The Battle Of Midway. War In The Pacific | The United States Against Japan
1,469,949
Published 2023-11-26
One of Japan’s main goals during World War II was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in east Asia and the southwest Pacific islands. Japan hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing dominance in the region and then forcing a negotiated peace.
The United States was aware that the Japanese were planning an attack in the Pacific (on a location the Japanese code-named “AF”) because Navy cryptanalysts had begun breaking Japanese communication codes in early 1942. The attack location and time were confirmed when the American base at Midway sent out a false message that it was short of fresh water. Japan then sent a message that “AF” was short of fresh water, confirming that the location for the attack was the base at Midway. Station Hypo (where the cryptanalysts were based in Hawaii) was able to also give the date (June 4 or 5) and the order of battle of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Early on the morning of June 4, aircraft from four Japanese aircraft carriers attacked and severely damaged the US base on Midway. Unbeknownst to the Japanese, the US carrier forces were just to the east of the island and ready for battle. After their initial attacks, the Japanese aircraft headed back to their carriers to rearm and refuel. While the aircraft were returning, the Japanese navy became aware of the presence of US naval forces in the area.
TBD Devastator torpedo-bombers and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown attacked the Japanese fleet. The Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned. Hiryu, the only surviving Japanese carrier, responded with two waves of attacks—both times bombing the USS Yorktown, leaving it severely damaged but still afloat. (A Japanese submarine later sank the Yorktown on June 7.) On the afternoon of June 4, a USS Yorktown scout plane located the Hiryu, and the Enterprise sent dive-bombers to attack. That attack left the Hiryu burning and without the ability to launch aircraft before it finally sank.
Over the next two days, the US troops at sea and on Midway continued their attacks, forcing the Japanese to abandon the battle and retreat. The Japanese lost approximately 3,057 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 362 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and 144 aircraft. This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles.
Douglas TBD Devastator General characteristics
Crew: 3: (Pilot, Torpedo Officer/Navigator, Radioman/Gunner)
Length: 35 ft 0 in (10.67 m)
Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Height: 15 ft 1 in (4.60 m)
Wing area: 422 sq ft (39.2 m2)
Empty weight: 5,600 lb (2,540 kg)
Gross weight: 9,289 lb (4,213 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 10,194 lb (4,624 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-1830-64 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial piston engine, 900 hp (670 kW)
Propellers: 3-bladed variable-pitch propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 206 mph (332 km/h, 179 kn) at 8,000 ft (2,400 m)
Cruise speed: 128 mph (206 km/h, 111 kn)
Range: 435 mi (700 km, 378 nmi) with Mark 13 torpedo or
716 mi (622 nmi; 1,152 km) with 1,000 lb (450 kg) of bombs
Service ceiling: 19,500 ft (5,900 m)
Rate of climb: 720 ft/min (3.7 m/s)
Armament
Guns:
1 × forward-firing 0.30 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine gun or 0.50 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine gun
1 × 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun in rear cockpit
Bombs:
1 × Mark 13 torpedo or
1 × 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb or
2 × 500 lb (230 kg) bombs or
12 × 100 lb (45 kg) bombs
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All Comments (21)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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These videos and visuals look fresh....thank you for that.
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Dude, your footage is f**king AMAZING.
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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.
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As an Englishman my knowledge of Pacific war was limited. What a great documentary.
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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 champagne 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.
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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.
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Little did Japan know that they had awaken a sleeping GIANT after the attack on Pearl Harbor
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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.
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I have watched many docs on Pearl Harbour. This is the best written.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 .
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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.
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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.
