Foreword: The outbreak of Pearl Harbor was inseparable from Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that broke out in December 1941 was planned and executed by Isoroku Yamamoto, and since then the United States and Japan have entered a state of total war. The Japanese Army, Navy and Air Force then marched into Southeast Asia in an all-round way, and after repeated victories in the early stages of the war, Japan once again set its sights on the direction of Pearl Harbor, and this time the target was Midway.
The U.S.-Japan Pacific War broke out
The geography of Midway
Midway is located in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, and its distance to Japan is about the same as its distance to the United States mainland, hence the name "Midway". Originally an uninhabited island with an area of about 4.71 square kilometers and about 2,000 kilometers from Pearl Harbor, Midway was occupied by the U.S. Navy in 1903 and had established submarine bases and aviation bases before the outbreak of World War II. Although Midway was the closest military base to Japan, it was not effective enough to threaten the Japanese mainland in terms of the range of bombers that took off from Midway during World War II.
The first U.S. military bombing of the Japanese mainland greatly stimulated the nerves of the Japanese Empire
On April 18, 1942, in order to boost the morale of the people and boost the morale of the military, the United States Air Force, led by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle, took off from the aircraft carrier of the Hornet and carried out symbolic bombings of military and industrial targets in Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka and other places in Japan. Most of the planes that successfully completed the bombing mission crashed due to the use of fuel, but the bombing was of great significance, and for Japan, the US military, which had just suffered heavy losses, quickly completed the bombing of Japan's political and economic center, indicating that the combat effectiveness of the US Pacific Fleet was still strong. The Japanese later learned that it was a land-based bomber that carried out the bombing mission, which led to suspicion of the island west of Pearl Harbor, and midway, the closest island to The Upper, became a key suspect.
The choice of three strategic directions and the victory of the eastward strategy determined that the Battle of Midway was inevitable
The reason for the outbreak of the Battle of mid-course was not mainly the above one, but more importantly, after the full outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan was faced with a choice of three directions, and only one direction could be.
First, the strategy of eastward expansion, the Japanese base camp analyzed that the US Pacific Fleet has been severely damaged since the Pearl Harbor incident, but it still has a certain combat capability, and it should carry out further attacks on the US Pacific Fleet and once again launch an attack on the direction of Pearl Harbor before the US military industry is fully launched. The proposer of this strategy, Major General Ugaki, but in fact, the real support behind this strategy is Yamamoto Isoroku, the eastward strategy from the formulation of the foreshadowing for the demise of the Japanese Navy, from the perspective of Japan's grand strategy can be said to be a big mistake, but at the same time promoted the final defeat of Japanese fascism.
The eastward strategy was not just for Pearl Harbor, the base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, but also for a series of islands throughout the surrounding area, as well as the Aleutian Islands further north. This is why Japan sent troops to occupy Aleutian in World War II, because within the Japanese base camp, Aleutian has become part of the overall strategy.
The second is the westward strategy, the westward strategy is to attack Ceylon, the Japanese Pacific Fleet entered the Indian Ocean, and then attacked India, and defeated the British colonial forces in India, and far away, it is said that it will meet with Germany in the Middle East. In fact, this strategy itself has strong feasibility and impact. The British Empire by 1942, has been declining, although India is the largest british colony, but India's anti-British anti-colonial wave is surging and only needs some support from the outside world, Britain's colonial rule in India is likely to collapse, and Britain's defeat in India will lead to major changes in the world pattern of the entire two countries. On the surface, at the beginning of World War II, it was not clear who could achieve the final victory, and from the initial development of the war situation, it seemed that it was more favorable to the Triple Axis Alliance.
The third is the strategy of going south, which points to Australia. At the beginning of the Pacific War, the Japanese army easily defeated the British army and occupied Singapore, swept through Indonesia, the American army was also defeated in the Philippines, and Southeast Asia had fallen into the hands of the Japanese army. The Japanese victory in Southeast Asia was almost a complete victory, with minimal losses. Indonesia and Australia are only separated by 150 kilometers of the Torres Strait, for Japan's powerful army, navy and air force, the defeated US army and the British army are difficult to stop the Japanese offensive for a while, whether history can be rewritten depends on the Japanese people's determination to go south is big or not, so the southward strategy is also a dangerous move that works, open the Australian front, the same allied camp will be chaotic, which is the same as the battle to attack India. However, the southward expansion strategy was opposed by the War Department because of the army's insufficient strength. In fact, this is not a problem of insufficient troops, but the most important thing is insufficient determination. If the Japanese army has the problem of insufficient troops, there is also a serious shortage of troops in the US army and the Australian army, and if the troops are strong, they will not quickly lose to Southeast Asia.
Battle of the Coral Sea
After the victory of the Ceylon Sea, the Japanese army marched east and fought a draw with the United States in the Battle of the Coral Sea, it seems that the momentum of going south was resisted, and for the Japanese eastward faction, it seems to have found psychological support, while the previous Tokyo, Kobe and other places were attacked by air raids, shaking the emperor and the government and the public, and finding sufficient reasons for the victory of the eastward faction. The reason why he chose to go east had a lot to do with the idea of Isoroku Yamamoto himself, who at this time had a considerable say in the Japanese Navy.
Why Yamamoto favored the eastward advance so much also had a lot to do with his background, because he was a naval admiral and the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, and he made the choice from the position of the navy - to go east. If the west or southward advance, the army undoubtedly plays a major role, and only the eastward, decisive battle with the American army in the vast Pacific Ocean can fully demonstrate the extraordinary strength of the Japanese Navy, not to mention the success of the attack on Pearl Harbor under his command, at least until the Battle of the Coral Sea, nothing can prove him wrong, which further fuels Yamamoto's ambition and pride.
Generation gambler Yamamoto Fifty-six
Yamamoto Wasoroku was born into a poor samurai family, and for various reasons passed on to his mother's Yamamoto family, and was renamed Yamamoto Fifty-six at the age of 29. The son of a poor man, who entered military school as a teenager in second place, lost two fingers of his left hand in the Russo-Japanese War, but this was also the test of loyalty to the emperor, during which he wandered back to the fireworks and brothels, and fell in love with gambling, so that gambling addiction, but these were not a scandal for the imperial soldiers.
In 1908, he entered the Artillery and Naval University for further study, and married at the age of 34. The following year, he was sent to study at Harvard University in the United States, during which he really saw the strength of the United States, and in 1921, he returned to China and was sent to Europe after being promoted to The Great. When Yamamoto went to Europe, he frequented the major casinos in Europe and gained a lot. In his early years in the army, he also lost three thousand yuan in bets with his colleagues, who thought it was a joke but he took it seriously, and spent more than ten years deducting installments from his monthly salary on time until it was cleared. Yamamoto is a good bet, everyone knows, not only good bet, its level is extraordinary, but gambling even if it is ten bets and nine wins, but as long as one loss is enough to be full.
The initiator of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Yamamoto, who was promoted in his career, further studied, gilded abroad, and eventually became the first admiral of the Japanese Navy, when he held the power, he finally bet the entire Japanese Navy on the gambling table. Yamamoto was naturally very sober about the understanding of the United States, and from the beginning opposed war with the United States, but at that time, the far-right forces in Japan were extremely powerful, including the emperor himself, who was inclined to go to war against the United States. Against this background, Yamamoto radically changed his attitude, and his war plan against the United States was directed at Pearl Harbor. It was a big gamble, and although opposed by most of the military community, the plan was approved at Yamamoto's strong request, and the attack on Pearl Harbor was successful. However, as far as the sneak attack itself is concerned, Yamamoto's idea is too simple, the United States will not achieve some kind of peace according to the ideas of the Japanese high-level, and since ancient times and today, undeclared war is a violation of the rules of war.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Some colleagues have questioned what to do if the main fleet attacks Pearl Harbor unsuccessfully, and Yamamoto's answer is that if it is discovered in the middle, it means that there is no god to bless, give up, and how to know whether it can succeed without trying, this test will put the entire Imperial Navy on the forefront. Midway was located at the forefront of the North Pacific Front, and should have been removed from the Japanese Navy's march route, but at that time, the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor in a sneak attack, and after the main target was completed, it was naturally impossible to take Midway island with great fanfare when retreating, which was also the bitter fruit that the Japanese finally planted for themselves with this method of operation.
Japanese aircraft carrier fleet
Midway pre-war decision-making
Yamamoto Isoroku, as the supreme commander of the combined fleet, had great power, and in order to effectively destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet and prevent the U.S. military from once again using the route in the direction of Midway to launch an attack on Japan, Yamamoto Isoroku and the Japanese naval high-level finally formulated a battle plan with Midway as the main target after repeated discussions.
In this operation, the original plan of the Japanese Navy was to attack Midway to attract the US Pacific Fleet, eliminate the remaining main force of the US Navy after pearl harbor in the waters of Midway, and occupy Midway. In order to be able to fully mobilize the Us army, before the official attack, a detachment was sent to attack the Aleutian Islands of the United States, occupying Kiska and Aturu, with the purpose of mobilizing the main force of the US Navy to go north, creating an emptiness on Midway, in order to facilitate the attack on Midway.
Map of the movements of the fleets of both sides
The U.S. military cracked the Japanese code and prepared for the battle in advance
In early 1942, the U.S. military obtained part of the Japanese army's codebook, and the U.S. naval intelligence department, in cooperation with its allies, successfully deciphered part of the code of the Japanese communication system, and finally learned through the dissemination of false intelligence that the Japanese army would launch a large-scale attack on Midway. Therefore, in terms of military electronic technology, the United States is one step ahead of Japan.
Upon learning of the war report, Commander Nimitz of the Pacific Fleet ordered the heavy carriers Enterprise and Hornet to lead more than seventy warships to Midway, almost all of the U.S. Pacific Fleet's possessions, and the Yorktown aircraft carrier joined the battle after three days of non-stop repairs. For the U.S. army, the strength is weaker than the Japanese army, and the defenders of Midway Island plus the aviation force are about 3600 people. The Pacific Fleet, after consideration, temporarily abandoned the defense of Aleutian and concentrated its forces in the waters off Midway Island, preparing to ambush the Japanese here. The intelligence victory was not the main reason for the victory of the US military, and the fundamental reason why the US military won the victory in the Battle of Midway was that the Japanese Navy itself made a fatal mistake in decision-making and operations, allowing the US military to seize the opportunity on the battlefield.
Japanese aircraft carrier forces
Starting from the established battle plan, the Japanese army used 8 aircraft carriers, 11 heavy battleships and other large and small 200 warships, and more than 600 combat aircraft. The entire Japanese fleet is centered on aircraft carriers, divided into four roads, the first is the main force led by Nanyun - the first aircraft carrier fleet, 4 heavy main aircraft carriers, which is also the most elite of the Japanese aircraft carrier navy, the second road is Yamamoto Fifty-six personal support fleet, including a light aircraft carrier, and the super battleship "Yamato", the third road is the landing squadron for midway ground operations, including a light aircraft carrier, and the fourth road is the northward detachment, including two light aircraft carriers. Among them, the First Fleet led by Nanyun was the main fleet, including a large number of combat aircraft, and it was also a forward force. This arrangement doomed the battle to be fraught with risks, and it was really unbelievable that the central commander-in-chief, Yamamoto Isoroku, would make such a combat arrangement.
The Battle of Midway broke out
The first wave of attacks began in the early morning of June 4, 72 Type 97 carrier-based bombers and attack aircraft successfully took off from the four aircraft carriers of the Nanyun Fleet, and 36 Zero fighters accompanied them, targeting the US military base on Midway Island. At the same time as the attack began, Nanyun dispatched a number of reconnaissance planes to conduct aerial reconnaissance in the east and southeast directions, and for such a major military operation, the number of reconnaissance aircraft dispatched was obviously insufficient, and a reconnaissance plane that took off from the "Chikuma" had to return halfway due to mechanical failure, and it was this plane that missed the discovery of the appearance of the main US aircraft carrier formation. As a front-line commander, Nanyun had already clearly exposed his contempt for reconnaissance aircraft during the Battle of Ceylon. In the Battle of Ceylon, the number of reconnaissance aircraft sent was insufficient, so that the opportunity to annihilate the British aircraft carrier formation was missed.
At the same time that the Japanese air force launched the first wave of attack, the reconnaissance aircraft sent by the Pacific Fleet in advance found that the enemy's main force had entered the expected battlefield at almost the same time, and the US fighters on Midway Island had been waiting for a long time and took off to participate in the battle, which was not a sneak attack, but more like a counter-sneak attack. At this time, the number of heavy aircraft carriers between the United States and Japan is 3:4, of which the United States Yorktown has just undergone major repairs, and the performance cannot be fully restored, except for other warships other than aircraft carriers, the Japanese army completely surpassed the US military in quantity and quality. The US military has prepared 175 land-based fighters at Midway Airport in advance, plus aircraft carrier aircraft, a total of about 400 aircraft, and the combat aircraft of the Japanese First Aircraft Carrier Fleet is 264, but as far as the comprehensive quality of the Japanese air force pilots is concerned, it can narrow the distance between the us military and the NUMBER of fighters.
Attack Midway
The second wave of attack, the first wave of Japanese troops ended the bombing to ask to return to the ship to reload, and at this time the first wave of the US counterattack also began, Bumblebee, enterprise aircraft carrier and Japanese aircraft carrier distance of 200 nautical miles, at 7:6, 117 attack aircraft took off to the front line, while the naval base took off more than 10 US land-based torpedo aircraft also appeared in the line of sight of the Nanyun aircraft carrier formation, the first wave of US military attack was quickly defeated by the Japanese army. Nanyun was still unable to spot the enemy carrier at this time, so he further believed that the ground bombardment of Midway needed to be strengthened, and Nanyun ordered all the anti-ship torpedoes on the torpedo plane to be equipped with ground attack weapons.
Finally, at 30 minutes, the reconnaissance plane from the "Ligan" sent back the warning of the US aircraft carrier, how similar this scene was to the Battle of Ceylon, whether it was to the ground or to the sea, which was more important, which made Lieutenant General Nanyun deeply confused, and his consciousness seemed to have never had a clear understanding of the main target. At this time, Yamamoto, as the commander-in-chief, was even more ignorant of the changes in the front line, and in World War II, where radio technology had matured, Yamamoto's ability to grasp the overall situation was not as good as that of the mediocre commander in the era of cold weapons.
After receiving the second confirmation from the reconnaissance plane, Nanyun ordered the fighters on the aircraft carriers that had already dismounted from the warehouse to re-ascend to the deck to reload torpedoes; at this time, in order to seize the time, the soldiers on the decks of the aircraft carriers piled up on the plate armor, while the returning fighters faced the crowded deck and had to hover in the air to wait for landing.
Battle midway
At 8:00 a.m., 35 fighters took off from Yorktown to attack the Japanese carrier formation, after 40 attack aircraft from the base had been destroyed by the Zero. At 9:20, 15 torpedo planes from Bumblebee spotted the Japanese carrier, but all were shot down during the attack. At 30 minutes, the 28 fighters taken off from the aircraft carrier suffered serious losses in the attack on the Flying Dragon and the Dragon, and the commander was killed on the spot. At 10:10, the third attack from Yorktown, although five Zeros were shot down in the air, were ultimately unable to break through the Wyvern's defenses, and 12 fighters were almost completely destroyed. Wave after wave of attacks by the US military can be described as successive.
The real turnaround appeared on the 33 dive bombers taking off from the Enterprise, and at about 10:25, this US Aviation Force, found the main Japanese aircraft carriers Akagi and Kaga, under the siege of 30 bombers, Kaga was severely damaged, Captain Best led two bombers to drop three 450 kg high-explosive bombs on Akagi, one of which directly hit the deck of the Akagi and detonated the ammunition depot, causing the heavy carrier to eventually sink. Soon 17 U.S. bombers attacked the Soryu, and the explosives and oil stacked on the deck caused a larger explosion, and the Soryu aircraft carrier was quickly destroyed.
Offensive American machine
At this time, only one of the four heavy japanese aircraft carriers remained, and at 10:40, the bombers taking off from the Wyvern severely damaged Yorktown, and at 1:40 p.m., the bombers taking off from the Wyvern again carried out a second round of attack on the Yorktown, and the Yorktown aircraft carrier was forced to abandon the ship at 3 p.m. At this time, the Japanese front-line navy only had one aircraft carrier, and the AMERICAN fighters carried out a saturation attack on the Wyvern, and at 4:00 p.m. the Wyvern was sunk by an aerial bomb.
Losses on both sides of the campaign
In the early morning of 5 June, Yamamoto ordered the abandonment of his plan to capture Midway, and the remaining fleet returned. All four main carriers of Japan's First Aircraft Carrier Fleet were sunk, and the United States lost only one Yorktown aircraft carrier. The Japanese combat aircraft lost 332 aircraft, of which only fifty-two were shot down by the defendants, the rest were destroyed on the deck or in the hangar, or fell on their own in the Pacific, and more than 140 American flights were shot down. The Japanese army lost more than 3500 people, and the United States did not even have a fraction of the Japanese army, it can be said that the US army on Midway Island defeated the Japanese army.
The U.S. army was victorious
Halfway battle analysis
The US military made no obvious mistakes in combat and command, and the air pilots who participated in the war were brave and fearless. Some people believe that the main reason for the victory of the US army was to crack the intelligence of the Japanese army in advance and prepare well at Midway. In fact, the japanese army's defeat was due to its own strategic and tactical mistakes, as well as Yamamoto's mistakes in employing people.
First, the employment of personnel is not checked
Nanyun has the courage and strategy, and can only be qualified as an ordinary captain, but he has been repeatedly entrusted with heavy responsibilities by Yamamoto, which is a big mistake made by Yamamoto, and it is easy to hand over the family foundation accumulated by the Japanese Navy to such a general, which also shows that Yamamoto Isoroku himself is not highly skilled in the use of people.
Second, strategic disloyalty
Although Midway is an important U.S. base outside Pearl Harbor, it is of little significance in terms of its overall nature. It was too far away from Japan to play any role even if it was occupied, but Yamamoto, as the supreme commander of the Japanese Navy, took the initiative to launch this battle, with the intention of taking a gamble and intending to annihilate the American army here. In fact, for Japan's overall strategy, it should be to go south or west. In addition to the existence of a large number of islands in Southeast Asia as a defensive barrier, there is almost no chain of defensive islands west of the Japanese mainland, so it is impossible to establish a so-called defensive circle west of the Japanese mainland. The only effective way to defend the homeland is coastal defense, and it is precisely because of Japan's unique maritime geographical structure that the war against the United States is a great strategic failure geographically, which will put Japan in an extremely unfavorable situation.
Third, the battle plan is chaotic
Since the decision to fight midway was mainly aimed at annihilating the main force of the U.S. Navy, and Midway was just a decoy, the four main aircraft carriers of Nanyun should not all participate in the war as a front line, but at least half of the sea-to-air combat forces should be retained to wait for the US military to take the bait. The rational layout is to carry out ground attacks with the aviation of one aircraft carrier, and the other three maintain a high degree of vigilance and conduct large-scale reconnaissance, and once the US aircraft carrier is found, it should be fully engaged in sea-to-air combat. However, Lieutenant General Nanyun used all four aircraft carriers to attack non-main targets, which was completely contrary to the final planned goal. If the main force of the US aircraft carrier does not appear, once it appears, the main fleet of Nanyun will inevitably face great risks in the case of insufficient combat aircraft.
Air Force fierce battle
Therefore, in terms of losing this battle, from strategy to tactics to employing people, Yamamoto Fifty-Six showed a lack of wisdom, so that he made another fatal mistake, and finally took the Japanese militarist navy on the road of destruction, just as the so-called main general was incompetent, which harmed the three armies. Yamamoto Tookroku used a gambler-style bet to destroy the main team of the Japanese combined fleet at Midway Island at once, and he should be the real gravedigger of Japanese militarism. Yamamoto has two major hobbies in this life, one is gambling, the other is beauty, and the ending is already doomed.