Midway – the battle behind the Hollywood spectacle by Roland Emmerich

July 3, 2019

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At 7. December 1941, the Imperial Navy of Japan, the American fleet in Pearl Harbour on Hawaii. The blow from the air should hit the United States devastating – then the Japanese would have dominated the Pacific.

About six months after Pearl Harbour, there was a gigantic naval battle. Midway – the battle is one of the largest naval battles in history, and has now been made into a film by Roland Emmerich. In the German cinemas will start on 7. In November 2019.

But what happened in the battle of the Midway Islands actually, and why is it so important? The marine historian John Keegan called the battle of Midway, after all, “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare”.

the end of the battleship Era

The battle of Midway was the turning point of the Pacific war, after which it declined for Japan only. But, above all, an Era of battleships ended here. Since the times of the Spanish Armada Canon had decided to close picked large ships and battles to the lake. 20. Century had crowned this development. They built huge battle cruisers and battle ships, the floating resembled bunkers. The most powerful of them – the German “Bismarck”, the Japanese “Yamato”, or the Iowa class of the United States – were used in the Second world war. However, the battle of Midway showed that the era of battleships came to an end. Midway was decided by the carriers and the pilots of their aircraft.

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the aim of the Japanese was to sink the American carriers had escaped Pearl Harbour. Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku wanted to move with a bogus attack, the fleet of the USA to the leak, and the carriers launch a surprise attack. He could not know that the United States had cracked the Code of the Japanese Navy. Isorokus against players, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz knew of the Japanese plans. The Japanese wanted to surprise the US and ran himself into a trap.

glitch in the first attack,

The morning of the 4. In June of 1942, decided the battle. American torpedo bombers reached the Japanese ships first. To have any chance of a hit, they had to approach in a straight Line, and minimum height of the Japanese ships. However, these were protected by the swift, agile Zero fighter planes pounced on the lumbering bombers. 47 of 51 U.S. aircraft were shot down.

USS Lexington : This US-carrier sank in the Second world war, and was now in 3000 meters depth Fullscreen

found A heavy anti-aircraft gun from the Lexington.

©Paul G. Allen/AFP

Mitsuo Fuchida witnessed the battle in the sky from the Deck of the aircraft carrier Akagi: “The first enemy aircraft, the attack were 15 torpedo bombers. As the ships of our spyware and the patrol were discovered, they were not of the makers are still visible, but they soon appeared as tiny dark specks in the blue sky.” Occasionally one of the spots in a flame burst, then a review of the Japanese fighter came: “All 15 enemy torpedo bombers were shot down. Almost 50 Zero were ascended to the unprotected enemy Formation to intercept! No wonder you couldn’t get through”.

The radio operator, Harry H. Ferrier follow on a Grumman Avenger, he was one of the few Survivors of the attack and recalled: “During the second attack of the Zeros, our turret gunner, Manning was hit and his turret put out of action. The sight of his broken and lifeless body, terrified me. I had never seen before the death, and here, in this Moment, my friends and I personally were there.”

the Japanese were surprised, believe

, The Japanese Admiral Nagumo had, he had won the battle, after he had shot the torpedo bomber. But in the end, the battle has not been decided, plans and intelligence services, but by chance. Bad luck and good luck decided the outcome of the battle.

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The torpedo bombers had to attack without an escort – that was bad luck and not planned. Nimitz wanted to attack a concentrated blow: torpedo bombers, fighters and dive-bombers at once – but in fact, the lost squadron contact. So it came to the suicidal attack of the first Bomber. However, the dive-bombers had huge luck: they did not know where the main Japanese makes was. But they encountered a Japanese destroyer, the tried with full force, to return to his fleet to return. His course led the bombers to the target. Exactly at the right time.

the 37 dive-bombers from the “USS Enterprise” of the type Douglas Dauntless on the Japanese appeared, had shot down the Zeros just before the last Bomber in the first wave. The second attack took place, as the hunters surrounded by bombs, torpedoes and petrol hoses on the Deck of the aircraft carrier were to be refueled and rearmed. The bombs the Americans put everything in a fire. Fuchida watched the attack of the dive bombers. When the Japanese discovered them, it was already too late. From a great height, they pounced on the carrier. “The terrible sound of the dive-bombers reached me first, followed by the Explosion of a direct hit. There was a blinding flash and then a second Explosion. As I looked around, I was horrified by the destruction that had happened within seconds. There’s a huge hole in the flight deck was an Elevator directly behind the Mid. The Elevator itself, twisted like molten glass, hung in the Hangar. Deck plates wrapped in grotesque configurations to the top. …. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I saw how the fire spread.”

the turning point of the Pacific war

Within a few minutes, sank two Japanese carriers, within a further period of six hours, two more carriers were lost. The “Hiryu” escaped first. Her aircraft managed to damage the U.S. carrier Yorktown, heavy, but the Yorktown wasn’t sunk first. Later, she was sunk by a U-boat. With the attack, the “Hiryu betrayed” their Position, it was also destroyed from the air. The Americans sunk the witnesses, the four carrier “Kaga”, “Soryu” and “Hiryu” with 322 flight and about five thousand seamen. Particularly difficult weighed the loss of established service teams on the lower straps. The Japanese lost the heavy cruiser “Mikuma”. The American losses amounted to 147 aircraft and more than three hundred sailors.

sources:

Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway

Ferrier, Torpedo 8: The other Chapter, Naval History Magazine June 2008

Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya