How the US Navy became victorious at the Battle of Midway
The documentary is about the Battle of Midway, which took place in early June 1942 during World War II. At that time, the Japanese were dominating the war in the Pacific, having conquered the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies.
The Japanese plan was to conquer the resource base they needed to get the raw materials that would keep their industrial machinery working, such as iron, tungsten, and oil, which they were low on.
The Japanese wanted to set up a defensive perimeter that would force the United States to fight its way across the Pacific. To do that, they needed to get rid of the American carriers.
The Japanese had a complicated plan for the Battle of Midway, which divided their forces into at least five battle groups, including submarines, invasion forces, and battleships.
However, the most critical aspect of their plan was the carrier group, known as the Kido Butai, consisting of four large carriers. Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of the US Pacific Fleet, knew that this carrier group was the key to the Japanese plan, and his goal was to ambush them.
What made the difference was the contribution of the American codebreakers who were able to intercept and decipher Japanese messages. The most secret organization in the United States Navy in 1942 was known as Station HYPO, a group of rooms in the basement beneath the eleventh naval district headquarters building in Oahu, Hawaii.
Their job was to intercept and decipher the raw data intercepted from Japanese radio messages and extract useful intelligence and information from them.
The American codebreakers were able to tell Nimitz that the Japanese seemed to be targeting Midway and that they would be coming with four, possibly five, aircraft carriers.
They planned to capture the island and use it as a base, perhaps as a bargaining chip in subsequent negotiations. Because Nimitz knew they were coming, he was able to organize his forces in such a way as to surprise the Japanese, instead of the Japanese surprising the Americans.
The documentary also talks about the famous story of Joe Rochefort, the lieutenant commander who was in charge of Station HYPO.
Rochefort was pretty certain that the target of the Japanese attack was Midway, but he got pushback from his intelligence bosses in Washington, who thought it could be elsewhere.
Rochefort sought to prove to them that Midway was the target, and he did so by sending a signal to Midway to report that their saltwater distillers had broken down, implying that they were running out of fresh water. This confirmed to his bosses that Midway was indeed the target.
Nimitz had to make a difficult decision whether to risk his scarce carriers against a superior Japanese force or to let the Japanese have Midway and fight back later when the Americans were stronger.
He decided to take the risk and go against the Japanese carrier group with the advantage of advanced information and his belief in the superiority of American fighting men and pilots.
The Japanese did not know that the Americans were aware of their approach, and they believed that their attack on Midway Island would be the first time the Americans figured out that there was a Japanese carrier force in the vicinity.
However, Nimitz had sent his planes to attack Midway, and the surprise attack caught the Japanese off guard, resulting in a decisive victory for the United States. The Battle of Midway changed the momentum of the war in the Pacific, and it is considered one of the most significant naval battles in history.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Get Access To Our Latest Documentaries Before Everyone Else