They lost four aircraft carriers, a large cruiser, and over 300 fighter aircraft. With their sizeable fleet consisting of over 200 ships, including carriers, destroyers, two dozen submarines, and cruisers, Japanese commanders expected to pull off an another Pearl Harbor. Like their sneak strike in Hawaii, the Japanese attacked Midway Island with substantial force. With faulty tactics and Asian smugness, their initial ill-conceived battle plan was to invade a key…
On September 6, 1941, the Japanese government decided to go to war with America. (Japan had been preparing for the possibility of war for several years.) Though the final decision to actually go to war was deferred, pending a possible diplomatic breakthrough, the machinery for war, especially in the Imperial Japanese Navy, was put in motion. In April 1942 Japan wanted to expand their defensive lines so they went east towards the island of Midway (1000 miles from Hawaii), they sent most of the imperial fleet to battle. That fleet was composed of four aircraft carriers, two battleships, thirteen cruisers, assorted submarines, transports and mine sweepers. "The Battle of Midway, 1942" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001). After that, an event known as the “Allied Code-Breaking” took place , Admiral Nimitz of the allied forces had his cryptanalysts had broken the JN-25 code. The US had been decoding messages since spring 1942 and they discovered that Japan’s objective was Midway. The American base at Midway started to send false messages saying that its water distillation plant had been damaged and that the base needed fresh water. The Japanese saw this and soon started to send messages stating that "AF was short on water”. AF was the name of the objective the Japanese had which was Midway. Commander Joseph J. Rochefort and his team at Station Hypo were able to determine that the attack was going to be on either the 4th or the 5th of June. As a result the Americans were able to enter the battle knowing when and where the Japanese were going to be and also with what force they were going to attack. The Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto considered that going to war with the United States was a “suicidal mission” and that he did not think that Japan could win such war.…
By any ordinary standard, they were hopelessly outclassed. They had no battleships, the enemy eleven. They had eight cruisers, the enemy twenty-three. They had three carriers (one of them crippled), the enemy had eight. Their shore defences included guns from the turn of the century. They knew little of war. None of the Navy pilots on one of the carriers had ever been in combat, nor had any of the army fliers of the marines. Seventeen of twenty new pilots were just out of flight school, some with less than four hours flying time. Some of their dive-bombers could not dive-the fabric came off the wings. Their torpedoes were slow and unreliable, the torpedo planes even worse. Yet they were up against the finest fighting plane in the world. Their enemy was brilliant, experienced and all conquering. They took crushing losses – 15 out of 15 in one torpedo squadron…….. 21 out of 27 in a group of fighters …… many, many more.…
Things were going bad for the United States. Pearl Harbor was just two days earlier and that was extremely devastating for people. Japan figured out America’s code, so they knew what our plans were. You might be wondering how, so I will tell you. Japan sent spies to learn our language and culture, then decrypt…
and it happened in 1942. During this time the perceptions of the Japanese military was demolished by the Doolittle raid. They thought that their homeland was immune from air attack and in order to protect Japan they had to extend their defensive perimeter eastward to a tiny island called Midway. Midway was thousands of miles from Hawaii and it was where the U.S. aircraft stationed was located. The Japanese really wanted to get control of this island to protect Japan from air attack so they threw most of the imperial fleet into this battle but the Americans had intercepted the Japanese code and knew something was about to happen.…
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Battle of Midway, and provide an alternate outcome based on the intelligence aspects affecting the battle both before and during. The Battle of Midway is considered one of the most decisive battles during World War II, and indeed one of the most pivotal naval battles of all time. It served as a turning point in the intense battle for the Pacific between United States and Japanese forces, tipping the scales into the Allies favor. Many today see the battle as one that should have resulted in an Japanese victory due to strategic advantage and sheer numbers. However, analysis reveals that without the decisive usage of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance assets by US forces, the Japanese…
The Second Battle of Guam was the American recapture of the Japanese captured island of Guam, a U.S. territory in the Mariana Islands captured by the Japanese from the U.S. in the First Battle of Guam in 1941. The countries involved were the U.S. and Japan. It took a week for the Americans to link their two beachheads, but by then much of the Japanese strength had been dissipated and Takashina had been killed. The surviving Japanese units fought for another two weeks. The Second Battle of Guam took place on the island of Guam. The battle was important because the U.S. regained a previously owned island from the Japanese.…
After my reading of Robert Ferrell’s America’s Deadliest Battle, I was capable of grasping an understanding of the American Expeditionary Force’s preparation for their battle against Germany in 1918, in addition to assessing the quality of some of the officers and men within the AEF, and some of the actions that displayed the weaknesses and strengths of the AEF as well. Additionally, I will be touching basis on other measures that gave the battle at the Meuse-Argonne its name as “America’s deadliest battle,” and discussing my overall opinion on America’s fighting ability in World War I.…
June 3 the U.S bombers began to strike Japans Carries force. Japan lost four carriers and hundreds of their aircraft. Thanks to the breaking of the code the U.S were able to pin point every move the Japanese made. Military Historian John Keegan called the battle “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of the navel warfare.” The defeat of Japan signaled that the Unites States could defeat the Japanese empire. The Battle of Midway was important to the U.S because they destroyed the Japanese Imperial Navy and this gave the USA complete control of the Pacific Ocean.…
Synopsis The Battle of Midway is well known as the turning point in the Pacific war. However, if not for the Battle of the Coral Sea a month earlier, the three American carriers at Midway would have faced six Japanese carriers of the type that had devastated Pearl Harbor five months prior, instead of only four — and the Battle of Midway might have ended differently.Coral Sea was the world’s first all-carrier battle, and the first sea battle in which neither side could see the other. Both the U.S. and the Japanese navies thought they understood how to fight using carriers. Both discovered they were wrong. At the end of this painful learning experience, the United States had lost the 41,000-ton carrier Lexington, while Japan had lost only the 11,000-ton carrier Shoho.The battle was a…
Admiral Nimitz knew about Japan's plan to attack Midway. He knew that they needed to defend Midway, which was a location of a key American airfield. Admiral Nimitz allowed the Japanese planes to begin their attack on Midway. Then, the American forces launched their hidden planes to begin to defend Midway. The American planes bombed the Japanese planes and ships. At the end of the battle, Japan lost 332 planes, four aircraft carriers and one support ship. The Americans won the battle in only three days and turned the tide of the war in favor of the Allies.…
Not only did the success of Pearl Harbour depend completely on the strategic element of surprise, the Japanese attack was formulated for Pearl Harbour to surprise the enemy and expose the vulnerability of the West, thus portraying Japan’s notions of nationalism and superiority. The Japanese implemented the element of surprise by deceiving the US government. They achieved this by convincing the US government that Japan would not attack, whilst the Japanese Navy steamed towards Hawaii. Although most officials believed this peace claim, others were hesitant. There was also no warning of the attack because the…
The bombardment of Pearl Harbor is seen as significant not solely because of its level of catastrophe, but also considering the fact that it caused Americans to join together in a war effort. Before, Pearl Harbor, the country was divided due to the fact that not all Americans wanted to be a part of World War II; however, after Pearl Harbor, the decision to go to war became unanimous. Pearl Harbor motivated Americans to fight for what they believed in, even after World War I debilitated them of most of their supplies. The tenderness Americans felt can be best explained by the words of fleet Chaplain William A. Macguire "Don't say we buried our dead with sorrow. They died manfully.…
Sept. 24: The "bomb plot" message from Japanese naval intelligence to Japan's consul general in Honolulu requesting a grid of exact locations of ships in Pearl Harbor is deciphered. The information is not shared with the Hawaii's Adm. Kimmel and Gen. Short.…
When studying the War of 1812, it is usually a 10 minute discussion is most history classes. It’s not discussed like any other war in American history. This is because the ending results are irrelevant compared to The Revolutionary War or The Civil War. Most people agree, why would we celebrate a war that did not even have a definite winner? However, the blur of this war in American history should not be overlooked. The war a turning point in American history. It should be studied as in depth as any other war.…