Japanese optimism was already very high even before the attack on Pearl Harbor. A large sect within the Japanese Military government held the same ideological notions about the United States and Western Democracies as Hitler did. The U.S. was decadent; it was afraid of the cost of war; it was split with racial and class conflict. Most had expected the attack on Pearl Harbor to lead directly to a treaty granting Japan rule over much of the Pacific (Johnson, 2006, p. 120-126). Even realists within the Japanese cabinet, like Yamamoto, the mastermind behind Pearl Harbor, who accepted the industrial and military strength of the United States, expected that the loss of the Pacific fleet would force America to the negotiating table. Indeed, Yamamoto’s understanding of the true strength of America that led him to conceive of Pearl Harbor, and then the Midway Plans. Yamamoto strongly believed Japan’s best hope was to force America to sign a treaty, and that only a ‘knockout blow’, like the destruction of the Pacific fleet would get them to sign (Johnson 127-128). Pearl Harbor had crippled the American Navy, and Midway would be the death blow.
One must not forget how dark the first months of the war seemed to the Americans. Besides Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had captured the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, the Dutch East Indes, and other regions in the South Pacific and Asia. Australia, or even the American west coast, seemed to be in immediate danger. When added to the precarious situation in Europe, with Hitler having a stranglehold on Europe, and his tanks only miles from Moscow, it was hardly unreasonable for the Japanese to believe that a war with America would not last long. The winter of 1941 to 1942 was truly the darkest period of the war. However, in only a few minutes, the entire outlook and course of World War II changed. Indeed, “These pivotal minutes—the most dramatic in World War II, indeed perhaps in all of American history—reversed the seemingly irresistible momentum toward Japanese victory and started the long comeback of American forces from the disasters at Pearl Harbor” (Symonds, 2011, p. 1).
There is no disagreement among military historians that the Battle of Midway island was one of the most decisive victories in American military history, placed in the same list as the most important victories of the Revolutionary War: Saratoga, which convinced the French to side with the American rebels, and Yorktown, which forced the British to withdraw from the war and recognize American independence. However, the Battle of Midway is unique in that the credit for this momentous victory goes as much to American intelligence as it does to the American military. As it turns out, Naval Intelligence had cracked the code the Japanese used to transmit their military messages across the Pacific. Although this break came too late to prevent Pearl Harbor, it allowed the Americans to decipher the entire Japanese plan for the invasion of Midway Island (Healy, 1993, p. 15-17). Admiral Nimitz knew the size and location of the Japanese fleet, and a rough idea of the time they would arrive in the area. This allowed Nimitz to set one of the most effective traps in American Military History.
The trap was needed. The Japanese invasion fleet dwarfed the American fleet. The Americans fielded 3 carriers, and a total fleet size of 28 vessels. The Japanese fleet had 8 carriers, eleven battleships, twenty one cruisers and sixty-five destroyers (Johnson, 2006, p.129). In addition, there was an invasion fleet made up of troop transports and landing craft. Nimitz faced pressure from the War Department in Washington to pass up the defense of Midway, as some in Washington felt that Hawaii or California must be the real target of such a large Japanese strike force.
Again, although the Americans had he element of surprise, the Japanese still managed to hold the initiative, as the first blow of the battle was launched by the Japanese. On June 4th, Japanese bombers, launched from the carrier strike force, attacked Midway Island. Japanese planes had to be armed with different bombs to attack naval or land targets, and since the Japanese did not think the American navy was anywhere in the vicinity of the island, the Japanese planes, on all the carriers, were loaded with land munitions. The first attack proved rather ineffective, and the Japanese, thinking that everything was going according to plan, began loading their planes for another attack on Midway Island. However, as an American scout had located the Japanese carrier force, and American bombers, launched from the American carries, were already on the way.
When the American planes arrived over them, the Japanese carriers presented an opportune target. The Japanese carriers were re-arming and refueling their planes, and their flight decks were littered with planes, bombs, and fuel lines, It was literally, the most explosive combination possible. Within minutes, three Japanese carriers, the Kaga, the Soryu, and the flagship Akagi, were in flames, with secondary explosions rocking the ships. In matter of minutes, the Americans, by sinking three carriers (the fourth would be sunk later in the day) had done more strategic damage to the Japanese fleet than the Japanese had done to the Americans at Pearl Harbor.
The battle was not over, however. The fourth Japanese carrier was able to launch planes which followed the American bombers back to the Yorktown. The experienced Japanese pilots scored several direct hits on the Yorktown, knocking it out of action. While this action was being completed, scouts from the Enterprise located the remaining Japanese carrier, the Hiryu, and the Enterprise and Hornet launched their remaining planes. They scored over four direct hits on the Hiryu, thus destroying all four of the carriers in the Japanese strike force.
The final results of the battle were stunning. The Americans lost one carrier, 179 planes, and 300 men (Johnson, 2007, p.135). The Japanese lost four of their fleet level carriers, 280 planes, and over 3,500 men. The Japanese military suffered its first loss of the war, and the air of invincibility around it was forever shattered. The Japanese taskforce was forced to turn around, and the Japanese never again threatened American territory.
What were the reasons this was such a decisive victory? What happened after the Battle of Midway, that made it one of the most decisive battles of the war? First, of course, was the military element of the victory. It was a crushing and costly defeat for the Japanese military, and losing four carriers in one day crippled the Japanese navy. After the Battle of Midway, America seized the initiative; never again was the Japanese Navy on the offensive. From this point forward, the Japanese fought a defense war against the Americans, and the Americans controlled the pace of the war. It is also hard to underestimate the value of the victory at the Battle of Midway Island for the United States, and all the allies. Both the British and the Soviet Union played up the victory, and celebrated it in their media. For the Americans, gone forever was the fear that the Japanese would win the war, or that the Japanese could threaten the American mainland. For the American citizens, the first blow in revenge for Pearl Harbor had been struck. American morale went from poor to excellent.
Just as important in the change in American morale, was the change that came to the Japanese way of thinking about the war. Gone forever was the possibility of knockout blow, or the possibility of forcing the Americans to sue for peace. Rather, the Japanese now had to face the reality of a long drawn out war against an opponent seeking vengeance, an opponent with greater resources, and more industrial power that the rest of the combatants put together. In the course of a few minutes, on the open sea just west of the small island of Midway, the course of the war was changed for ever.
References
Healy, Mark. (1993). Midway: The Turning Point. New York: NY, Osprey Military
Johnson, W. (2006). The Pacific Campaign in World War II. New York: NY, Routledge
Symonds, Craig (2011). The Battle of Midway Island. New York: NY, Oxford University Press
