The Battle of Midway is often regarded as the turning point of the war in the Pacific theater, where 5-minutes (starting at 10:25 am) “miracle” changed the course of the battle and consequently its victor. Authors and historians who have written on the battle and the U.S.’s victory have regarded it as an act of luck, even veterans of the battle who remembered it several decades afterthought of their impossible win as a result of divine intervention. Symonds argues against this commonly held belief, arguing instead that it wasn’t because of luck or divine intervention but more so because of the mistakes and quick decision making of men like fleet admiral Chester Nimitz and Lieutenant Commander Joseph Rochefort and those under their command that …show more content…
Cmdr. Joseph Rochefort and the U.S.’s overall superior strategies of Nimitz and Fletcher was the true reason for why the U.S.’s seemingly impossible victory became possible. The two key themes that I will focus analysis on is the failures in the Japanese strategic planning and execution at Midway and U.S. determination and resilience to keep pushing on even after things, especially with USS carriers leading up to and during the actual war was falling apart. Symonds begins to argue his case by dissecting Japan’s plans for conquest and domination in the Pacific. He starts with looking at the Japanese failure by several of their military philosophies. For example, he was talking about the lack of armor on airplanes, saying that the Japanese valued the attack over protection, so while their airplanes were able to carry heavier bombs, since the airplane protection was not weighing the plane down, basically the Japanese were doing half the work for their enemies because a single hit was would ignite an explosion. This idea of not armoring planes was one of the many mistakes of the Japanese for several reasons. While the Americans were ok with just having trained piolets out there on the front whether they had had actual combat experience or not, the …show more content…
The main deficiency with Japan’s war plan for Midway, as Symonds pointed out, came from the assumption that the Americans would react and behave in the way that the Japanese wanted, enough for them to strangle and beat down U.S. forces enough to drag them to the negotiation table as they had done with the Russians in the Russo – Japanese War. One mistake that Symonds pointed made on the part of the Japanese regarding their Midway plan was that attacking the island itself provided no advantage for them but everything for the Americans. Japan did not have the resources to both take over Midway and maintain the island, but it boosted all the benefits for the Americans because Midway provided land-based air cover, shorter logistic lines and was close enough to repair facilities that the U.S. forces did not have to stress. Essentially by picking this island, the Japanese had lost another step in the overall battle. Midway was closer to the U.S. bases which were crawling with American submarines and therefore easier to protect instead of the geographical location of Japan were trying to provide resources to Japanese on the would be occupied island would stretch out Japan’s already depleting sources as pointed out by Commander Miyo. Symonds also shows how the war wasn’t a miracle by
The USS Midway took part of important part of American history and is remembered this day. The USS Midway used special materials like steel and aluminum. The steel material was the main thing that was used in this ship. The deck of the ship was 3 ½inch thick steel. There was also Stainless steel that was used in some parts of the ship so that it doesn’t rust.
Jeffrey Burkhart Mrs. Shandera / Mr.Pelletier English 11 pd.2 / History pd.6 9 February 2018 Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway allowed the United States to go on the offensive in the pacific theater. The battle started on June 4, 1942 and lasted until June 7, 1942 ("Battle of Midway"). The battle changed the whole course of the pacific theater.
The battle of Kokoda was known for its viscous fighting in a battle that lasted for four long months, going from July through to November 1942. In World War II, the Japanese’s aim was to expand down the pacific but by 1942 they had already occupied most of south-east Asia and were
After Japan was unsuccessful in the Kokoda campaign, which resulted in the Japanese army being forced out of Papua, their strategy underwent significant change. “The Japanese felt that they had overextended themselves in their advance and it was time to halt and defend their gains.” (Department of Veteran’s Affairs) The Japanese began to put more effort into defending the islands they had already captured, which were generally islands that had lots of valuable resources or were important in defending the islands that had resources.
General Douglas Macarthur is remembered by many as a hero of World War II, The de-facto leader of post-war Japan, and as a controversial figure of the Korean war. Throughout these roles, Macarthur was able to strategically display his intellect and charisma. Yet Macarthur was not always the overachieving hero of America. Early in his career from 1914-1941, he served in multiple administrative and managerial operations which seem to contradict the generals flamboyant career. For over two decades Douglas Macarthur’s tactics differentiated himself from those who fought alongside him.
Later on, he talks about the battle of midway of June 1942 He says this is the most important battle for America to gain there Western Individualism. He states four critical ways that are this is made possible “the breaking down of Japanese naval codes, the repair of the carrier Yorktown, the nature of the U.S naval command and the behavior of American pilots.” This shows the major reason why American
First of which has to be the possibility of Dyess’ bias towards the japanese. Which is evident from his frequent use of a well known derogatory term for a person of japanese ancestry. In addition, his loathing of the soldiers who were in charge, saying, “Now, as never before, I wanted to kill [Japanese] for the pleasure of it”While the use of the term and his eagerness to get revenge could stem from the atmosphere of the war or from how American troops simply referred to their foes. By categorizing them together and expressing his hatred, Dyess is portraying the japanese soldiers as inhuman or uncivilized. This may also rationalize the actions of the japanese soldiers for
The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War – Jonathan Dimbleby Dimbleby uses diaries and journals written by both the axis and allied sailors to describe the 6-year battle. The book focuses on the intelligence behind the allied victory and how they were able to pull off the victory against the strong German U-boats. Topics such as the technology used and created by both the axis and allies is discussed. This information will be used in the arguments regarding the increase in technology and the increase in aircraft technology as the book looks at multiple bombing runs and how each one was more effective.
Also depleting air strength meant the remaining warplanes had to be hoarded to defend Japanese Home Islands. With no available means to defend Iwo Jima, Japan decided to rely on the established defensive equipment in the area and check U.S. by delaying tactics to gain time for defense of the mainland. Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned the task of defending Iwo Jima. Knowing he couldn’t win the battle, he aimed at inflicting heavy casualties on American forces to force them to reconsider invasion of Mainland Japan. His strategy was radically different from Japan’s usual strategy of beach defense to face the landings directly.
This is how the fall of Singapore consequently led to the loss of morale throughout the Allied forces because their strongest naval base was taken down so soundly by the Japanese’s
It was much more a symbolic victory then a tactical victory. A great plan needed to have speed and audacity. History In order to understate the importance of the Doolittle raid, the mentality of both the Japanese and American must first be understood.
Rhetorical Essay Analysis World War II is a time of great struggle for humanity, especially for those within the midst of the battlegrounds. During the June of 1940 in an attempt to boost his citizen’s morale and confidence, Winston Churchill, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), gave his speech “We shall fight on the beaches” at the British House of Commons. The rhetorical purpose of this speech is to convince the people of the UK that they have a fighting chance against the Axis forces, even if the worst comes to show. In order to gain people’s support, Churchill employed the rhetorical strategies of historical evidence and emotional appeal.
“Mary Tsukamoto once said ‘I knew it would leave a scar that would stay with me forever. At that moment my precious freedom was taken from me’” (Martin 54). The Betrayal. The attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Kamikaze, officially Tokubetsu Kogekitai, were suicide attack units formed by young conscripts and volunteers from the Empire of Japan against allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of the Second World War. They were first designed to destroy warships more effectively than conventional attacks. However, did the Kamikaze force really reverse the situation? The answer is negative. In fact, the Kamikaze force was a desperate last resort of the Japanese government, not only did not bring the presumed advantages for the Japanese navy, but actually accelerated their defeat.
However, the success of the USA in the battle of Coral Sea and Midway put the Japanese into a state in which they could not recover from. The Americans success was largely due to their shipbuilding capability, as the Japanese shipbuilding capability was limited. Furthermore, like the British, the Americans also could access Japanese codes. (Pearson, 163) Thus, these factors were vital to the success of Allied forces as the defeat of the Japanese is considered to be a turning point for the outcome of the war as the Japanese were unable to continue with the war due to the damage inflicted by the