The Events of 4 June 1942 to 6 June 1942

I thought this posted on my scheduler thingie..



  Until this point the Japanese had free range in the pacific, with the inconclusive battle fought in the Coral Sea in may, the advantage and experience still lay with the Japanese.   Here is a link for the battle of Midway.

    I also have a link for the plane that is immortalized in that battle that I had posted a while back.
    

Historical moment

I am a student of history and what got me interested in history was the battle of midway,  it lasted from June the 4 1942 until June 6 1942.  I will not post any major details except when it was done, the power has shifted in the pacific war.  After Midway Japan never had a victory until the end of the war.  The biggest loss for the Japanese besides 4 first line carriers was the loss to her aviation arm, the level of experience that went down when those carriers sank, they never recovered.

The events that transpired on those fateful days swung the balance of power in the pacific to the end of the war.  Before June 4 1942, the Japanese ran rampant through the Pacific, from bombing Pearl Harbor to the capture of the Philippines to the capture of the Dutch East Indies and the capture of the British Fortress of Singapore.The capture of Guam and Wake Island.  The Japanese started suffering from "Victory Disease" as Admiral Yamamoto called it.  The Allies found themselves fighting a much superior force than they expected from prewar intelligence.  The only hiccup was the Doolittle raid...

   The Doolittle Raid so traumatized the Japanese that they started planning the Midway operation before their Port Moresby operation was complete.  The Japanese made a move toward Australia and Port Moresby and the battle of Coral Sea. Coral Sea was the first battle where the ships fought and they never saw each other.  The battle was fought by carrier airplanes.  The battle was inconclusive, but we lost the Lady Lex and a fleet oiler.  The Japanese lost the light carrier Shoho but their 2 fleet carriers Shokaku and Zuikaku suffered heavy losses and the Shokaku was damaged.  This was why the Japanese didn't have those 2 carriers for the Midway operation.  The U.S.S. Yorktown was heavily damaged but they preformed a 72 hour miracle at Pearl Harbor and Yorktown joined her 2 sisters, Hornet and Enterprise.

   On that fateful day LtCmr Wade McClusky was leading a group of Dauntless Dive bombers from the U.S.S Enterprise and they followed a Japanese Destroyer that unsuccessfully depth charged an American Submarine and was rushing to catch up with her picket duties.  The 12 minutes that followed shattered the Japanese Naval Aviation and destroyed the aura of invincibility that the Japanese had.

  We lost the U.S.S. Yorktown and a destroyer The U.S.S. Hammond that was tied up alongside to aid in the firefighting effort when a Japanese Submarine put a torpedo into her going for the Yorktown.

.

   My favorite movie was of Midway with Charlton Heston, it was a good story and they used a lot of WWII movie cuts for the movie.  In the end there was a clip showing Admiral Nimitz played by Henry Fonda "Were we better than the Japanese?...Or just Luckier".  This battle showed a lot of luck for the Americans, from the Intelligence and the location of the carriers.  From the experience and power of the ships, the Japanese should have prevailed but luck was on the side of the Americans.