hero around if ya go to work. 🤦🏽♂️
No WWII servicemen every called them selves heroes.
All the Heroes are dead and buried in Europe and Pacific
They would tell you. God Bless the Vets ❤️🙏🏼🇺🇸
Why would a Catalina have to ditch? It could literally just land normally.
I love the PBY as do everyone I know , after the war there were lots of PBYs available some of these became erstwhile “winibagos”by some now rich WW2 veteran pilots ! I always dreamed of having one for just that !
Battle of the Coral Sea was the first battle where carriers battled each others hundreds of miles apart, and not in sight of each others. Midway was the second.
Yep.
I seen several channels now that make that mistake. Makes me wonder where they are getting their information.
On a more minor note, being sunk in Pearl Harbour is hardly getting "sent to the depths". Most were quickly re-floated.
Yes, That's certainly what I was taught in my school history lessons.
What most people don't know is that pearl had warnings but ignored them one of our ships sunk a Jap sub outside the harbor and a radar station reported planes but were told they were a flight of B-17s plus they didn't get the fuel and ammo depot
I don't know about most people, but most people interested in history do know, ad nauseam, at that.
Finest masterpiece of WWII commentary: giving details I never knew until you. I have family in Europe and the Pacific, so I'm all ears that helped them survive.
Unfortunately, there are way too many errors in this presentation
I mean no disrespect towards the video creator(s) for the comment I’m going to make. You have my utmost appreciation for taking the time to put this video together.
Sometimes the comment threads provide a more accurate history than the actual videos…I’m not saying that’s the case here, but the first few threads seem to offer a vastly different perspective as to what was happening on the Japanese carriers during the battle than the video depicts.
I don’t know enough to jump in to any of the discussions, but I love history, and I’m gleaning a bunch of book titles to use as research…
So once again, I will say thank you to both the creator(s) of the video and those in the threads who are offering other sources to look at. I am truly thankful for all of the information that has been shared, as well as the time and effort the creator(s) have devoted to the making of this video.
History is like Science, it’s never settled. New discoveries are being made everyday in both , what was true today will be replaced tomorrow.
Actually, the battle of the Coral Sea is the first time two opposing fleets had a battle without ever coming in sight of one another.
Thinking that myself
yes, and stopped any hopes of an Australian invasion
How about Pearl Harbor?
This video repeats the obsolete perception that the Japanese carrier decks were packed with a strike that was ready to take off when the US dive bombers attacked. In fact, their decks were mostly clear except for a few fighters landing to refuel or ready to take off as the Japanese had just fought off several US torpedo bomber attacks. They were keeping their decks clear to handle the CAP. The 2019 movie Midway got it right, showing the Japanese carrier decks mostly clear. Many of their Zero fighters were still in the air having just shot down US torpedo bombers and previous attacks from Midway, and they hadn't spotted the strike because they couldn't while they were under attack. Instead, the strike planes were still below in the hangers. It was Japanese practice to refuel and arm aircraft inside the hanger bays. When the US dive bombers hit, their bombs exploded amongst fueled and armed aircraft causing those huge explosions and fires that doomed the Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Even Japanese documents of this battle say what he was saying they were rushing to change weapons and fuel up so they didn’t have time to get all the planes down to the middle deck to refuel to send back up
Who cares. Always speculating over repeated irrelevant nonsense.
Whether the IJN flight decks were full or not or refueling or not refueling or had the IJN launched in time is anybody claiming it would have change the out come of the war in this scenario? Obviously no so STFU already. 😂
All folks do is throw up this constant smoke screen and enclosed one’s mindset into a “carriers vs carriers” battle.
Does anybody do any research? The US Naval War College studied the Battle of Midway and already concluded that the IJN should have used their surface ships.
Look at the IJN vessel advantage.
Envision IJN battleships shelling Midway and the IJN carriers are further west behind a Midway surface ship attack force.
The carriers are loaded 2/3 fighters not bombers.
Now what do the US carrier planes do when they are alerted that Midway is being attacked and it’s still nighttime.
Hhĥ 7th pp😊
Old myths die hard.
Which makes the American victory that more impressive.
I have seen the Hollywood movie Midway. An excellent movie. But this one takes first place. It gave me details and insights not seen before. Love the narrative. And it heightens the sacrifice and commitment to their service to our country. They are all heroes! Thank you for your service!
As an Englishman my knowledge of Pacific war was limited. What a great documentary.
The U.S should have never fought Germany.
And another thing the Lusitania was sunk with an untold number of Americans on board
@@halojump123 Well you certainly didn't have to. However in the end the Soviet Union would have won and their reach would have included Western Europe. You would have had a far more formidable adversary to appease having appeased Hitler.
@@MrHuggybear62 It was a necessity. Great Britain would never have been able to achieve a successful invasion of Western Europe on their own. Germany would have been overwhelmed eventually by the Soviet Union based on sheer numbers. The result would have likely led to a conflict between the US and the USSR in the latter half of the 20th century with probable catastrophic results.
I also read that in 1937, for example, only 70 of the 1500 Japanese carrier pilot trainee applicants were accepted, of whom only 25 graduated.
Thank you for the wonderful video. Japan's first mistake in this war was the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the second mistake was the invasion of the Pacific Ocean.
No. Their mistake was at Midway. They blew it.
The US had a puny task force. 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers plus of course 3 carriers and the obsolete planes on Midway.
The IJN had 11 battleships, 22 cruisers, and 64 destroyers plus 9 carriers available and over 500 planes. This includes the Aleutians force and leaving Carrier Zuikaku behind.
Face it. The IJN blew it. The US Naval War College even stated this. The IJN should have used their surface ships and should have defeated the Americans at Midway.
@@f430ferrari5
Right. Along with the overall plan being unnecessary over complicated with its feints and diversions instead of being more direct to their main goal.
@@mhern57The diversion to the Aleutian Islands was stupid.
@@jeffclark7888
Agree 100%
@@f430ferrari5 Over confidence and lack of respect for your enemy is the toxic combination that also doomed the Kiddo Butai.
As a Brit, listening to someone with an American accent, thank you for speaking an intelligible form of our shared language without the need to mangle it at every opportunity in order to re-assert a long-won sense of "independence". To go against the prevailing trend speaks, to me, of maturity and self-confidence.
There's a lot of things I dont like about the English Empire. However, I've never met an Englishman I didnt like! 🤔
@@ccrider3435 Well, thank you.
Well he did leave out all the unnecessary letters, as in labour, honour, etc... 😎
I'm British and fully aware of the real significance of the Battle of Midway,
(I've visited Normandy and seen Omaha beach
and the VAST American WW2 cemetery there too),
the Battle of Midway was everything that the attack on Pearl Harbour wasn't,
as that didn't destroy any American aircraft carriers,
yet, about 20 accurately dropped bombs, by brave and skillful American pilots,
basically "FINISHED Japan off" by wiping out a number of their aircraft carriers,
Midway, Stalingrad and the Battle of Britain, were the 3 "events"
that secured the eventual Allied victory over the Axis powers,
one at sea, Midway, (Americans), one on the ground, Stalingrad, (Russians),
and one in the air, Battle of Britain, (British Empire, plus others),
those 3 "events" proved that the Allies could defeat the Axis powers,
at sea, on land and in the air.
As an american I can't love churchill, I like him plenty enough. USA loose midway , japeesies still loose war. Brits loose air battle, germeens still loose war.turning points, per winston - more vital than air battle - battle of the atlantic. If lost Stall in wouldn't of had Petro or tanks to get to berlin.
Maybe scratch tanks, instead bullets, beans & bandaid, lots of trucks (rubber). Its ok, never expect anything less than that out dated proclamation from our wonderful Brits, always welcome my freinds.
Who knows, hindsight not necessarily 20/20. But it can be fun, kind of.
@@daviddoherty2841 the Battle of the Atlantic, was fought by the Germans using WW1 equipment and tac tics, the German U boats, weren't exactly submarines, they were basically surface ships, with the ability to dive and the Wolf Pack attacks, were first practiced during WW1 too, whereas the Allies used WW2 equipment and tac tics, like breaking the Enigma codes, the use of the cavity magnetron and Lee light to locate U boats, extending air cover to the whole of the North Atlantic and deploying weapons like the Hedgehog, as soon as the Allies closed the "air gap" over the North Atlantic, it was, game over, for the German U boats.
These videos and visuals look fresh....thank you for that.
For those that noticed a large dock area on the map with no ships.....this dock area was built about twenty years ago, also the orientation of the main runway of RAAF DARWIN was different in 1942. The pictured runway is the current runway, Also some of the featured military installations featured on the map were built at later dates after the raid.other than this it was an accurate representation of events.....except it is R double A F, this is how it is pronounced in Service and government.
Sorry meant to mention I am a Darwin resident of fifty years told stories by people who were here.
Four large cruisers? No. Four fleet carriers. After saying Naguma had Four large cruisers, he then gave the names of the four fleet carriers. Small mistakes. However, the editor should have caught the small slip. But, no big deal.After all, I'm pretty sure everyone watching the video knew what was intended.
Producers of youtube videos are usually inaccurate as hell and they don't give a damn about it.
Me and my daughter were on the aircraft carrier intriped in Manhattan they had a simulation of a kamikaze attack it was upsetting. But the ship is amazing. Also 270 sailors died the best of us .
Am sure I remember reading that the Japanese flight deck crews were just as elite as their pilots and much more efficient than their US counterparts. In terms of damage control the US were innovative and inventive, if you had an idea your rank didn’t matter, you were listened to and constant improvements were made.
if you want to know the complete and accurate story, read the book Shattered Sword, published 2005. The first story of Midway from the Japanese prospective and Japanese Navel Doctrine. The Aleutian campaign was not a feign. It was planned to disrupt the U.S. support of and cut communications with Australia. This piece would be much more accurate with this book being a main resource during production.
The Aleutians and Australia aren’t near each other
Shattered Sword is excellent. Craig Symonds "The Battle of Midway" (2011) is another excellent book. His Chapter 11 also details the Japanese arming and fueling aircraft in the hangar deck, not the flight deck.
I've always wanted to try Aleutian champagne with an Australian. I need the recipe for the navel doctrine. Is it orange? 🍊🥂😊
Planned to disrupt the US support of Russia, not Australia.
@@cwcsquared They are half a world apart
I don't believe the battle of Midway is the first time in naval history where the opposing fleets never saw each other. The honors for that go to the Battle of the Coral Sea (May 4, 1942)?
Dude, your footage is f**king AMAZING.
Two errors here:
1) A major error here is that the Japanese carriers had planes armed and ready to take off on the flight decks. In fact, they were mostly below being prepared. You hear this a lot, largely because of Fuschida's false reporting after the war.
2) The Japanese turned to Kamaakazes BEFORE the United States began bombing Japanese cities. The turning point was the Great Marianas Tukey Shoot (June 1944). It showed that the Japanese were no longer capable of normal flight operations and air combat.
Your first point is inaccurate and stems from Parshall and Tully's "Shattered Sword". Their primary source- Senshi Sosho- is not the official history which they claimed it to be, as it was neither commissioned nor endorsed by the Japanese government. The 102- volume series predominantly represents the view of Japanese veterans and much less historians, and the background to the production of it is one of heated debate in Japan in the decades after the war as to Japan's responsibility for the conflict. An example of face- saving in the work can be found in the volume covering the battle of Midway itself- where a great deal of the responsibility for the defeat is placed onto the shoulders of a petty officer.
The senior surviving officer of Soryu- Executive officer Hisaishi Ohara- stated for the United States Strategic Bombing Survey immediately after the war that Soryu's strike aircraft (18 Vals and 3 Zeros) for the attack against the U.S. carriers was on her flight deck awaiting the order to launch when the ship was attacked. Last landing time of aircraft aboard Soryu was 0950- giving the flight deck crew ample time to spot the strike. This is right in line with VB- 3s after- action report which stated that Soryu had many aircraft spotted aft.
Similarly, Kaga's senior surviving officer- Air officer Takahisa Amagai- stated for the USSBS that Kaga had approximately 30 aircraft in her hangars, six fighters in the air, and the rest (approximately 20 aircraft) on her flight deck. Last landing time of aircraft aboard Kaga was 1005- giving the flight deck crew enough time to move approximately 20 aircraft- via three elevators- to the flight deck, although few if any were spotted. This is right in line with Cmdr. McClusky's after- action report, in which he stated that Kaga's flight deck was covered with planes.
The small gap in time between the end of the dive bombing attack (@ 1030) and the beginning of the launch of Hiryu's retaliatory strike on the U.S. carriers (@ 1050) makes clear that Hiryu's strike (18 Vals and 3 Zeros) had to have been on her flight deck when the dive bomber attack began. Japanese flight deck crews regularly took approximately half an hour to spot approximately 20 aircraft. They simply lacked the time to spot 21 aircraft and bring an additional three Zeros to the flight deck in just 20 minutes- even if they had reacted instantly, which they did not.
Only Akagi's attack aircraft were in her hangars- and she had 6 Zeros on her flight deck in the act of launching when Akagi was attacked. And Fuchida? Likely suffered from PTSD, as his personal memoirs have many memory errors of no historical relevance whatsoever. He very likely conflated the launch of Akagi's CAP with the launch of the strike which he knew was being prepared. Other than that, his account that three aircraft attacked Akagi and obtained two hits squares with the actual number which attacked the ship and the number of hits which the Japanese recorded.
Parshall and Tully stated in their work that CAP launches prevented spotting of any strikes. This is untrue, as both photographic and filmed interview evidence makes clear that then Japanese could and often did launch CAP sections from abreast of the carrier's islands.
Why does any of this matter? Parshall and Tully have not hesitated to fling dirt into the faces of our aviators by saying that their statements of Japanese aircraft on the carriers' flight decks were "lurid tales" for which they can "be forgiven"- and all for the purpose of 'revising history'- and possibly selling books. It's worth pointing out that Commander Ohara and Lieutenant Commander Amagai are both mentioned in "Shattered Sword" but their postwar statements are not- because they directly contradict the central revelation in "Shattered Sword" Likewise, the short time gap in the case of Hiryu is simply passed over in silence.
Some authors count on people to just read history- but not necessarily study it.
Sincere regards...
@@manilajohn0182 Guilty as charged. My view of the battle is largely based on ''Shattered Sword'' I will add that there is some actual evidence here. The Mudway B-17s bombing Kido Butai took photographs. and there were no strike aircraft on the decks. Also important to understand is that Japanese carrier doctrine was to arm the strike aircraft in the hangers and only bring them on deck to launch. And here the Japanese were very efficient, much more so than the Americans. My understanding is that Kido Butai could do that in only a little over a half hour.
@@dennisweidner288 Yes, since the publication of their work, the B- 17 photographs have often been used to assert that Japanese carrier flight decks were clear when the dive- bombing attack began. However, the photos in question were taken a few hours prior to the onset of the dive- bombing attack- in the 0700- 0800 time frame. They are thus no indicator of the state of the flight decks when the dive- bombing attack began, as the Japanese could spot approximately 20 aircraft in half an hour- and this is something which the authors are well aware of. In fact, it's the last landing time of aircraft aboard each carrier which determines when or if any aircraft may have been spotted, because aircraft could not be spotted aft for launch if landing operation were imminent.
Now, Parshall and Tully have stated in their work that CAP launches would also have interfered in the spotting process because as far as they're aware, the Japanese did not launch CAP aircraft from amidships. They're either guilty of sloppy research or of something worse. Look here on youtube for the video:
"Fuchida and the Flight Deck Myth with Jonathan Parshall"
Go to 16:20 in the video and you'll see a B- 17 photograph of Hiryu. Then listen to Parshall himself as he points out the three- aircraft Zero CAP slated to launch at 0825. Take a photo of this still and zoom in- and you'll see that the aircraft all have their tails splayed outwards and are thus 'not' being towed aft. They are in fact in take- off position.
See also "Harada Kaname's Story: the Battle of Midway"- and listen to him relate on how he launched from 'forward' of Hiryu's island. Both of these clearly indicate that, despite the author's claim in their book that they knew of no instance of it, the Japanese could and did often launch fighters from the area of the island- and that the authors 'did' know about it.
Cheers...
@@manilajohn0182 Thanks for this. I like learning new stuff. Quite frankly I have no dog in this fight and am only interested in knowing the facts. You certainly sound like you know what you are talking about. My only concern here is your personal attacks on Parshall and Tully. You write, "Parshall and Tully have not hesitated to fling dirt into the faces of our aviators by saying that their statements of Japanese aircraft on the carriers' flight decks were 'lurid tales' for which they can 'be forgiven'- and all for the purpose of 'revising history'- and possibly selling books." Now both men are certainly capable of errors. All historians are. But you suggest unprofessional, even sinister motives. This suggests to me a hidden agenda on your part. I greatly respect both of these historians. I do not believe for one moment that either would falsify their account to sell books, Thus I would like to see a disinterested respected historian to confirm what you are saying. Do you know of a recognized historian who has looked into it?
@@dennisweidner288 I'll keep this one short. I have no agenda. Rather, a solid case can be made that it's the authors' who have one. Either that or they're guilty of some dismal research. IF you would apply that same standard of skepticism to them that you have applied to me, then you would 'not' have accepted what they have said without question- but would have already cast about for other works to study instead of asking me for some. Understand that it is a great mistake to believe any author simply because they have had a book published. Whatever one reads regarding military history should be subject to critical and objective analysis. Here are some 'few' that you've asked for:
1. "Incredible Victory" by Walter Lord;
2. "Miracle At Midway" by Gordon Prange;
3. "Midway: Dauntless Victory" by Peter Smith;
4. "The Nagumo Report" by Chuichi Nagumo (available online);
5. United States Strategic Bombing Survey: Interrogations of Japanese Officials;
6. "The Operations of the Navy in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal";
7. The Invasion of the South: Army Air Force Operations, and the Invasion of Northern and Central Sumatra;
8. The Invasion of the Dutch East Indies.
The most reliable are comtemporary- nos. 4 and 5- followed by 3 and then 2. The last three are English translations of volumes from Senshi Sosho. The forwards to each volume provide some information regarding the contentious state of debate in 1960s Japan regarding the degree of her responsibility for the war. It was heated enough that universal agreement could not be reached on what to even call the war.
The two authors of "Shattered Sword" have established- to their clear credit- that there was no attack five minutes from launch when our dive bombers attacked. That said, their contention that all Japanese attack aircraft were in their hangars when our dive bombers attacked is false. Those who stated otherwise were marginalized by the authors- Fuchida by allegations of dishonesty, our pilots and gunners by claims of tale- telling, Ohara and Amagai by silence, and Hiryu's minimal time gap between the end of the dive bomber attack and the beginning of launch of her retaliatory strike likewise by silence.
Hope this helps, and good luck reading...
After recovering the Midway strike force... closing the Gap with the Americans was a critical mistake for the Japanese as they had longer range strike aircraft
I remember it was Admiral Ohnishi who says that popular phrase ' Life is like a delicate flower Who can expect the fragranc to.last forever?
Little did Japan know that they had awaken a sleeping GIANT after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Quite the opposite. The jap planners were not fools, & knew exactly what chance they had of defeating us in a protracted engagement
I’ve always wondered whether it was amazing luck or divine intervention that we were about to catch the Japanese with 3 carriers refueling and rearming planes in the same location making them totally vulnerable all at the same time. Why were the Japanese carriers all in the same area? Wouldn’t it have made it tactically more safe to have their carriers split up and so much more difficult to locate? Add to the equation that our dive bombers were searching for them and completely unsure of their location. Then factor in our catching the Hiryu …the 4th fleet carrier in the same vulnerable condition and able to sink her as well. Our only carrier out of 3 that was lost was the already badly damaged Yorktown which was so seriously battered at Coral Sea that it was estimated it would require 3 months to make her ready for service. An amazing victory against overwhelming odds.
The odds were not as long as has been reported. The Americans only had a few less planes and the use of the Midway airfields made the difference. Especially the scouting by the PBYs. Most problems the Americans experienced were due to inexperienced pilots and crew. Inexperienced leadership also was a factor, the Americans had no expertise in joint carrier operations.
Nobody ever wonders why Japan thought America would fold and give up if enough naval forces were sunk. Just 35 years earlier that strategy had worked against Russia, a huge country spanning 9 time zones.
Great footage not often seen. Several historical inaccuracies but they’ve already been covered by other comments. 6+ minutes of subtitled Japanese was a poor choice to conclude such an otherwise good documentary. Although I do understand why the choice was made.
I have watched many docs on Pearl Harbour. This is the best written.
This imperfect video is perfect for falling asleep too.
The beauty of it all is if one falls asleep for nap just see how long the video ran.
I clocked a 50 minute nap from this one.
Without the Geniuses in the comments sections of these videos I feel like my viewing experience would not be complete 😂❤👍🏾🇺🇸
The FIRST battle was the Battle of the Coral Sea, Midway was months later
With the good old Yorktown
It was less than a month later, really. Regards.
Feb to June is more than a month where I live@@jmrodas9
One month later
Bombs and Torpedoes were everywhere as the Ordinance Department was totally consumed with getting proper ordinance up to the flight deck and had no one to deal with the exchanged ordinance to be brought below and stored....
The success of the battle of Midway was won by excellent intelligence, tactical positioning of carriers, timing, pilot skill and good fortune.
I saw the 1976 movie, Midway, with Charleton Heston on TV many years ago. That was the first time I had known about that battle. The scene in that movie, was when one of his officers asked how the Emperor would be informed of such a devastating defeat at Midway. His answer was. It will be me to inform the Emperor. That had to be embarrassing?
the sad part is that Rochefort was never given the true credit in midway.
The Raiden could go head to head P47 in firepower or head to head with a Hellcat in a turn and climb fight, plus it had high altitude intercept speed with superchargers. The Raiden never got to see glory but it was a legit Ace Fighter
26:36 you said the type 91 torpedo could be released at an altitude of 300 meters. That's 984.25 feet. Good luck with all that! Wikipedia says, release altitude is 66 feet. Just FYI
Can you say "over extended" I really can't imagine what they were thinking.
Every battle is fierce and many losses.
Those PBS were sent on a one ☝🏾 way mission. Thats a tough order to give and obey. God bless those boys who became men in seconds ❤
First off. Only one bomb hit the flag ship. Not 2. Second, the intercepted team that "never found the enemy" were the ones that actually destroyed the 2nd and 3rd ships
in terms of scale, the Battle of Midway was the Japanese edition of Stalingrad
That’s nonsense. The entire German 6th army was surrounded and destroyed at Stalingrad. The Japanese did not lose their entire fleet at Midway.
@@cwcsquared both were staggering defeats, both were turning points in the war. the correlation cannot be disputed.
@@cwcsquaredshhh bro ..let them live in their imaginary world ...
Whats with these back to back commercials on utube now. Very annoying! Now ya have to wait 10secs and push skip twice to get back to the vid. Pain in the Bumb!
battle was not fought exclusively with aircraft carriers. b17 bombers, torpedo planes took off from midway to engage in the battle. plus the marines based at midway, defending the island against a possible invasion,
The Americans weren’t outnumbered. The Japanese aircraft carriers carried 62 planes on average while the Yorktown class carried 90 this meant it was 270 planes versus 242 planes. Plus midway had another 90 planes.
A) the B-17 did NOT have a retractable ball - only the B-24 had one.
B) the B-17 couldn't hit a ship at sea to save it's life ! I don't think they hit one the whole war.
They did sink one destroyer- Mutsuki. However, Mutsuki was aiding another vessel and was dead in the water when attacked. Says much about the pre- war belief that B- 17s were capable of sea control.
A b-17 did hit two life boats being pulled by a u boat flying a red cross flag. Killing 2 life boats full of ppl out of 4. I think 124 ppl died The German u boat accidentally hit a passenger cruise ship. The captain of the u boat realized it, and tried to save as many as possible. It was a war crime that we covered up. The worst part is the pilots radioed in they sank a u boat, when they didn't. They just killed mostly cvilians, and a few Italian prisoners.
P 38 is crazy and shot down Yamamoto.
I find that I am essentially an atheist. However, occurrences like Midway come very close to changing my mind. There were several similar strokes of bad luck and judgement for the evil Axis. I will concede that He didn't make it easy to prevail.
Yeah I don't think so. The original movie midway was made Based on a book by one of the foremost historians of World War 2 Cornelius Ryan. Also they have footage showing it! Not everybody died. The survivors are telling the same story. You remember how they said there was only one pilot that survived torpedo 8?
That was ensign George Gay.
His plane would shot down, his rear gunner killed, but he survived it. He had a ring side seat and watched the whole battle from his inflatable Survival raft.
The pronunciation may have been sour, but the facts were the facts.
Yamamoto was a one trick pony. After Pearl, his performance was a lesson in incompetence.
Airplanes take 1000's of hours to build, very expensive assets, the pilots who fly them are key to any war, the thought of crashing your countries airplanes intentionally is insane, especially the pilots, it takes a great deal of training to train pilots, our pilots and sailors and soldiers are important to us, not human bombs. God bless these brave men. 🇺🇸
80 years later, one may equivocate about the kamikaze, but in America we didn’t judge that on the basis of merit, we judged the tree by the fruit it produced. Japan used the tool of destruction, pain and death to achieve conquest, later used destruction, pain and death in defense of the homeland and finally used destruction, pain and death as a defense against the reality that Japan had lost the war.
The fruit of that tree was: destruction, pain and death for its own sake. We do not see merit in that.
I can’t believe how much ammo and munitions were wasted OFF TARGET….the torpedos for years were built with flaws in regard to NOT exploding on contact. How much sooner could this war have ended had we been more accurate AND had a better plan than sending men into machine gun nests the moment they departed landing ships.
That whole useless torpedoes is just unbelievable. I watched a video about it. It was just the arrogance of the manufacturer that it took so long to replace them. Makes you wonder if it was espionage. Because to believe the stupitdy of the truth lowers my belief in mankind even more. Profits over the lives of US servicemen
You should practice reading the script so as to not make so many mistakes. 12:45 "defeat" not "defend" the American carrier fleet.
Yes. A lot of errors ❤😂. But nice topic
This island is a bird sanctuary. I happen to have lived there in the year of 1970. When my father was in the navy. Birds are literally everywhere. I couldn't wait to get away from it.
What a magnificent generation. These boys of 19-20 years old were the finest generation that American ever produced period.what men they were,thank God for the way they were raised. Government is working against the American family as I speak!,
Just bear in mind that the secret Japanese code encryption was broken just in time for this battle
B-17 didnt hit, dosen't mean necessarily no impact. They would be a formidable diversion.
War is Hell.
Whoever makes it the most Hellish first wins
William T Sherman . US Civil War. (The quote is not exact. But you get the jist )
PBY saved a lot of sailors.
7:00 They could acknowledge the agony of shame sweeping through the Japanese military high command for not protecting Tokyo and the emperor that they thought was a god (a god who needed glasses) but never acknowledged an agony of shame for the murderous deeds that their filthy armed forces did to Nanking, China. 8:05 There's old Tojo standing inside the Imperial Palace Hotel, an earthquake-proof building designed and built by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright between 1917 and 1920.
my dad was there on lead heavy cruiser
...and the winner of the Pacific War:
Emperor Hirohito.
In this battle, the Americans knew three of the Japanese cards in 5-card poker. We broke their code, we had the Catalina plane, and the Japanese had really crappy intel. We can see you!!! When the Japanese first wave bombed Midway and saw that the Americans were aware of them coming, they should have skadattled with their 4 aircraft carriers. The Japanese Navy biggest mistake was assuming that the US aircraft carriers was stationed at Pearl even though there was no intel to support that assumption.
We had partially cracked their code, not fully. We knew they were going to attack Midway because of a ruse back in Pearl about their water sanitation plant being defective. But reading their transmissions wasn't like getting a postcard. A lot of it was still undecipherable.
Good stuff, but i fell asleep before the answer - - Why/how did the plane go down? - or - What happened??
The Japanese had no radar.
the battle description here has been proved false in "Shattered Sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. downvote
You know your on heels 👠 fighting when you have to go to Kamikazis as tactics to fight a war. Fanatics
48:24 Those are not the names of heavy cruisers, those are the names of carriers. 🙄
That is true but is also true that their decks were in fact littered with Bombs that were on there plains to be used against Midway and were swapped out fog naval bombs and torpedoes that they were going to send out before they could get tj😢
131:59 they're talking about kamikazes and yet they're showing
an American
aircraft ! 👈🤪👌
The first true/planned kamikaze attacks did not occur until the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines.
nice
Check out 1942 bombing of Tokyo aircraft hornet .and Jimmy Doolittle and his crue Jimmy said if any one doesn't want to go it's OK ,they all went , I probably wouldn't have gone . Not really ..my grandfather was black watch dad 1st airborne I just missed all maybe a good thing.
No self-sealing fuel tanks on the Zero doomed it.
In your video ( 1:10:22 ) and ( 1:10:45 ) you describe how on June 4, 1942, at approximately 10.20 in the AM, the first American bombs begin falling on Japanese carrier flight decks filled with strike aircraft, engines turning, awaiting takeoff for a second strike at the still functioning Midway Naval Air Station.
I think you are incorrect regarding these Japanese carriers having any strike aircraft on their flight decks when attacked that morning by the American forces.
Historians Jon Parcell and Anthony Tulley, authors of Shattered Sword, pretty much the definitive work currently today on the Battle of Midway have proved the flight decks were free of aircraft when USN bombs began falling that morning. The minor exception were the few CAP aircraft coming and going to rearm and to occasionally refuel, but all bombers and Midway Island bound attack a/c were all still down below in the crowded hanger decks being fueled and rearmed.
Not put out of action?
Franklin? Enterprize? Etc,
نرجو ترجمه فلم اللغه العربيه
check now :)
So picture you are in command of the pacific fleet of America. Now, most of the world is at war. You get a surprise attack? Bs.. bs..bs
Lets face it... America has been the best country in the world since the Mayflower arrived.😊
Too much of information....too fast...
Japan and Yamamoto were fools. They took on too many targets at once, Wake, Guam and the Philippines, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong. . They would have had better chances if those assets were used to follow up the Pearl Harbor raid and taken the islands of Hawaii. As damaging as the attack was, they failed to destroy the submarine facilities, or fuel storage, shipyard repair, sea planes, or intel section. there 8 large cruisers, 33 destroyers, 4 submarines and 50 ships of various sizes. 1.4 million gallons of bunker oil, Loss pf which would have added two years to the war.
Japanese industrial can’t rebuild their fleets if they got destroy unlike the USA …. That is the biggest mistakes they made zz
Woke up the giants…
Roosevelt may have been a popular president, as he was the longest sitting president (literally and figuratively), he was also a warhawk who enacted policies that pushed an already desperate Japan into a position where the only option the saw was full scale war with the US, giving Roosevelt his excuse to join the European war.
FDR-Churchill were tools of the usurers in wiz of oz causing all the world wars for profit for centuries
FDR lost a son in a battle, gave his own golden years. Maybe" it was as you said, his motive - could be any one or all three, power, money or end the depression. If I go there , it will be for end the depression
FDR saw hitler & toto for what they were just as Mussolini- dangerous imminent threats, freaken wild ass lunatics . By 1942 they had the track record, all 3, no mind reading needed. What was needed NO ONE wanted to give. BLOOD, TIME, MONEY.
No people like FDR, may have turned out that the English language leaves this planet 50yrs ago.
Years before 1942(12/7/41) look at what the japs were doing to chinee, Burma's, the list of country's goes on. We as American don't support that crap w/ Petro, iron , rubber etc..As FDR did then we would do today, stopthe support.
Dolittle Raid
Caleb = Celebes (SELL-uh-bees)
Dropping bombs from that altitude takes some time for the bombs to reach the earth 🌏
This gives the ships traveling at speed the ability to change course before the bombs reach them. Thats what I saw 👀 in another video. Which makes sense.
Ola
❤
Background music too annoying to continue watching.
0:32 Excuse me ... Coral Sea? Dafuq ...
🎉
iloveyoutoo
This resembles a broken record. All you see is Japanese planes and ships and American Planes and ships. No action.
This video is not done correctly, let alone several mistakes that I caught watching it. Especially stating that the flight decks were full of planes ready to strike. Ridiculous!!
This video is so pro anti axis and all about how the axis was best… watch it and see and hear for yourself..!!!!
very partial, american blindefoled side view of the history...
Why do you say that?
History is written by the victors
Blindefoled?
Can you cite anything to support that or are you just trying to pretend you have a clue?
Once more a WRONG video approach about the 5 critical minutes around 10.25 when dauntless dove against Japanese carriers. There was NO STRIKE GROUP ON THE FLIGHT DECKS OF THE JAPANESE FLAT TOPS APPART FROM SOME CAP FIGHTERS. The shuttered shord (book) is your friend. All of your analysis about the 5 blowing minutes is based on a source (Fouchidas lies). Appart from that critical mistake it was a nice try
Japan vs. China. Fenton China and Glass, or Bel-Fram. Orings and cork gaskets. Or rubber meeting the road. Avia. Made in... Walmart. Mother, should I build a wall? Firewalls and malware. Bytes. Mega, giga, pico, nano, milli. Microns. One thousandths of inches or millimeters? You choose. I'm real close to buying a see through architecturally ratioed ruler and breaking out a map alongside the media. Anybody got a map or MAP gas? Yellow bottle. Blue Rhino anybody? Racing fuel? JP4? Volvo? Saab? Cannon Macmillan? Burgettstown? St. Clairsville? The Mason Dixon Line and underground railroads. I'm tired of being railroaded. COMPRENDE?
Having trouble keeping it all together? Must be! Suppose you are just having a routine psychiatric disintegration??? Best of luck re-integrating with reality!
maliliit lang mga Japanese pero matatapang
This commentator sounds very sad Japan didn't win
Calling it the Empire of Japan is a real stretch.
Well that’s literally what they were called 😂
@@boatznhoez505 More likely that's what they called themselves.
You hear japanese people whine about the way the war ended....well they forget how it began