The Battle of Midway in 1942 - Article Example

Student’s Name: Student Number: Subject: 6th April, 2013. The Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway took place between the 4th and 7th of June, 1942. The two main protagonists were the United States and Japan. Most countries attained their industrial and economic might through the capturing of countries or regions, where they exercised their influence politically and administratively. For instance, Japan had managed to capture a good part of the Indo-Chinese region and wanted to annex more of it for control. They equally wanted to capture much of the Asia-Pacific region and exercise much of their influence over the region. The sole purpose of capturing regions, while curtailing other influential countries from gaining such advantages, is more often than not aimed at attaining an upper hand when accessing resources for industries located in the more powerful countries. In trying to capture regions, countries use their military power to fend off any adversaries. This need to capture regions like the current Indonesia and other Indo-Chinese regions spilled over to the Asia-Pacific region. In doing so, Japan came to conflict with member states of this particular region, America to be specific. The World War II period was one characterized with the stocking of weaponry and strengthening of military might by all those countries that were considered as protagonists. Every nation involved would not want to be caught napping and in effect, would always ensure that their navy, infantry and air forces were at their best at any particular time. This has not changed much, but more countries are now well equipped to handle such invasions. Other countries whose armies were directly or indirectly involved in World War II, and by extension The midway Battle are Australia, Samoa and Fiji. Wars are mostly a show of might, and as such, every protagonist would want to deploy their best hardware. In this regard, America and Japan each had a vast amount of military hardware. America had 3 aircraft carries, 25 support ships, approximately 100 aircraft that waged the air attacks over land and nearly 250 carrier based aircraft to their name. The carrier-based aircraft mostly carried out their air campaigns from aircraft carriers based in the high seas to land and back. Japan, on the other hand, had 4 carriers, 2 battleships, 15 support ships and 250 carrier-based aircraft. In addition, the military was in possession of other hardware that had not been positioned for this particular attack. On the material day of the start of The Midway Battle, Japan had planned to raid America’s positions from early in the morning. For a start, the morning of the 4th of June, 1942 saw a group of 9 Japanese B-17s fly over several US positions and carriers and bomb marked targets. In retaliation, the US deployed 67 Dauntless dive-bombers, 29 Devastator torpedo-bombers and 20 Wildcat fighters. In addition to paying the Japanese army “in kind”, these were meant to ward off any further attacks, while preparing for any further engagement should the need arise (Symonds 1) (Battle of Midway 201). From then onwards, the war escalated to a show of tactic, deceit and strategy. The brilliance of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto seemed not to give it any edge like it had done before. In a former battle in the April of 1942, Japan had waged successful raids within and without the Midway Atoll, making several successes and consequently gains. In the Battle of Midway, however, the US chose to use stealth and patience as opposed to Yamamoto’s expectation that the US navy and air force would rush in with their aircraft carriers (Naval History and Heritage Command 1) (Battle of Midway, 4 – 7th June 1942 1). This and several other factors led to a loss of four important carriers on the side of Japan’s military. Then onwards, a weakened Japan could only try to mitigate what seemed like a war of attrition from what they had earlier thought was a weak US army. The Battle of Midway had casualties – a lot of them. However, the number of casualties was more skewed to one side. Suffice to mean that one side suffered more casualties and military hardware loss than the other. A close inspection of the fatalities indicates that Japan suffered a bigger loss than the US. The magnitude of loss visited upon the Japanese side was massive. For a start, all their deployed carriers were tactically sunk. In addition, a cruiser and all their available aircraft went down too. The number of casualties was nearly ten times that of the one on the US side, which was placed at 307. On the other hand, only a single US carrier sunk, coupled with the downing of 150 aircraft. This begs the question: Why did the US triumph over Japan? First off, the Japanese military, under the capable hands of Admiral Yamamoto, had underestimated the capacity of the US to use psychological warfare as a tactic in fighting them. This was a consequence of winning most battles pitted against the US in previous encounters, which had proved to follow an almost-similar tactic deployment pattern. This time round, Spruance and Fletcher, both long-time serving Admirals in the US army, had anticipated most of Yamamoto’s procedures. They had anticipated an attempt by Yamamoto at making the US use all their available hardware in defending any incursion into their zones (Trueman 1) (Battle of Midway 1). This in itself was tactic enough to contain any attack sufficiently, given that Yamamoto did not expect a loss. The different ships and carriers available for war are judged according to classification. For a start, carriers are superior to battleships. In Yamamoto’s estimation, the converse seemed true, which is false. Carriers pack more offense than battleships. They can carry assaults on targets that are positioned far away in comparison to battleships. In a move akin to bringing a knife to a gun-fight, Yamamoto deployed battleships instead of carriers to head the attack. This was one mistake he was to regret for the remainder of the war as he lost miserably. In the Battle of Midway, Lieutenant-Commander Waldron sends a final message to his squadron: "My greatest hope is that we encounter a favourable tactical situation, but if we don't, I want each of us to do our utmost to destroy the enemies. If there is only one plane to make a final run in, I want that man to go in and get a hit. May God be with us." (1) This message was relayed when the US squadron led by Lieut.-Commander Waldron realised that his fleet of torpedo bombers had come upon Japanese carriers. However, what he had not anticipated was that most of the Japanese carriers had participated in most previous wars, especially the Battle of the Coral Sea, which had left them ill-equipped for any next assignment. Of particular note was the irreplaceable Zaikaku, which had docked at Keru Port for repairs. This had left most carriers either incapable of running down an assault, or performing at their optimum capacities. Lieutenant-Commander Waldron and his squadron may not have been successful at this attempt, but they managed to distract the carriers just enough for dive bombers, flying at high altitudes, to hit them mercilessly with enough firepower. This signalled the end to four of eight of Japan’s carriers, as the bombing campaigns carried out on them by the US sunk all those that were deployed (World War II History 1) (The Battle of Midway 1). In WWII History for June 4 – Battle of Midway, Winston Churchill categorically states to the parliament that: “We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. War’s are not won by evacuations.” (1) This was a reaction to Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbour and the USs consequent reaction. It is a no-brainer that after The Battle of the Coral Sea, Japan had lost both cause and course. The main reason as to why the US triumphed over Japan is strategy. Over the long periods when Japan rode roughshod over its adversaries in the Asia-Pacific region, the US military experienced loss after loss due to the military might of Japan (EyeWitnesstoHistory.com 1) (The Battle of Midway 1). This may have been by design, but after some time, Japan started losing focus and gained false confidence, which was a bad thing as its opponents were still determined to draw level, or become better still. Admiral Yamamoto, who was largely in charge of Japan’s offensive in most battles, was one to use intricate tactics to fight adversaries. Over time, the US army Admirals Spruance and Fletcher became aware of this and in turn developed plans of not taking any chances. Secondly, as alluded before, the Japanese military was in true sense engaged with its adversaries in a war of attrition. Not only did it engage widely experienced sides, but it also bit more than it could chew, both literally and figuratively. It literally fought more battles than it should over any short period. Most battles were staged in the Indo-Chinese region, while the others were in the Asia-Pacific region. It goes without saying that most of the sides pitted against Japan were equally great armies. China, USA and Australia were all seasoned in battles. The Pearl Harbour incident managed to reel-in Australia into the battle as US military zones and installations had been attacked during that raid. Therefore, it would only be a matter of time before Japan was bogged down by the need to constantly engage the three well-established sides. The art of surprise in war was most instrumental in sinking Japanese carriers. In Oral History – Battle of Midway, LT Joseph P. Pollard, MC, USN, Medical Officer on board USS Yorktown (CV-5), notes that: Meanwhile, the Hornet had sent off her planes, the Enterprise sent hers off. We could see them on the horizon like a swarm of bees - then they were gone. A report came in from Midway Island that the Japs were attacking. We hoped that our planes would make their attack on the Jap carriers while their planes were over Midway. After awhile a report came in that the Enterprise group was hitting the Jap carrier force at will. Apparently, the Japs had hit Midway with everything they had and had not expected to be attacked themselves. (1) This shows that Japan had over time grown content with what they considered the best army. They had failed to pragmatically look at the dynamicity of war. The Battle of Midway was a decisive one in World War II as it signified the final struggle for power by the countries considered as most powerful. Japan, in an attempt at gaining more resources for its mushrooming industries, had waged war for more territories in many regions. On the other hand, Italy and Germany also faired rather well in trying to capture most of Europe. Australia joined the UK in fighting against Italy and Germany. It had been reeled into the engagement at the Pacific war due to the attack on Darwin in 1942 against the allied forces (Returned Services League 1) (The Second World War 1). This had managed to make it a big ally of the West and US in specific as the installations in the Northern Australia’s Darwin region meant an offensive against Australia as a country. In general, World War II started drawing to an end immediately more and more allies formed formidable forces to ward off attacks by Japan on the Asia-Pacific region, and Western Europe. A further factor that made the direct engagement of Australia in the battle was the casualties that resulted from the fall of Singapore to Japan. This had been considered as an attack on the sovereignty of Australia by Japan and the general feeling back home in Australia was that the over 3000 troops should not have died in vain. It was final - Australia had to defend itself. Effectively, the government came forth with policies to allocate more funds to training their military. Allocation of more funds for this cause meant austerity measures for the country as a whole. We can also conclusively say that the Battle of Midway was significant as a point from which the end of the World War started because then onwards, most of the protagonists took out time to plan before going out to war. For instance, Japan learnt not to underestimate its enemies like it had done by making assumptions on the strategies employed by the US in the Battle of Midway. Then onwards, despite a huge need to establish territories in the Pacific region, it needed more time to replenish its depleted hardware and build more carriers. Of more concern to Japan, was an ever rising military might in its backyard in the name of China. Consequent battles of similar scale to the Battle of Midway, like the Battle of Santa Cruz and the Battle of the Solomon’s only weakened an already diminishing Imperial Japanese Navy as more crew and equipment were lost or damaged. This was a significant start to an end of the might earlier displayed by Japanese military. The World War II was mainly fought on two main fronts – in the Asia-Pacific region, where Japan was the main antagonist, and the larger Europe as a continent, where Italy and Germany had wanted to capture more of the smaller countries. The allied forces of America, Britain, Dutch and Australia had managed to wage war against these antagonists in both the fronts successfully. On the other front, France and other forces to reckon with also joined forces in trying to mitigate the effects of a robust German army led by Hitler. In the last stages of the battle between Germany and France, where France was supported by other allies, a similar mistake was made by the former. In the Battle at Stalingrad, where German forces had managed to invade USSR and started towards Moscow, a great deal of underestimation had been done by Hitler and his forces, just like Japan had done during the Battle of Midway. This cost them dearly as Stalin had managed to whip up lots of mental strength against his seemingly losing side through an emotional clarion call to protect USSR by all means. Japan and Germany weakened after the Battle of Midway and the Battle at Stalingrad. In conclusion, the Battle of Midway was a battle pitting the Japanese army against that of the US. In its endeavour to gain control of more territories where it could gain more resources, Japan had waged wars against many of its neighbours and other equally competent armies that were fighting for their countries. Their frequency of success in the battles had made them look down upon the others as weaker opponents. It is this folly that led to their downfall in the Battle of Midway. The US had managed to foresee Admiral Yamamoto’s plan to draw their ship into defence upon which he would launch and all out battle on all US military hardware. Australia’s sovereignty came under attack when Japan bombed Darwin, a point at which the US had several military installations in the North of Australia (Wormack 1) (Australia’s Pearl Harbour 1). This and other factors contributed to all the allied forces ganging up against Japan in the Asia-Pacific region as well as against Germany’s sustained attacks on the other allies of Australia and US. In the ensuing battle at Midway, Japan lost most of its hardware and troops. This weakened it so much so that even though it went ahead to hold campaigns of a similar magnitude, more losses were inevitable. A start to the end of the World War II seemed possible because on the other side, Germany too was equally making tactical mistakes like the ones in Stalingrad. The World War II culminated in the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – two very significant cities in Japan. The effects of the atomic bomb were later to be known. In as much as this is estimated as a war-crime. It is an allied forces campaign that signified the end of Japan’s engagement in the Pacific War. Not only had it faced serious humiliation and defeat, but it had also suffered significant defeats that ground it to a halt with casualties ranging between 200000 – 300000 Japanese civilians. Of note was Chinese joining of allied forces in defeating Japan. The Battle of Midway had finally served as a factor that weakened the Japanese army. References Symonds, C. L. The Battle of Midway. 2011. Oxford University Press, USA. Naval History and Heritage Command. Battle of Midway, 4 – 7th June 1942: Overview And Special Image Selection. 2013. Web. Trueman, C. Battle of Midway. History Learning Site. 2013. Web. World War II History. The Battle of Midway. World War II History Blog. 2013. Web. EyeWitnesstoHistory.com. The Battle of Midway, 1942. 2013. Web. Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Centre. Oral History – Battle of Midway. 1999. Web. Returned Services League. The Second World War. RSL NSW. 2013. Web. Wormack, C. Australia’s Pearl Harbour: The Japanese Air Raid on Darwin. 2013. Web. Read More