Battle of Midway, 3-6 June 1942

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Battle of Midway, 3-6 June 1942The Turning
Point of the War in the Pacific
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The Battle of Midway

• Yamamotos objective
• Lure out and destroy U.S. carrier forces
• Yamamoto divides his forces
• Two carriers and invasion force attack the
  Aleutians
• Overly confident, but Japanese still have
  superiority
• U.S. disadvantages and advantages
• Heavily outnumbered
• Inferior aircraft susceptible to attacks by
  Japanese Zeros
• Airfield on Midway Island - unsinkable carrier
• Interception and decoding of Japanese
  communications
• Virtually complete information regarding
  Yamamoto's fleet, tactical disposition, and
  routes of approach

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The Battle of Midway

• Nimitzs disposition of American forces
• Only 3 CVs, eight CAs/CLs, 14 DDs
• Deployed carriers Enterprise, Hornet Yorktown
  under Fletcher before Japanese submarines arrived
  on station
• Reinforced aircraft on Midway to act as an
  unsinkable carrier
• Established air patrols on approaches to Midway
• Intelligence- U.S. broke Japanese code

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Battle of Midway Losses

• American
• 307 lives
• 1 carrier
• 1 destroyer
• 147 planes

• Japanese
• 3500 lives (including many irreplaceable first
  line pilots)
• 4 carriers
• 1 heavy cruiser
• 322 aircraft

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Battle of Midway Significance

• Turning point of the Pacific War
• Tactical and strategic victory for the American
  fleet despite technological superiority of
  Japanese aircraft.
• Intelligence had turned the tide in the Pacific
• End of Japanese offensive advance.
• Allied offensive advance about to begin

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Post Midway

• Japanese leadership shocked by defeat at Midway
• Cancel plans to take Fiji, Samoa, and New
  Caledonia
• Must proceed with plan to take Port Moresby
• Within bomber range of major naval operating base
  at Rabaul
• Japanese begin building airfield at Guadalcanal
• Nimitz moves to reinforce South Pacific Area
• Protect vital sea lines of communication with
  Australia

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U.S. Air and Sub Warfare

• Air Warfare
• Japan and Germany had early advantage in air war
• U.S. aircraft eventually produces better aircraft
  and the industrial base allows rapid and mass
  production.
• Air supremacy eventually established in both
  European and Pacific theaters
• Submarine Warfare
• Unrestricted Submarine Warfare ordered
  immediately after Pearl Harbor -- new role for
  U.S. submarines.
• Early problems (1942-43)Undependable torpedoes -
  poorly designed magnetic fusing.
• By 1945 75 of the Japanese merchant fleet sunk
• USS Indianapolis sunk -- July 1945 - shark
  attacks.

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The Plan to Defeat Japan
Ultimate Objective The Philippines and the
penetration of the Japanese inner defense zone!
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Dual Advance

• Mission Drive through islands of central
  Pacific, capturing them as forward bases. Also,
  cut Japans SLOCs to mainland SW Pacific.
• Central Pacific Admiral Nimitz would be the main
  line of advance.
• South Pacific MacArthur/Halsey and the Third
  Fleet would island hop up from the South Pacific
  and close in on the Philippines.
• Able to bypass some strongholds and attack at
  will.
• Major campaigns in the Gilberts, the Marshalls,
  and the Marianas

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Where do you start the offensive?

• MacArthur sees Midway as a chance to begin the
  process of retaking the Philippines.
• He proposes a direct assault on Rabaul in the
  Solomon Islands
• Admiral King objects to MacArthurs plans
• Proposes step-by-step naval advance through
  Solomons
• Capture every island BUT Rabaul to isolate it
• Compromise
• Initial advance in Eastern Solomons under Nimitz
• Command boundary between areas moved west
• MacArthur takes command after Tulagi secured

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Pacific Theater
Army Center for Military History
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Guadalcanal Nov 1942

• Whoever controlled an airfield would control air
  over the Solomons
• Guadalcanal Vital SLOC
• For both sides it symbolized offensive warfare
  mindset.
• Japan dominates nighttime action.
• Tokyo Express down The Slot into Iron Bottom
  Sound
• U.S. dominates daytime with shore and carrier
  aircraft

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Guadalcanal Campaign

• Battle of Savo Island - Allies defeated in night
  surface action
• Battle of the Eastern Solomons - carrier battle
• USS Enterprise damaged by bombers
• USS Wasp sunk and Saratoga damaged by Japanese
  submarines
• Rabaul eventually becomes isolated and
  insignificant
• On to the Philippines (October 1944)

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Aftermath of Guadalcanal

• Both sides suffered heavy losses
• U.S loses more tonnage at sea, carriers
• Japan loses more lives
• Japan allowed to dominate sea at night while U.S.
  dominates day
• Battle drags on from Aug 42- Feb 43
• MacArthur successful in driving Japanese from
  Papuan Peninsula
• By Feb 43 Jap plans for offensives in S. and W
  Pacific stopped cold
• King uses Casablanca Conference to allocate more
  resources to Pacific

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The Gilberts (Tarawa) 20 Nov 1943

• 1st major island on the sea road to the
  Philippines
• Objective to gain airfield on Betio Island to
  launch further attacks in Central Pacific Drive
• 4,500 heavily entrenched Japanese.
• 3 days cost US gt 3,000 marines

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The Marshalls

• After the Gilberts, concern for death toll in
  Marshalls
• Nimitz orders RADM Mitscher attack to destroy
  Japanese Force
• Total Marshall loss less than first day of Tarawa
• Battle of Philippine Sea, 19-20 June 1944 The
  Great Marianas Turkey Shoot
• 346 Japanese planes downed
• 3 Japanese carriers sunk
• Classic Mahanian engagement

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Kwajalein Atoll
Tarawa
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Battle of Leyte Gulf

• 24-25 Oct 1944
• Largest battle in all of naval history
• Japanese defeated in a series of separate
  engagements.
• Effective end of Japanese Navys ability to
  control the sea.
• Kamikaze attacks
• U.S. landings in Leyte Gulf
• MacArthur returns

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Pacific Theater
Army Center for Military History
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Liberation of the Philippines

• U.S. advance continues after Marianas Campaign
• Macarthur's forces capture New Guinea
• Air strikes in the Philippines wipe out two
  hundred aircraft
• Bypass smaller islands and head to Leyte Gulf
  early
• from 20 December to 20 October

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Iwo Jima

• Emergency landing field and fighter escort base.
• Midway between Marianas and Tokyo
• Support B-29 strategic bombing of Japan
• 26,000 casualties
• 2,400 Emergency landings
• General Holland Smith
• Iwo Jima was the most savage and most costly
  battle in the history of the Marine Corps.
• Admiral Nimitz
• Uncommon valor was a common
  virtue.

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Okinawa Campaign April-June 1945

• Staging base for invasion of Kyushu
• Joint amphibious operation - Marines under Army
  command
• Heavy Japanese resistance
• 34 U.S. ships sunk
• USS Benjamin Franklin was damaged in a Kamikaze
  raid during the invasion of Okinawa - March 1945.
• 4,900 Sailors killed in action
• Over 40,000 U.S. casualties
• Carrier groups begin raids on Japanese home
  islands.
• U.S. has established complete control of the
  seas.

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Manhattan ProjectAtomic Bombs

• President Truman orders two bombings.
• Hiroshima - 6 August 1945
• Nagasaki - 9 August 1945
• Believed potential for casualties during a
  prolonged struggle for the Japanese home islands
  is too high.

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Japan Surrenders

• Japanese officially surrender aboard USS Missouri
  in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
• MacArthur commands U.S. army of occupation of
  Japan.

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Battle History Video

• 1941-1945
• Chapter 2 "Fire and Water", Time 1250-3400.
• Chapter 3 "Steel Walls of Freedom", Time
  0000-2108

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Enabling Objectives

• Comprehend the political and economic forces that
  led Japan to strike at Pearl Harbor.
• Comprehend the Japanese strategy for an early
  victory and their concept of the postwar Pacific
  power balance.
• Comprehend the impact of Pearl Harbor and the
  subsequent Battles of Coral Sea and Midway on the
  transformation of the aircraft carrier's role in
  Naval Warfare.
• List the significant highlights of the evolution
  of U.S. operational strategy in the Pacific,
  including major battles or campaigns.
• Understand the geopolitical and military
  implications of President Trumans decision to
  utilize atomic weapons in ending the war.

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QUESTIONS?
Next time The US Navy in the Early Cold War,
1945-1953