[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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

[Charles Martel]

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Yorktown

[bert]

Here's the real thing from john Ford

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW8tQ_6dqS8

and more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwDOjQs5QM8

whew..... and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Rro6_WceV0

To understand the Battle of Midway and the distortions you think are history, read :the shattered Sword" for the real poop.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

[Snickering Hound]

[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for posting this. I had the good fortune of knowing two pilots. who flew in this battle and talking about it. We also were friends of a back seater. He was in the back of a Navy Plane manning guns to protect his plane and other Navy planes from the Zero’s.

Bravo Zulu to the brave Air Dales and Sailors, who fought this in this intense battle and helped to win the war in the Pacific.

There is an interesting side note re the role our Navy Security played in cracking the Japanese code which allow our sea going CO’s to have critical info before and during the battle.

The link below should take you to this data.

http://search.xfinity.com/?con=betac&cat=web&q=US+Navy+Security+Group+and+the+Battle+of+Midway

Thanks, again to our brave Sailors, Navy Air Dales and NSG guys.

[Grampa Dave]

Another good link re MidWay:

http://www.navy.mil/midway/midway.html

[logi_cal869]

Ah. That explains the discounts for Vets & servicemembers at Carl’s Jr today.

Missed that.