Battle of Midway 03-06 June 1942

03 June 2015 | US Navy Vet

[US Navy Vet]

Some thing to remember(73 years ago today)

[US Navy Vet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway

[yarddog]

The tide of the Pacific war turned in just 10 minutes.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

Direct Link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway

I always remember the decisive battle of WWII! ;-)

[Leaning Right]

The Battle of Midway, every bit as important as the Battle of Stalingrad. Each was the turning point in its respective theater.

The Russians still remember Stalingad. Do American children of today know about Midway? Sadly, I’ll bet they don’t.

[cld51860]

After watching the movie “Midway” this past Memorial Day weekend, I went to IMDB to check out some factoids on the film. There was a thread there discussing whether or not the Battle of Midway truly was the turning point in the Pacific theater. IMHO there is no question that it was, but it was an interesting debate.

[skeeter]

Remember squadrons VT-3, 6 and 8.

[DoodleDawg]

Shattered Sword by Jon Parshall and Anthony Tully is probably the best recent history of the battle. What makes it particularly interesting is it's told entirely from the Japanese side. The authors go into tactics, ship design, training, organization, and a whole host of other areas. The truly surprising thing is not so much that the Japanese lost the battle but they did as well as they did prior to that.

[central_va]

[CrazyIvan]

Some of the events during this battle are enough to make you believe in devine intervention.

[prof.h.mandingo]

If memory serves, I think a Jap search plane had located our carriers but their radio did not function. Being able to read their radio traffic did not hurt. As far as a turning point it was IMHO but there is no way they could have won no matter the out come at Midway. It just would have taken a little longer. Some think of a “turning point” as the point where the war turned from possible victory to defeat. There was no point where the Japanese could have won WWII. Thus no real turning point.

[american_ranger]

Shattered Sword is the best history book I have ever read. The attention to detail is unbelievable.

[US Navy Vet]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Halsey_Best
From the article:
After contact reports of Midway-based PBY Catalina patrol aircraft on the morning of June 4, 1942, Enterprise started to launch her air group starting on 07:06h. Under the overall command of the air group commander (CEAG) Lt.Cdr. Wade McClusky were 14 TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers of Torpedo Squadron 6 (VT-6), 34 SBDs of VB-6, the CEAG section, and VS-6, and ten F4F-4 Wildcat fighters of Fighting Squadron 6 (VF-6). However, the squadrons became separated and reached the Japanese independently. Only the dive bombers stayed together and reached the enemy by 09:55h. At about 10:22h the Enterprise dive bombers started to attack two Japanese carriers, which proved to be the Kaga, and the Akagi.

At this point, the attack became confused, as all 34 Dauntlesses started to attack Kaga, and none the Akagi. Obviously, Best expected to attack according to the U.S. dive bomber doctrine. This was that VB-6 would attack the nearer carrier (in that case Kaga) and VS-6 the one further away (here Akagi). The three-plane CEAG section was expected to attack last, as their planes were equipped with cameras to assess the damage later. However, evidently McClusky was not aware of this, having been a fighter pilot until becoming CEAG. Therefore McClusky began his dive on Kaga, being followed by VS-6, and Best’s VB-6 was also attacking Kaga according to doctrine. Lieutenant Best noticed the error and broke off with his two wingmen to attack the Akagi.[7]

The flight deck of USS Enterprise on May 15, 1942: The first SBD is either Best’s (”B-1”) or that of the CO of VS-6 (”S-1”).
At 10:26h Best’s three SBDs attacked the Akagi. The first bomb, dropped by Lt.(jg) Edwin John Kroeger, missed. The second bomb, aimed by Ens. Frederick Thomas Weber, landed in the water, near the stern. The force wave of that hit jammed the Akagi’s rudder.[8] The last bomb, dropped by Best, punched though the flight deck and exploded in the upper hangar, in the middle of 18 Nakajima B5N2 planes, parked there. That hit doomed the Akagi.[9] Later that day, Lieutenant Best participated in the attack on the last remaining Japanese carrier - the Hiryu, possibly scoring one of the four hits.[10] After the battle, Best was awarded the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

However, on the morning flight Best had tested an oxygen bottle to be sure that it was not leaking caustic soda. Best’s first inhalation was then filled with gas fumes. He snorted the gas fumes out, not thinking about it anymore. The next day Best began to cough up blood repeatedly. The flight surgeon found out that the gas fumes had activated latent tuberculosis. He entered the hospital at Pearl Harbor on June 24, 1942. After undergoing 32 months of treatment, Richard Best retired from the US Navy in 1944.[11]

[Crapgame]

I teach a college sophomore level humanities course which is about American history and culture. The textbook that I have had to use for the last 6 years is a leftist social history of the United States. There is more writing devoted to the meaningless “Zoot Suit” riots than there is to the Battle of Midway. Needless to say when teaching class, I point this out to the students and proceed to ignore the riots while I stress the importance of the Battle of Midway. So at least some American students are learning about the significance of this clash.

[60Gunner]

Being an avid amateur naval historian, I have a collection of books on the battle of Midway including G.W. Prange's Miracle at Midway, Fuchida and Okumiya's Midway: the Battle that Doomed Japan.

But by far, the most definitive account both of the battle and the reasons why Japan's loss was not as incredible as it first seemed is Parshall and Tully's Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. I strongly recommend it.

The Americans faced a battle-proven enemy largely with substandard aircraft and completely worthless equipment (in the cases of the Douglas TBD Devastator the Brewster F2A Buffalo, and the horrible Mark XV torpedo). An entire squadron of TBDs and their crews (save one man) was wiped out. Most torpedo planes did not make it back.

What amazing courage those men had.

[cld51860]

I was talking about that a few years ago with my brother in law. A leftist in our midst blurted out something like, “Well, we invaded Canada during the Revolution!” My brother in law looked at him, shrugged it off, and went back to talking about the topic we were actually discussing.

[henkster]

Great recent book on Midway:

“Shattered Sword, the Untold Story of the Battle of Midway.”

It explodes a number of popular myths about the battle, most of which was the victory was a “Miracle.” In terms of the decisive weapon, carrier aircraft, the two sides were about equal. Also, even if we had “lost” Midway, we weren’t going to lose the war. A really good discussion of those economic realities is found here:

http://www.combinedfleet.com/economic.htm

Still, Midway was a dramatic victory for the United States and a crushing defeat for Japan.

[US Navy Vet]

A good presentation on The Battle of Midway:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sqt4-ux9jU

[Baltimore ken]

Most likely not.What I am sure of is that those guys had more guts than I would have in ten lifetimes.Thank you AMERICAN WARRIORS/HEROES.

[Conan the Librarian]

Someone HAS to bring up Avalon Hill’s Battle of Midway.

Great game! Wade McClusky helped design it.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2250/midway

[mavfin]

Well, the tide was turning, but there was still Guadalcanal and a lot of fighting left to keep it in going the right direction.