task0778
Diamond Member
This engagement doesn't get the attention that D-Day does, it wasn't nearly as massive an undertaking in complexity and scope and numbers of men and materiel involved, but nonetheless the importance of the US victory at Midway cannot be understated. Had that engagement gone the other way, the entire west coast of the US could have been vulnerable to the depredations of the Japanese Navy, and lead to a much longer and more difficult world war. Not only in the Pacific, but perhaps also the war in Europe and Africa with less commitment of US forces and war production to those theaters. Which is not to say we would have lost in either place, but it could have made quite a difference.
snippet:
Today – June 7th – is the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, an engagement that not only follows one calendar day after D-Day but is a battle that is consistently considered to be a critical turning point for America in World War II. Midway was likely the most strategically significant battle for the U.S. in the Pacific Theater. Not only did U.S. Naval forces halt Japan’s dynamic and multi-pronged advancement across the Pacific at Midway, but the battle occurred in midyear 1942 when victory for the Allies was far from certain.
While the tactical result of the battle was stunning – the U.S. sunk four Japanese fleet carriers Hiryu, Soryu, Kaga and Akagi, a heavy cruiser and destroyed 248 enemy aircraft – it is the perilous backdrop of America’s war fortunes in 1942 that make Midway’s tide-turning outcomes all the more significant.
Recall that Midway occurred only six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor – a period when America’s military and industrial capabilities were a far cry from the potent war-machine they would be by 1944 and ’45. Aside from Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s gutsy bombing raid in April, demoralizing defeats had largely characterized the Allied combat experience in early 1942 – from Wake Island, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in Asia, to the disastrous Raid on Dieppe in France. Other engagements – such as the Battle of the Coral Sea – were more akin to arguably draws than outright victories. Midway halted that trend with a shocking blow.
Midway is also crucial because of when it occurred in the context of Allied Grand Strategy for the war. Although both Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed to a "Europe First" approach to defeating the Axis Powers, in mid-1942, it was in the Pacific Theater where the U.S. was executing significant offensive operations with joint forces and combined arms. It was at Midway where the U.S. demonstrated effective combat capability very early on – inflicting severe damage on a motivated and experienced enemy.
Why the Battle of Midway Is a Bigger Deal than D-Day
snippet:
Today – June 7th – is the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, an engagement that not only follows one calendar day after D-Day but is a battle that is consistently considered to be a critical turning point for America in World War II. Midway was likely the most strategically significant battle for the U.S. in the Pacific Theater. Not only did U.S. Naval forces halt Japan’s dynamic and multi-pronged advancement across the Pacific at Midway, but the battle occurred in midyear 1942 when victory for the Allies was far from certain.
While the tactical result of the battle was stunning – the U.S. sunk four Japanese fleet carriers Hiryu, Soryu, Kaga and Akagi, a heavy cruiser and destroyed 248 enemy aircraft – it is the perilous backdrop of America’s war fortunes in 1942 that make Midway’s tide-turning outcomes all the more significant.
Recall that Midway occurred only six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor – a period when America’s military and industrial capabilities were a far cry from the potent war-machine they would be by 1944 and ’45. Aside from Colonel Jimmy Doolittle’s gutsy bombing raid in April, demoralizing defeats had largely characterized the Allied combat experience in early 1942 – from Wake Island, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in Asia, to the disastrous Raid on Dieppe in France. Other engagements – such as the Battle of the Coral Sea – were more akin to arguably draws than outright victories. Midway halted that trend with a shocking blow.
Midway is also crucial because of when it occurred in the context of Allied Grand Strategy for the war. Although both Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed to a "Europe First" approach to defeating the Axis Powers, in mid-1942, it was in the Pacific Theater where the U.S. was executing significant offensive operations with joint forces and combined arms. It was at Midway where the U.S. demonstrated effective combat capability very early on – inflicting severe damage on a motivated and experienced enemy.
Why the Battle of Midway Is a Bigger Deal than D-Day
