The
Battle of Midway
3-7
June 1942
Those who have only a casual
knowledge of the Second World War might know little more about the Battle of
Midway than the fact that it was an important American victory in the Pacific
Theater. After all, the war had
countless major battles, and a great many of them involved far more men and
arms than fought at Midway. A tally of
the forces engaged and lost there pales to insignificance in the face of the
much larger battles later in the war, particularly in Europe.
But in fact, the Battle of Midway
was one of the most important battles of the war, in any theater. Indeed, some would argue that it was the
most important of them all. For had the
American side lost at Midway (which any reasonable analysis prior to the battle
would readily support), not only would all of the subsequent allied successes
in the Pacific theater been severely delayed or obviated altogether, but
virtually all of world history from that point forward would certainly have
been altered almost beyond comprehension.
In brief, here's what happened at
Midway, as related on the U.S. Naval
History and Heritage Command web site:
"The Battle of Midway, fought over
and near the tiny U.S. mid-Pacific base at Midway atoll, represents the
strategic high water mark of Japan's
Pacific Ocean war. Prior to this
action, Japan possessed general naval
superiority over the United States and could usually choose where and
when to attack. After Midway, the two opposing fleets were
essentially equals, and the United States soon took the offensive.
“Japanese Combined
Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw
out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces,
which had embarrassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on
Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's
defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands, and
establish a Japanese air base there. He
expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to
save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested
carrier air power.
“Yamamoto's
intended surprise was thwarted by superior American communications intelligence, which deduced his scheme well before
battle was joined. This allowed Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz, the U.S. Pacific
Fleet commander, to establish an ambush by having his carriers ready and
waiting for the Japanese. On 4 June
1942, in the second of the Pacific War's great carrier battles, the trap was
sprung. The perseverance, sacrifice and
skill of U.S. Navy aviators, plus a great deal of good luck on the American
side, cost Japan four irreplaceable fleet carriers, while only one of the three
U.S. carriers present was lost. The
base at Midway, though damaged by Japanese air attack, remained operational
and later became a vital component in
the American trans-Pacific offensive."
Winston
Churchill said of the Battle of Midway, "this memorable American victory
was of cardinal importance, not only to the United States but to the whole
Allied cause...At one stroke, the dominant position of Japan in the Pacific was
reversed." And that is why Midway
was among the most important battles of the war, for if the Japanese had
prevailed—and the order of battle certainly suggests that they should have—consider
what would have ensued. All of the
following are highly likely:
1. There would have been no invasion of
Guadalcanal in 1942.
2. Because of that, a Japanese threat to
Australia, blunted at Coral Sea, would have been renewed, with isolation likely
and perhaps even partial occupation.
3. A threat of that magnitude to the Australian
homeland may have resulted in the recall of their army from north Africa, where
Rommel’s Afrika Corps was still a threat to the Suez canal.
4. With Australia neutralized, MacArthur would
have had no convenient springboard for his return the Philippines, and he may
have even risked the capture that he avoided at Corregidor.
5. Without Australia, American submarines would
have been denied the advance bases that allowed them to prey so successfully
upon Japanese shipping in the western Pacific.
6. With the Japanese in control of Midway, the
threat to Hawaii would have been enormous.
Their long range plans included a full scale invasion in 1943, the
success of which would likely have led to carrier raids against the U.S.
Pacific coast.
7. With a powerful enemy virtually on its
western shores, American resolve to prosecute the war in Europe would have been
severely tested. And a reduced American
commitment in Europe would have led to one of two probable scenarios, both of
which are painful to contemplate:
(a) An allied invasion of France in June 1944 would not have been possible, at least not then, giving the Nazis additional time to fortify their western defenses and thus make a successful invasion less likely. A delayed or even failed invasion in the west could have improved the Germans’ ability to defend themselves in the east, allowing Hitler and the Nazis to remain in power far longer than they did, with unimaginable consequences for Europe.
(b) Or, alternately, the lack of
American-British pressure in the west would have allowed the steamrolling Red
Army to overrun all of Germany, not just the eastern third. Communist dominance of the entire European
continent could easily have resulted, bringing a far more dismal set of
conditions at the start of the Cold War than what actually occurred.
But none of those things came to be,
because of the Incredible Victory, the Miracle at Midway. It shouldn't have happened but it did
nonetheless, through amazing courage, divine intervention, or unbelievable
luck—or a combination of all three.