On 4 June 1942 American carrier-based naval aircraft destroyed four of the six aircraft carriers that Japan had used on the surprise aerial attack on the naval station in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Each side demonstrated positive use of the principles of war; however both were guilty of serious breaches in the principles and in duties of command. Through unity of command and superior command decisions by the American naval leaders, the United States scored a resounding victory that has been coined as the turning point of the Pacific Theater in the Second World War. In contrast, the Japanese naval leaders failed to exhibit the same mature and sound decisions prior to and during the battle as did their American counterparts, breaching the principles …show more content…
The execution of the principles of surprise and economy of force, made by the Americans in the Battle of Midway created an emphatic American victory when the preponderance of Japanese naval and air power indicated that events should have gone otherwise. The Japanese opened their pre-invasion attack on Midway on the early morning of June 4 with the launch of 108 combat aircraft from the four carriers of their main striking force. The Japanese aircraft carriers: the Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu were under direct command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo during the battle. Admiral Nagumo had only planned to have a single strike on Midway enough to just soften the defenses of Midway to ensure a successful landing by ground invasion forces. However, Admiral Nagumo was not convinced it was ready for an invasion and that he may be jeopardizing the capture of Midway if he does not send a second strike. Having no confirmed …show more content…
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto believed that the American Navy would have to defend Midway in the event of attack thus seeing an opportunity to accomplish two major objectives with one major offensive. Admiral Yamamoto and his staff developed a plan to hit Midway by surprise, occupy the island, and then annihilate the American Pacific Fleet when it rushed out of Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese naval fleet planned the capture of Midway but at the same time recognized the destruction of the Pacific Fleet as the primary purpose of the operation, the Japanese commander split his objectives and burdened his subordinates with the responsibility of determining which objective had the higher priority at any given moment. The Japanese plan for the attack of Midway was flawed from its conception, primarily due to its complexity. It included: a diversionary attack in the Aleutians, an aircraft carrier striking force whose planes would bomb Midway, a fleet of battleships to conduct a ship to shore bombardment of the island, and an invasion force of five thousand men to seize and hold Midway. On the other hand, the American commander–Admiral Chester Nimitz–had but one objective: defending midway by turning back the Japanese Combined Fleet from
To begin, the attack on Pearl Harbour was devastating to U.S. naval capabilities in the Pacific at the onset of their entry into the war. Japanese officials had grown tired of the U.S. oil embargo, which was meant to limit their territorial expansion and aggression in South-East Asia as well as China, and as negotiations weren’t reaching any conclusions they decided that the only course of action was a first strike on the aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbour to cripple U.S. naval capability in the Pacific (Rosenberg 1). The attack, which lasted about two hours, had resulted in the sinking of four battleships, among ...
Previous to the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7th 1941, tensions had been forming between the USA and Japan in the pacific. The US had cut of most supplies to Japan with the fear of Japanese expansion. The conflict that had been escalating between Japan and China since 1937 had the US treating Japan with great cautiousness. They had been monitoring Japanese Americans in anticipation of a surprise attack. However the attack on Pearl Harbour still shocked and outraged the American nation and affected the American psyche. After being assured that “a Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world”(1), the sudden mass destruction of the U.S Navy’s Pacific fleet and deaths of roughly 2400 U.S soldiers and civilians as a result of such an attack undoubtedly lead to confusion and racial hatred amongst many US citizens. The assumption on the War Department’s behalf that Japan’s Navy were incapable of launching a full scale assault on the US Navy’s chief Pacific base was more than inaccurate. As a result, the US Naval base was unprepared and was quickly taken out. A hidden bias would soon become evident in both average civilians and higher positioned government officials. This bias against Japan aided in the formation of the Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) on February 19th 1942.
The Battle of Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious events that happened in U.S. history. On December 7, 1941, Japan made a surprise aerial attack on the United States naval base and airfields at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than two thousand Americans died and a thousand two hundred were wounded. Eighteen ships were badly damaged, including five battleships. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt with the support of the Congress, declared war on Japan. It led United States’ official involvement in World War II. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor because of a deteriorating relationship with the U. S. The “New World Order”, expansion and resources, and economic sanctions were factors that conducted to another disaster on the Second World War.
The motive for Japan’s plan to attack Midway Island was to claim dominant power over the Pacific Ocean and to...
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the most atrocious attacks to have ever happened on American soil, starting with disagreement on the Potsdam declaration. Japan’s greed for more land and industrial materials led the Japanese to make a plan to keep the United States out of the war, which consisted the use of kamikaze pilots and bombs to destroy our aircraft carriers and boats in an attempt to control the Pacific. While leaving the drowning, and dead bodies of thousands of American seamen and battleships at the bottom of the sea, seemed to be a good idea to the Japanese; America joined World War II and introduced the first nuclear weapons as reprisal for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Had the Japanese agreed to an unconditional surrender and end to militarism during the agreement on the Potsdam declaration, the introduction to nuclear weapons and the death count wouldn’t have been so high and devastating on both the American and Japanese sides.
Even before the battle started, America saw his attack coming. Japan had bombed the Dutch harbor in Alaska on the days of June 3rd and 4th. Japan landed there instead of on the islands of Attu and Kiska, in fear the United States might be there. There attacks failed when the plan to get the American fleet from Midway to aid the freshly bombed Dutch harbor. At 0900 hours an American patrol boat spotted the Japanese fleet seven hundred miles from Midway. At that point admiral Soroku Yamamoto’s plans of a sneak attack were over. Admiral fletcher commanded the U.S.S. Yorktown before it was sunk by the Japanese. Then at 0750, japan spots nine enemy (American) planes fifteen miles out. Tones, a Japanese cruiser, opened fire on the American pilots. Almost instantly if an American bomber plane were hit it would explode and go down. The bombers dropped their torpedoes to far from their targets, so the torpedoes didn’t land a single blow to Japan. At 1040 japan sent from Hiryu,...
The battle of Midway took place 4-7 June 1942. The US Navy and Imperial Navy of Japan fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway. The battle of Midway was a battle that occurred during WW II Pacific Theater of operations. There were two events that led up to this battle. The first major event was the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which took place six months prior to the battle of Midway ( 7 December 1941). The second event was the Battle of the Coral Sea. The Battle of the Coral Sea took place a month prior and it gave the Japanese Commanders courage to set a new objective. The Battle of the Coral Sea was a key factor that led up to the battle of Midway. The battle of the Coral Sea was Japans attempt to strengthen their defensive positioning
On December 7th 1941, Japanese Planes and submarines attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. This event singlehandedly brought the U.S from its then neutral stance in World War Two to a fighting member of the “Allied Powers.” Pearl Harbor was the first of a long series of confrontations between the U.S and the Japanese in an effort to gain control of the Pacific. Unlike the “War in Europe” the Pacific strategy was dominated by naval and aerial battles, with the occasional land-based “Island Hopping” Campaign. As such, one of the most important factors in the war in the pacific was Fleet Size, the more ships a country could send to war, the better. Pearl Harbor was the Japanese’s way of trying to deal with the massive U.S Pacific fleet. However, Pearl Harbor was not the turning point of the war. After December 7th the United States began work on numerous technological developments which would ultimately help them in one of the most important battles of WWII, the largest naval confrontation of the war, The Battle of Midway. The battle, which took place from June 4th to June 7th , 1942 is widely considered the turning point of the Pacific Theater (James & Wells). Through the Post-Pearl Harbor desire for “Revenge” and various technological advantages including code breaking and radar, the U.S were able to outsmart the Japanese at Midway and ultimately win the battle, eventually leading to a victory in the Pacific.
Midway is a small island chain consisting of three islands Sand, Eastern and Spit. Midway was under American possession from 1897 to 1996 and American companies helped built most of Midway’s infrastructure (National Park Service). Actually, Midway part of the Hawaiian islands, midway between Tokyo and San Francisco, hence the name “Midway”. Although, it is part of the Hawaiian islands, it has never actually been part of the Hawaiian state (National Park Service). Because of its location, Midway would be a valuable position to have. With multiple runways already built and pretty well developed, Midway needed very little to become a very valuable and well needed resource for either the Americans or the Japanese. Either party who had control of Midway would turn it into, basically, a stationary aircraft carrier. Because of this the Battle of Midway was crucial so this lead to an intense air battle, in which the United States crippled the Japanese Imperial Navy.
The Battle of Midway took place around the Islands of Midway. These islands are the farthest west of the Hawaiian chain of islands. These islands were important in the U.S. defense of the Hawaiian Islands. The U.S. force’s included 3 aircraft carriers (Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet), 234 aircraft, 110 bombers, fighters and patrol planes, along with a fleet of 25 submariners. Admiral Chester Nimitz led the Americans. The American troops had been depleted by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the battle of Coral Sea. 6 large aircraft carriers and 400 aircraft highlighted the Japanese troops. Isoroku Yamamoto led the Japan forces. The Battle of Coral Sea was the battle before the Battle of Midway. At Coral Sea, Japan didn’t finish its goal of the mission, which was to invade Port Moresby in New Guinea in order for its planes to dominate the skies over northern Australia. Even though the mission failed the naval power was still with the Japanese. (Cragg) (Lambert) (Hone)
It’s a beautiful sunny morning, on a tropical island that everyone would love to take a vacation at. It’s approximately 6:00 am, December 7, 1941, when a first group of 181 kamikaze planes attacked; targeting key naval bases stationed at Hawaii; a sustained crippling of U.S. naval forces for about 6 months. The death toll was 2,500. Out of the 9 battleships, 8 were heavily damaged by the assault on Pearl Harbor and out of the 8, three were unrepairable, USS Arizona, USS Oklahoma, and the USS Utah. 160 aircrafts were put out of commission, and nearly 130 were heavily damaged. This was the first incident in which there was an act of war, committed on U.S. soil, outside of the American Revolution and the Civil War. The world was at war, and the U.S. remained neutral until now. Before the attack, the U.S. was in great debate whether to enter the war or to stay out of it. The act of war forced the U.S. into the War and triggered a controversial debate in whether to retaliate against Japan with the use of nuclear arms.
It was a Sunday morning, on December 7, 1941 when Pearl Harbor, US naval base located on Hawaii, was attacked by the Japanese. They caught unguarded the whole nation, and for that, this attack is considered one of the top ten failures of the US intelligence. The Japanese were able to attack Pearl Harbor by surprise because of the mindset of US officials, whom they saw Japanese as a weak enemy, who wouldn’t risk attacking US territory, caused by a supremacy factor; As well as the not good enough US intelligence efficiency to encrypt Japanese codes, and the handling of such information. After the negotiations between the Japanese and the United States ended, there was no doubt that they would make an attack, but they didn’t know the target of it.
With the outcome of the Battle of Pearl Harbor not accomplishing Japans ideals and retaliation was for certain. The island of Midway started preparing for a battle, “After the somewhat shaking events of 7 December, Midway, no less than Pearl Harbor, prepared for the worst with full anticipation that it would come” (Heinl, 16). Within two weeks new shipments of aircrafts and US troops to the island had arrived to stockpile resources. The United States was preparing to defend their fleet and resources involved. The attack on Pearl Harbor opened up the idea to American that the war had already started whether people kne...
Midway itself was not that important in the larger scheme of Japan's intentions. Japan was concentrating on the Samoa Islands, Fiji and Australia to expand their newly acquired SE Pacific territory than Midway. Midway was the closest remaining US base to Japan, and would therefore be heavily defended by the US. Admiral Yamamoto's battle plan was bold. Like most Imperial Japanese Navy strategies, it was designed to lure major parts of the US Fleet into a fatal situation. Yamamoto's main force trailed his carriers and was intended to take out whatever part of the US Fleet that might come to Midway's support. The plan was complicated because it was put together very rapidly in the wake of the Tokyo Air Raid by US Army B-25's flying...
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.