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 Historical Center's 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 would 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, 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 control 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.