World War II: The Battle of Midway | Full Movie (Feature Documentary)
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
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By attacking Midway atoll, at the far western end of the Hawaiian chain, the Japanese hoped to lure the US Pacific Fleet into the open sea and destroy it. Instead, due to superb US intelligence and costly Japanese tactical errors, the attack marked the destruction of the Japanese Fleet and the end of Tokyo’s supremacy in the Pacific Ocean. This super film portrays the momentous battle in a day-by-day account.
#Movies #Documentary #Film #History #WW2
My father, CDR Donald A. Christensen served on the Lexington. He survived the battle of the Coral Sea and several other battles during the war. He retired in 1969 with 30 years service. I've always been very proud that my father was part of the greatest generation.
Dean Christensen: Your father is an American hero. Did he ever say anything about FDR secretly baiting the Japanese at Pearl?
Impressive!
@@BradWatsonMiami also Winston Churchill.
@@paulstewart1182 : Winston Churchill knew about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor before it happened?
@@BradWatsonMiami I was witness to a MI5 investigating officer's statement in 1955. I tell you more later but I am old and tired at present. Research William Forbes-Sempill the British Japanese spy who was allowed to set up a spy ring for the Japanese at Honolulu by Churchill.
As a very proud Australian I'd like to say a huge thanks to our friends from across the Pacific. I'm so glad America is our friend and ally . We have stuck by each other for a hundred years and I hope it remains the same for another 100
Cheers Mate!!
What the hell, make it 200. ;-)
Viva Australia, viva le freedom
@@trotptkabasnbi6655 dipshit
It will. 👍🇺🇸 ❤️ 🇦🇺
Never get tired watching all these actual narratives , footage and clips / films of the war in the Pacific. Thank you ! May these heroes be remembered forever.
46:09 That's the USS Bunker Hill off Okinawa after taking a bomb hit.
46:19 The cruiser Birmingham alongside the carrier Princeton. Huge explosions.
My Filipino grandpa, joined the US Navy after killing japanese in his island he helped American POW. And was recruited to join the Navy, he was then trained to operate the machinery of Enterprise. He was present in the battle of Midway and the Philippine sea. After the war he was one of the pioneering mechanical engineer in the shipping lines here in the Philippines. RIP OLD MAN
what a brave man RIP
The Filipinos fought with courage - RIP to your brave grandfather.
Have you served to make him proud ?.
The Philippines remains our close friends, Greetings from NY.
The Enterprise was an awesome aircraft carrier...wish it had been saved from scrapping.
👍
My late father fought at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. He was wounded twice and was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery.
He told of these stories about a treasure of gold belonging to the Japanese that was buried at the end of Henderson Field.
He had a close friend, Bud Carson, and that both of them were going to return for the gold after the war.
Neither returned but both came home with Malaria. My mother spoke of the fevers my father suffered from this disease and the suffering my father endured. Quinine was the only medication at the time.
My father passed at the age of 98 years. They were married 73 years when he went home.
the heroes of Midway in my eyes are the Devistator pilots and rear gunners who basically went out in outdated slow planes and worthless faulty torpedoes to distract (and sacrifice themselves) the Zero's so the Dauntless planes could bomb the carriers without being swarmed. If they hadnt done this, this battle would have been COMPLETELY different. It was the bravest thing ever.
According to ALL historianS, those were not planned attack, merely chaos in battles,
@@davidwong825 Nonsense. The whole purpose of having both dive bombers and torpedo attack planes was to prevent the target from concentrating its defenses in any one area. This was the basic attack doctrine of both the Americans and Japanese.
@@davidwong825 sst
Well no one can deny their steely determination and courage in the face of insurmountable odds but also the American devistator crews ,I'm sure, thought they stood a chance to do some damage at least. Tragic and heroic.
@@paxwallacejazz It is true that the Devastator attacks and the attacks from Midway scored no hits. But the resulting carrier movements slowed down the rearming of the Japanese aircraft and kept the CAP busy. Remember that the Japanese had no radar. The only way of spotting an incoming attack so it could be intercepted was the CAP.
As an Englishman I have to say that Americas greatest advantage at Midway and so many other battles was the quality of their personnel.
Code breaking was a specialty for both Britain and America in the war. Both were very good at it.
My grandfather was a policeman turned militia in the Philippines and when he was captured, was about to be transferred to the Bataan Death March. Thank you to the brave soldiers who fought for freedom. My grandfather has passed, but his legacy leaves behind a doctor as his offspring and another from his offspring. If it were not for you, we wouldn't be saving lives today. Thank you.
THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AMEN .
⁰
Who cares?
@@matiprofe3634 The people that he saves I would think
These young men that boarded these ships were of a metal that few have today. Way to many young brave men died defending our country from the determined japanese enemy! God Bless them !
Well today's kids don't have the parents that the World War II kids did. Parents that fought in World War I. The draft officially ended the day after my 18th birthday, so I could have been drafted and sent to Vietnam, except that I drew number 286 or something like that in the lottery. my dad was a Marine lieutenant in the Solomon islands and Guadalcanal during World War II. He had just finished law school when the war started, and only had to take his bar exam before he left. But when he got back he went into the ministry instead, eventually being a professor at a Lutheran seminary. I never asked him about the war, because I had this feeling that he didn't really want to talk about it. Obviously it had a profound effect upon his worldview.
I disagree, you think the sailors aboard our carriers today wouldn't act almost exactly the same and fight just as hard if put under the same circumstances?? How utterly disrespectful, the people on board then were crazy brave and deserve all our respect, but so do the ones today and i am willing to bet everything i have that they would stand just as tall as anyone before them.
one of the B-26's from Midway made what appeared to be a suicide dive on the island of Nagumo's flagship...which clearly shook him up as he didn't think Americans possessed that kind of resolve...this truly was a desperate struggle that we had to win...
@@frankpienkosky5688 they also did not think at Tarawa the Marines had the balls to do what they did they fought hand-to-hand in some of those tunnels they definitely underestimated us
.......@@donaldmacnevin1397 Tarawa was a learning experience......
I wish they would show some of these videos in our schools so the kids could appreciate the suffering and the blood that was shed so we could enjoy are blessed country.
our
They did when I was a kid. YoB: 1945
The schools are run mostly by liberal democrats. We had one gal here in Montana as Superintendent of Schools, Denise Juneau. Yeah, the liberal papers reported that she increased the graduation rate in the high schools. This was true. Sounds good, right? What they didn't mention was that she accomplished this by reducing the standards already set. She failed to get re-elected, but Seattle offered her the job. Good luck Washington. Don't ever vote Democrat. They hate America. They even had Bernie Sanders running and he's a Communist. And not one Dem spoke up. Trump and Pence are doing a GREAT job. Trump 2020! Alex
I was 11 when I love WW2 battles
I’m now 13 and still loving these battles
@@emmanuellim155 Watch the "Victory at Sea" series. More info out now in current documentaries but it is still splendid.
The whole Pacific campaign took less time than the opening credits.
Åuu777777⁷7vvvvbvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvgvvvvvv v cvvcvv888888888⁸⁸⁸m
Word is its still playing to this day
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
So it was not just me hehehe
Bwahwahahahaha ty
I like watching the real footage of all the soldiers who served in the various conflicts, so much honour and respect for the allied forces, rest in peace to the ones who passed away and wishing many more happy and joyful days to the surviving veterans, you will never be forgotten 👍
The 1950's documentary Victory at Sea is excellent.
🇺🇸 👍
Excellent thanks
To re ecollect my memory
To help worldwide for Peace.
@@raybin6873 👍
18:50, What an amazing narration of an epic battle. The feats of the American heroism will never be forgotten (RIP Lieutenant John Powers)
In Herman Wouk's books "Winds of War" and War and Remembrance", he details all that happened during WWII...especially in the Pacific.
The Battle of Midway is regarded as the "turning point" for the war in the Pacific.
Unusual for an author, in the middle of "War and Remembrance", he stops and lists the air crews of the USS Yorktown, USS Enterprise, and the USS Hornet.
Squadron "Torpedo Three" from the USS Yorktown (24 pilots & Radiomen-Gunners)...3 survived. USS Enterprise "Torpedo Six" squadron (28 members)....10 survived; USS Hornet "Torpedo Eight" Squadron....(30 members)....1 survived.
The author also lists the home cities, towns, and states of every one of these brave men.
These men KNEW....before they even took off the flight deck that their chances of returning alive were very slim if not non-existent....but they did their job anyway.....securing victory at the Battle of Midway by their sacrifices. 🇺🇸
Guadalcanal may also be added to the Pacific War turning points
Didn't the torpedo crews know their torpedoes were crap and they were on a suicide mission? I have that on pretty reliable sources. However, they distracted the defenses of the ships they attacked enough to allow the dive bombers to do their thing, making their sacrifice less in vain. Sad for those crews, though. What a waste.
@@normanacree1635
Actually…I learned that the crews knew they probably did not have enough fuel to do the assigned jobs and still make it back to the carriers. We actually won the Battle of Midway…and that was an heroic event at the cost of so many airmen’s lives….especially because there was a lot of fear (and perhaps intel) that if the Japanese won Midway…their next target would be Australia.
Old folks are true bad ass, hope this generation get 1/8 of their awesomeness and courage.
They left out the fact that the damage control on the Yorktown was so good that they put out the fires from the first attack and even though it was not capable of flight ops, the Japanese attacked it a second time thinking it was a different carrier, thus drawing attention away from the Big E and the Hornet.
Michael Clark - Japanese damage control was not very good so once fire got started on one of their carriers it tended to spread quickly.
But that's what you were here for.
In fact, the Yorktown was operational at the time of the second attack, led by Lt. Comm. Tomonaga.
Lance Surgeon Japanese didn’t purge fuel lines and due to the fiasco over rearming bombs and torpedoes were not stowed in the magazines. Japanese hanger decks were enclosed unlike American ones where bombs and burning wrecks could be pushed overboard
You know the japanese overstated the effect of fires on two ships, the fires on yorktown was one, and those on the hiryu were another, while the flight deck of the latter was ruined she was in no danger of sinking, but assuming she would sink due to the fires (these eventually were brought under control) she got torpedoed by her own escort with crew still aboard, she was still afloat a day later despite the damage, only sinking after the remaining crew abandoned ship. Just a little bit of trivia.
This is the most comprehensive and thorough historical documentary I've found. Hoping to find any others in the same vein.
Samuel Worstell if you want a way way way way better one look up Montemayor- Midway battle on UA-cam, it is by far the best about the battle
It just blows my mind that the Japanese actually thought that by attacking us in Pearl Harbor they would crush our spirits and we would cower in fear...unwilling to fight back. Although we had much fear, we did not cower.We came together as a people.We took care of business on the home-front and we stuck by our Allies. We kicked ass. God bless America.
The best 50 minute capsule of The Midway battle.
Dedicated and courageous men fighting under brilliant, decisive leadership, Midway surely was America at its finest hour.
@James Reilly Following Midway, there were six fierce Naval Battles of Guadalcanal. Marines called the first one, "The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks." That was the Battle off Samar Island. The Japanese sank two of the three USN carriers that fought at Midway. I've read that each side lost 26 warships, but there are higher reports. The Navy lost 5000 sailors at Guadalcanal. Marines lost 1500. Attrition at Midway and Guadalcanal forced IJN into a steady retreat.
Kenneth Dawson c
@@Zerox_Prime , They (U.S. Navy, had to pull back to protect their ships and the Marines had no backup for a bit.) You see, both sides were very serious about wining this war. We won. May God continue to Bless the USA!
It's easy to Pat yourself on the back but the simple fact was the reason we won the Battle of Midway is because each Commander was acting separately and made major mistakes but the major mistakes worked in our favor because instead of using a unified Force we attack the Japanese in waves that allowed one forced to set up for the next Force One AmericanFlight group missed the battle entirely. The soldiers were raw recruits and highly motivated but they were too gung-ho and not very well organized and all over the place there were a few seasoned pilot that made devastating assaults on the Japanese aircraft carriers. But the majority of the Japanese were better trained and the attrition rate between the American forces and the Japanese forces the Japanese were slaughtering the Americans up until the final wave. At that point the Japanese were just simply overwhelmed they were fighting one group of Americans while two other fighting groups came 50 airplanes. And that was when the battle was really over for the Japanese.
46:33 Important fact omitted here. Yorktown was hit by two different waves. The first thought they had sunk her, but the highly specialized and advanced damage control systems/crew put out the fires and restored Yorktown's power within an hour. She was able to recover and launch another strike! When Hiryu's next, much smaller wave (but a highly elite squadron) came in they mistook Yorktown for an undamaged carrier. This prevented them from attacking either of the other two carriers, thus preserving a major striking force of the US Pacific fleet.
GOS BLWS AMERICA N AUSTRALIA;!!!
My Navy Chief father took me to an air show when I was in 7th grade. I had a broken ankle and was wearing a cast. Pappy Boyington and Mr. Gay both signed my cast that day. I went on to serve 20 years myself and retired as a Chief,
like my father, in 2004.
War is hell and there are no heroes. Just men put in harm’s way for greed. Sad but true.
God bless all the American service men of all the branches of the U.S military for their sacrifices and courage, we of the Pacific nations owe them all a debt that we can never repay and I guess the same thing applies to the people of Europe during the Second world war.
Age shall not wary them nor time condemn them
They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old
In the going down of the sun and in the morning we shall remember them.
Thank you from a grateful soul.
Where did these Americans go? Honestly, I watched The Pacific and my mind was blown away. Teenagers doing world changing things, and yet right now, experienced politicians can't even stick to a single principle.
I hate British docs. They always stick clips of battels that had nothing to do with what was going on. Insulting intelligent.
Thankyou from grateful soul!!_
Thousands amd thousands roses for bravest pilots and soldiers ,!!!
😲🌺🙏😲🌺💓😲🌺🙏
@@raidersr71 Shame you can't spell check. "Battles', 'Intelligence'. Christ on a Pogo stick!
Do Not Ignore the Savagery that the 7th Infantry Division suffered in the Aleutian Campaign. I used to volunteer at Orlando VAMC Nursing Home with Willy Finnegan. He'd fought that Campaign.
The Doolittle Tokyo Raid was actually strategically brilliant, though at the time, it’s goal was more of a morale boosting mission. But what it did, in effect, was force Japan to keep more of its valuable resources for home defense instead of in offensive operations, as the Japanese realized after the Tokyo raid that they were not invulnerable to home attack.
Importantly, the Doolittle Raid also persuaded the IJN to launch the Midway offensive which turned out to be THE turning point of the war for all
Involved.
Same with Germany, when Hitler claimed no enemy airplane would ever enter the homelands skies. Germany ended up being the most bombed country of all....thank god Hitler was arrogant enough to believe he could command his forces. If it wasn't for his blunders, ignoring the advice of his generals, they should've conquered Russia. So many events that could've changed the outcome. The aircraft carriers being out of port in Hawaii, the recovery of the English troops from Dunkirk, Hitlers decision to send his troops into the Caucuses instead of pushing onto the Russian capital.
@@livingadreamlife1428 Yamamoto's plan for attacking Midway was already OK'd BEFORE the Doolittle raid. The only result was now the Japanese Army approved of the attack.
I would argue that the Enterprise would have been better used in the South Pacific at the Battle of Coral Sea. Also, the Hornet needed more training time for the ship and her air group. It might have been a moral boost at home, but a more complete victory at Coral Sea with one or both Japanese carriers being possibly sunk instead of just one damaged and the air group of the other devastated would have been as big a boost.
EXACTLY 💯😊
AMERICAN'S took it down town
"McCluskey had a hunch and the gamble paid off!"
Are you from Ohio,I have a cousin she married a McCluskey?
@@ClarksonsinUSA New York. Originally from Brooklyn, now in the Hudson Valley.
A lot of battles have been won and lost due to good or bad luck.
These guys were BAD ASS. God bless them all
The Kaga and Akagi have been found in the last two weeks by Paul Allen's shipwreck hunting crew
@@fredafox5602 About 20,000 feet below the waves. Never ceases to amaze me just how immense the Pacific really is.
yorktown repairs were not completed in port. Many contractors and workers stayed on board and worked on the repairs as it steamed back towards Midway
Of course he just meant its a bandaid fix that let it leave port .. not a permanent final repair ..
I've a history test Monday and it has nothing to do with the Battle of Midway. But time well spent.
Sooo... What's your point? We've all had history tests.
Yeah, what do you want us to do about it ?
Thats political correctness. Racist against j
Commander hero Chester Nimitz..... with great love and respect from Vietnam .
None of this could have been done without the help of GOD Almighty. HE is the one helped in all aspects, either learning where Japan might attack to zeroing in on the right place and time. No one really gives GOD any credit but I do.
If you have not read it, and are serious about this battle, reading 'Shattered Sword' is worth every minute it takes. Most, if not all of the common misconceptions are explained and corrected.
1. The Dolittle Raid did not target just Tokyo, several other cities including Osaka were hit by a single bomber. 2. Yamamoto's original plan did not call for a diversionary attack in the Aleutian, that was added against his wishes splitting his force at Midway and making the plan ridiculously complex. 3. Yamamoto had spent time in America before the war and never believed Japan could beat America or force it to sue for peace, he said he could run wild for 6 months.
Not only Yamamoto, but the entire Japanese leadership were perfectly well aware of America's economic might. They knew it would be impossible to outright defeat the US. What they hoped for, was to prolong the war as much as possible and then try to extract some kind of ceasefire. Even for this limited objective, the Japanese knew they had very slim chances of achieving. What they also knew, was that if they complied with American demands of the summer of 1941, they would lose 100%
AWESOME accounting of this battle!
Midway tidbit: Dusty Kleise and Dick Best each scored twice. 2 different ships their first flight, and the each hit the last one. God bless them.
Dusty Kleiss is an unsung hero of the Battle of Midway.
I was fortunate enough to meet him and hear him speak while I was stationed in Pensacola NAS.
@@timg2088 😳 You actually got to meet him?!
I'm super jealous of that!!
He was such an superb pilot who never "talked big" about his experiences being a Dauntless Pilot upon the USS Enterprise...🇺🇸🇺🇸
I could listen to him talk for hours...him and Donald "Flash" Gordon...🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@@OrbitFallenAngel Yes, but I didn't realize just how incredible his feats were during the Battle of Midway.
@@timg2088 He did an amazing job dropping a bomb on not just one Japanese Flat Top, but TWO!
In my opinion that makes him a true *American Hero* !! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I know that in their minds the ones who never came home are actually the *Real American Heroes* of the day...but I still believe that Dusty Kleiss is indeed one too!!
The greatest generation God bless them all
well... I think they all are already much closer to God than we, the kids, could have ever suspected... :-) I mean... Is anyone of that warriors still alive today? ... BTW, living in UK, I once (ok - three or four times) met a guy - a grand-grandpa... in his clean uniform, with medals badges... just in Lidl, shopping, waiting in a que... next to me... and just before us was quite an attractive, young lady... I made some room for her, looking at her bottom in such a way, that he could see my eyes, and then I made some special room for him, very gallantly... he moved one step closer in a que - AND I WILL NEVER FORGET HIS SMILE AND A WINK HE GAVE ME, indicating that young woman before us both... I was speechless, emotional in an instant, understanding that he must have been one of those brave young men I could only read about in memories and novels...
God bless him.
Bravo, indeed. Bravo!
Mariusz Fidzinski
And May God bless you, Mariunz. ❤️
Mariusz Fidzinski
And May God Bless YOU, Mariunz. ❤️
Not so great at all. They voted in FDR who manipulated the US into the war to begin with. Then the dumb fucks voted FDR in twice more.
The American had crack the code of communication of the Japanese and this made all the differences.
It was an amazing feat that Yorktown made it to midway after coral sea. The Yorktown was a huge part of the defeat the Japanese at midway
Fair play, the 'free' world owes so much to the bravery and sacrifices of the American and allied forces in this epic struggle.
you mean the chinese nation
This documentary is obvously very old, as it has lots of innacuracies.
But its still worth a watch.
The narrator is good.
Some of the footage I had never seen before, even though it was not relative to the narration
I love the battle of Midway story. There is always that point where the sleeping giant shows up and just stomps on these assholes.
They sneak attack and act like they’re the victims... women?!
Thank you for this precious, historic story!
The first audiobook I ever listened to was The Battle of Midway by Craig Symonds. I highly recommend it. I have since purchased or been gifted all his books. The war in the Pacific was horrible and deadly from June 7th 1942 through VJ Day but the worry of Hawaiian islands and Mainland invasion by Japanese Force's was gone. It was a crippling defeat for Japan.
Respect to soldiers on both sides. They fought fiercely and bravely. There was no room for coward and non-obedience.
This is one of the best videos yet. Well done!
Outnumbered pilots flying obsolete aircraft who took off from Midway had brass balls.
They were sacrificed to give the Japanese the illusion that the Americans didn't know their plans and saved their main force for the real attack!
I think they were sacrificed so that the Japanese wouldn't know that their codes had been broken!
Russ G, the B-17s were not antiquated at all, they were state of the art and took off from Midway. See 28:30. True, the remaining planes were obsolete, but were also the only other planes that the US had at Midway. The torpedo planes were terrible, and the torpedoes were unreliable, but there was nothing else in the inventory in May/June 1942. So, they were launched because they were all we had. It's an interesting mess. That said, the US was the only military that issued semi-sutomatic rifles to every infantryman in WWII, and the first to issue semi-autos at all. The Army ordinance people continued with extensive development and testing during peacetime, and when war came, they were more prepared than every other country and years ahead of them. Patton said something like the M1 Garand was the best battle weapon ever invented. I guess the fighter and and attack airplane people were a little behind, but they sure caught up by 1943.
yes, they did their job to distract the IJN long enough, rest in peace.
Russ G the B-17s were fairly new - and this video doesn’t mention the TBM Avenger, the only 6 fwd deployed in the pacific left midway that day as well - only one made it back (three-man crews as well.) 😐
One more thing, often forgotten! Admiral Chester Nimitz..Who, as a naval tactician, and winner of battles against the odds, stands with Nelson and Agrippa as the best naval officers of all time!
Not least because he was also an honest guy with moral courage: he testified as a defence witness for Admiral Karl Doenitz at his trial in Nuremburg.
Laurence, I agree 150%. The Generals in Europe like Ike and Patton were great but I often wonder how Nimitz could keep the position and direction of ships spread over THOUSANDS of miles of the Pacific to my view NIMITZ was the greatest US officer since Washington...land Generals could just get on a high hill and get a mental pic of what was happening...(and I know that is oversimplified some)
@@elrjames7799 You Nazi kissers make me laugh.
@@s.sestric9929 How is praising Admiral Chester Nimitz being a "Nazi kisser"?
I had the pleasure at age 11 of eating dinner with Ensign George Gay, a hero pilot during the Battle of Midway. He spent days in the water after his plane was hit and was wounded. He hid out from the Japanese and was eventually rescued. The movie had come out a fewvyears before. I also got to spend time with Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington of Black Sheep Squadron. He and I played machine guns, lol. He was a tough drinking guy but had a good heart.
He was only in the water for if I believe only 30 hours...rescued by a float plane and taken to the USS Enterprise....
I've seen many documentaries on this battle but none that had this many actual videos - very nicely done.
Some information they missed in this documentary is the sheer impact of the defeat at Midway. Sinking the bulk of the Kido Butai, Japan's premier fleet carriers wasn't really the most important part. When Akagi, Kaga, Soryuu and Hiryuu went down, when their air groups were cut to ribbons, they took with them, the entire cream of the crop of the Japanese naval aviation community, the best carrier officers, the best pilots, the best mechanics, and crews, the most promising trainees for all of those roles. Even if Japan could recover materially from the defeat at Midway (they couldn't) they'd never replace those loses, and it shows over the course of the war. Especially once the revenge for Pearl Harbor is completed and the last of the Kido Butai (Shoukaku and Zuikaku) are sunk later in the war.
@TwoHeavens This is not correct. Many of the pilots were and crews were saved. More pilots were lost were in the Solomons campaign.
The fundamental fact about the Pacific Theater of World War 2 was that the US was an economic and resource giant whereas Japan was a midget by comparison. For the Japanese to have had any chances of prolonging the war to a genuinely painful level for the US, they needed operational victories before the US economy switched to full war production mode. For this they needed luck to have been on their side, but as we see from the Battle of Midway, it was actually the US who got that.
I like how this documentary shows US Navy Hellcats in action. The only problem being that the aforementioned aircraft wasn’t introduced until 1943.
Yeah. We had Wildcats but no Hellcats. These documentaries also mix up enemy a/c with US a/c. Some also show F4U's in early battles and they weren't in service before late '43 opr '44.
I was going to mention that, but I figured that it really wouldn't do much...but I agree with you...
Gotta love the British Docs...🤔
Maybe they need to stick to the European Theater...instead of trying to negotiate the Pacific Theater...
I love this narrator! He doesn't shout, bark and talk nervously fast as many of the Americans do!
*Ominous Music keeps cropping up along with Suspenseful, Eerie and Loud Buzzing is my PC Safe or do I need to search & destroy a Virus ?*
One thing you all need to realize about the Yorktown repairs made at Pearl before the Battle of Midway. When she got back after the Coral Sea she was heavily damaged with structural frames damaged below decks and massive damage to her boilers and other engineering works. She left Pearl 4 boilers short and with 1 fuel tank still flooded with seawater and unusable. The repairs they gave her in 72 hours not 48 hours where enough to get her back to 100% combat ready not to 100% shipshape. Nimitz and Fletcher both knew that they needed the Yorktown out there to help with the battle. They knew how much that 3rd carrier would mean in firepower. The Yorktown could only do 28 instead of 33 knots was missing about half of her arresting gear and was down on refueling capacity. However her flight deck for an Alpha strike was intact. The Commanders knew we more than likely would lose her in the battle however if she had survived and she was under tow back to Pearl when the I-16 sunk her she would have gotten the refit and full repairs needed and been in service during the Canal campaign.
and many of the civilian workers stayed on board working until the battle started
harold Benton as
harold Benton p
My dad was a crew chief on her,said it was quite a show when started going down and got to depth that the depth charges were set!
I don’t think Yorktown was doing 28 knots. More like 25 tops. After the first Hiryu hit in Yorktown she slowed down to 19 knots. Too slow to avoid the torpedo bombers from the 2nd attack.
Remarkable presentation made possible by remarkable men with the right stuff! Thanks for posting.
My Dad, JB Acker, from Cooper Tx., born in 1921, joined the Navy, served on “The Fanshaw Bay” , #70, auxiliary Aircraft Carrier, in The Battle of “The Philippines Sea” , Dad stayed through Korea and into Vietnam until
1966, I joined The Army, but my son joined The Navy and got assigned to “The Carl Vinson “ #70, and is making it a career like his Grandfather, my Grandson is a Marine, something Dad warned me about when I joined up,😂, we have 4 generations now of fighting for our great nation, hope to keep it going!
I've been to Oahu and midway island and it was impressive to know so many had died there during the invasion. Many may not know but there are 3 Japanese soldiers who are buried on Midway still and a memorial is there
I baked a cake while the introduction played.
I ran a three minute mile during the introduction.
Really? Hope you didn't use too much yeast...
Incredible footage, thank you for posting it.
At the time of the midway battle there were more tonnage of us capital warships being built in various shipyards than existed in the entire Japanese imperial combined fleets
road trip it still took pretty much until the end of 1944 to see all that materialize into major capital ships.
Only 1 Essex Carrier was completed by Dec 31, 1942. Only 4 more completed in 1943.
I find it ironic that the Japanese fumed over the "unfairness" of the 20:20:10 ratio decided at the 1921 Washington Naval Conference. They obviously didn't know what the US could build without any restraints.
@@indy_go_blue6048 Yamamoto did. He had been to america and had seen the industrial capability.
That's why he made his sleeping giant quote.
That is what tipped the balance, Americas industrial power.
No they didn't at the time of Midway the US had 3 Iowa class Battleships and 5 Essex class Carriers on the slipways.
Very little actual footage exists from the Battle of Midway.
Most of what they show is spliced together from other battles, and even some from movies.
Overall, it's a very good encapsulation of the battle.
I think even a few of the footage were of Essex-Class carriers, none of which had participated in Midway!
Real war, real battles, real bravery, real risk, and real heroes!
"a deal of luck", it's the ability to take advantage of luck that tells the tale...
Skill makes its own luck.
@@CharlieSeattle1 Japanese float plane that spotted the American fleet 30 min too late was luck...had it reported earlier things might have been vastly different....
Sometimes it's better to be lucky more than anything else. "For want of a nail a kingdom fell" now that is an interesting look at how the big picture rests on little details that shape the outcome of stuff in ways that are hard to fathom.
yes, luck favors the prepared
Chance favors the prepared, as they say.
Thanks for keeping history alive!
All explained from start to the end. Thanks for sharing.
I'm a WW2 enthusiast. Thank you for posting these great videos. My hats off to you for having a great selection to choose from. Paul from Orange, Ma. USA
Hats off to US airmen from UK
Not a bad documentary, straight to the point with accurate and little known facts. True that the stock footage is not all from the actual battle, but it is a negligible error since most actual footage was either lost during the battle or in the years since. Still, in my opinion, it was the most important battle and true turning point in WWII.
I agree
I'd have to say the Guadalcanal campaign was the turning point of the _Pacific_ war. Midway did set the stage, though. The turning point of the World-wide war was Pearl Harbor, as it brought the US into the war. That eventuality was _the_ turning point.
@@its1110 And Hitler declaring war on the US. Big mistake.
@@baruchben-david4196 Fun Fact: America was the *ONLY* country that Germany ever declared war upon!
Congrats to Wade Mcclusky. 5 minutes of pure luck that changed the course of the war.
I remember! Back in the day!!! The only TV was PlatLens or Victory At Sea.
I liked this documentary. I understand the criticisms below, but I think the video has much to offer. I didn't know that a US pilot had gone almost kamikaze in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The strikingly effective turning radius of carriers and the effect of close bomb hits was news to me. While I have read much about Midway, I forget that the Americans were badly outnumbered, which this video emphasized. I enjoyed hearing a non-US view, which was nevertheless very complimentary and respectful.
On the morning of Battle of Midway - At 0710 lookouts onboard the Akagi - spotted enemy planes these were ( US ) 6 TBF Avenger torpedo planes & 4 twin engined B-26 medium bombers from Midway. On the flagship carrier Akagi Admiral Nagumo witnessed first hand a B-26 strike & near miss with the B-26 nearly crashing into the Akagi bridge were Nagumo & staff were positioned by a mere 10ft. before cartwheeling into the sea. page 152 'Shattered Sword' the untold story of the Battle of Midway, Parshall & Tully
"Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of The Battle of Midway" by Jonathan Parschall and Anthony Tully gives an excellent overview of the battle from the Japanese view. And it also points out that Fuchida Mitsuoko's account in his book "Midway:The Battle That Doomed Japan" is a bit inaccurate in that the Japanese carriers were NOT ready launch an attack. Akagi had landed a trio of CAP planes just 15 minutes before the American dive bomber's attack her, Kaga and Soryu.
thanks, fluffy1931. I might have to get that book.
It's an excellent book and a required read for anyone interested in this battle.
the US was not badly outnumbered, add up all the planes on 3 US carriers and those on the 'unsinkable carrier', Midway!
Superb review of historical events. Americans, Aussies, British and Filipinos spilled blood, side-by-side. If ever there were true blood-brothers, it is us. Those boys did not die in vain. As long as they held "the Spirit of Christ" in their virtuous hearts, they will live again, "and none shall make them afraid."
The crew that repaired Yorktown would have been half dead after she left port. WOW.
Enjoyed the video but the 3 minute intro is way too long.
thats how tv shows were back in the day
boobookisser126
boobookisser126 i
The War starts at 3:06
As I already said to Mr Mike White, I agree with the observation. Nevertheless, those pictures and the way they are combined in succession possess great dramatic qualities, and the 'pathos' they transmitted, I think, is worth our tolerance. It is like a form of express our respect to everyone who was fighting and suffering in the most, by now, horrendous chapter of the history of mankind.
You failed to acknowledge that they attacked the Yorktown for the 2nd time a few hours after they attacked it the first time. Japanese thought it was a completely different carrier believing they sunk it after the first attack. This is a testament to the Yorktown's crew and the safety protocol of the US navy while highlighting the shortcomings of the Japanese navy.
41:48 50 dive bombers attack. Only 6 bombs struck the carriers. I was on the USS Midway retired in San Diego recently. Ship named after the island and this battle. Really is something to walk around the decks of one of those ships
Been aboard the Midway and operated with her many times in the Tonkin Gulf.
39:43 Among McClusky's group was Norman Jack "Dusty" Kleiss, the only dive bomber pilot to get 3 direct hits during the Battle of Midway. He hit the carrier Kaga in the morning on June 4th, the carrier Hiryu right near the Rising Sun of the Japanese flag on its deck that afternoon & the cruiser Mikuma on the 6th. Such a beast of a pilot. Great vid 👍
One of the very best documentaries on American response to Japanese aggression In early 1942 in that it is one of the very few that does not give short shrift to what happened in the Pacific before Midway, namely Doolittle's Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the intelligence gathered from code breaking.
One of the subjects that has accrued to me, and apparently some others, is the qualitative and quantitative differences in naval damage control.
The best explanation I've read is from Gheorge Rider published in 'Quara'. To paraphrase his conclusion, war ship design philosophy and cultural attitude
Mr. Rider's comments are well worth finding.
I know I’m going to get blasted from all directions, but I strongly feel that any video that reports history owes it to our predecessors who were actually there to ‘get it right’ on all accounts. So while the F-4U Corsair was - and is - a beautiful aircraft, putting them on the cover screen severely degrades all that follows, particularly as something listed as a ‘feature documentary’.
The story of the Battle of Midway needs no embellishments - let’s let history tell the story.
Thanks, and I look forward to your next installment.
Wrong Plaines for this time In the war. F6F was being flight tested. SB2C wasn't in used till 1944.
...yeahhh...Liar...Liar...Liar...pants...on...fire...--(judge-JUDY-)-...will ...GET...you...for...This...Balliff...throw...Him...Out...
Nothing much matches the video and the narration. So much for editing and understanding history.
The opening alone is a documentary in itself😂
Could you make it longer next time, i'm sure us viewers wouldn't mind
Many ww11 soldiers walking to their deaths, fully knowing that there was a good chance they wouldn't make it!~ The ultimate in Courage and dedication to sacrifices higher than just themselves? Those Boys knew the dangers to the world dictators provide, and just went forward despite the strong fears they had! unbelievable!!!
Great points Twaflyer: For example, those guys in Torpedo Squadron 8 must have known without any fighter support they were DOOMED...they sucked it up and went in anyway. My Dad was at several sea battles -- Leyte Gulf, the Kamakazis off Okinama...I asked what he was thinking. His reply was spot on, "Son, I just kept thinking that I sure hoped my 20mm AAA gun would NOT JAM!!"....(I was 2 months old when he went to the Pacific).
Thanks !
Nagumo started out with six carriers. Yamamoto had to take two of them away from Nagumo to replace the carriers that were lost at the battle of the Coral Sea. That battle and the loss of two Japanese carriers set the stage for our victory at Midway. If Nagumo had all six carriers, the outcome would have been much different.
Maybe. Maybe not.
No Coral Sea battle means Lexington is not sunk either. And Yorktown not damaged at all. No loss of aircrew. Saratoga's could have been sent to Midway instead o fusing green USMC pilots.
Remember that.
Absolutely no doubt...especially considering that the Hornet was so ineffective they might as well of stayed home.
Don’t the Japanese under subterfuge?! Why didn’t they send coded messages (that they knew would likely be intercepted) and instead deliver all midway battle plans in person?!
The two Japanese carriers lost at Coral Sea were part of Nagumo's six carrier attack fleet.
We knew how many carriers would be there thanks to Station Hypo. Nimitz wouldn’t have entered that battle if they had 6 carriers. It would have exceeded “calculated risk”.
Music was very well chosen. Takes us back to ww2 times. Bizarrely comforting
Not many give much credit to the staff on the flat tops to me they are top hero's and have my full respect!
This s the second British documentary covering the Battle of Midway. Oddly, both credit Fletcher as the US commander who won the battle; US sources always credit Raymond A. Spruance. Fletcher was the senior officer but isolated on the Yorktown, Spruance made the critical decision to launch Enterprise and Hornet's strike from maximum range.
frank
it is NO discredit on fletcher but spruance was effectively in command and left PH first with hornet and enterprise ...I didn't think your point could even be challenged!
Intelligence was the decisive factor in the US winning this battle.
Luck played a huge part in this battle but intelligence put the carriers in position to win.
Read about it 33 years ago.Seeing it is beyond words.
No luck on the American side. It was pure determination, experience and bravery. I'm a Pakistani, but I will absolutely say that in a war victory, there is very little luck. American decentralised their tactical command literally down to the squadron level, which was crucial.
Robot men win battles , free men win wars ...
Good, but see Midway From the Japanese Perspective, one of the finest videos around
Much of this footage was not from the Battle of Midway. For example, lots of footage of F6F Hellcats which were not yet operational at the time.
This is the 1940s, not the 2000s.
There's not 800 cameras all over the place taking footage of literally everything going on like they do now.
They just want to show planes doing what they're talking about about.
If no footage of it exists, and you don't have cgi, what do you do?
The only footage of the battle was by Ford on Midway itself during the battle. It's choppy, but you can see how hard we were hit.
Coincidentally, most of the Japanese footage from their attack on Pearl was lost at Midway. They never had time to , or felt they had the need to, unload the footage while docked in Japan.
@@codeblue4121 actually the IJN had a camera man on one of the carriers....footage was sunk
British Documentaries ..... They never have their facts straight. They play themselves up and everyone else down. This is the first and last time I will watch anymore of this series.
Russ Roepke what did they get wrong?
Very nice video clips of the battle in this video. Many of which I've never seen before. Thank you for sharing this.
... except most aren't. See informed comments on lotsa clips irrelevant to dialogue and using planes not yet in the inventory. Latter errors the result of female producers with no adolescent interest in the subject?
In regard to the Doolittle Raid. While the raid itself did minor damage to the Japanese, it did really piss them off. In a manner of speaking I see as the American's sending the Japanese an telegram..."You think you're pissed off now, you ain't seen nothing yet".
It was also a huge moral booster for the allies around the world. America found a way to bomb Tokyo. In England, Russia, Australia and the rest of our allies it was a high five moment that everyone needed because the Axis powers had been beating the hell out of everyone.
A THREE minute intro is enough to walk away from this video!
Great documentary! Luck was definitely on our side, but being able to decipher encoded Japanese messages was probably what won the battle.
I rather Japan wins the war tbh. Look at the United States today, its a big mess, whereas Japan today is a civilized, well mannered country.
@@huiyinghong3073 you must not be a US citizen, huh? Do you even live in the US, and how is it a big mess? I agree, the libs have messed things up horribly, but it is easily corrected in 2024!
What a thoroughly engrossing documentary. Very enjoyable.
Great movie I saw it yesterday 6/3/2018 Let's give a LOT of thanks to those Intercept Operators, especially the one who was able to recall the meaning of "AF" that he heard many months before. That ONE man possibly changed the outcome of the war with Japan since they failed to take over the whole PACIFIC .......( former Radio Operator USAF here )
Huh? That was Dan Aykroyd in the 2001 movie "Pearl Harbor" who remembered AF while wearing his bathrobe. I know what you meant. 2 Thumbs Up.
bad dog
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Rochefort
PianoMan Smith check
It could be argued that the allies were losing the war in the Pacific before Midway; and the Battle of Midway turned the tables. But the reality is that the Japanese never stood a chance against the potential industrial might of the United States. No one not even the Americans completely understood this.
Three technological advantages that shaped the battle of midway were, PBY reconison planes, reading parts of the Japanese code, & tougher aircraft that could take hits & not flame because of self dealing fuel tanks!
More carriers got the drop on the Japanese who thought our carriers were still in Pearl Harbor!
paxwallacejazz you’re taking about a situation which was deep into 1944.
There is no doubt about the potential industrial might of the US but what you don’t consider is that the Us was fighting 2 wars in both the Atlantic and Pacific.
In addition, the IJN had a massive head start over the US in the Pacific.
Had the IJN won at Midway then the scenarios get very cloudy and complicated because we are talking mid-1942.
The thing is the IJN easily should have won at Midway. Just look at the sheer size advantage.
The US brought Task Force 16 and 17. A wounded Yorktown plus Hornet and Enterprise. 3 carriers, 8 cruisers, and 15 destroyers. That’s it.
The only other vessels the Us had at the time in the Pacific were 15 other destroyers patrolling Pearl and west coast and carrier Saratoga being repaired and making its way back to Pearl.
Now what the IJN had was as follows:
11 battleships including Yamato. Don’t think they were obsolete either. Most US historians want to make you believe they were useless. This is completely false. Had the IJN used these 11 battleships properly at Midway they would have won. 4 Kongo class battleships could do 30 knots. That’s fast enough. Way faster than what the injured Yorktown could do.
Battleships could have been used to shell Midway.
Carriers - instead of 4 the IJN could have used 9. Zuikaku was not damaged and available and would have added 75 more planes. The other 4 carriers are 2 mid size and 2 smaller ones. But these 4 carriers themselves would have added 130 planes.
The IJN also didn’t load the 4 main carriers to their capacity. Nobody discusses this. Akagi only had 55 total planes when her capacity was 90. 65 on deck and 25 spares. The reason for this were obvious. The IJN’s thinking was flawed and they carried too many bombers and bombs. If vessel vs vessel combat was part of the “initial” battle plan and battleships were going to shell Midway then there was no need for bomb switch outs and the extra needs for bombers.
Also “positioning” was important. The IJN should have had their carrier force in the back not front. Planes could have easily flown over the leading battleships and cruisers and destroyers. So the IJN would have had over 500 planes compared to the US 360 where many planes were obsolete for the Us at that time. Us torpedo bombers were quite bad. The US Midway planes were old and obsolete.
Cruisers - 21
Destroyers - 63
This is the huge head start the IJN had over the US.
In July 1942, the IJN completed Carrier Hiyo. 53 more planes. Shokaku was repaired and back in action. Musashi was completed in Aug 1942. 3 escort carriers were completed also.
The first US Essex class Carrier was not completed until Dec 31 1942. Only 3 more Essex carriers were completed in 1943.
The Us was pumping out a lot of destroyers in 1942 but half were going to the Atlantic anyhow.
It’s hard to know what would have happened because the Us was constantly throwing what little they had at the IJN each time. So nobody can say oh it’s late 1943 now and it’s 4 US Essex carriers vs the IJN’s 6 main carriers plus 3 mid carriers and 3 light carriers.
The US had a habit of sending anything out one at a time. 2 were finished in April 1943. The other Nov 1943. That’s a big gap.
The IJN wasn’t going to wait around until the US produced more vessels.
@@f430ferrari5 Wow Sir, just read your response you're impressively informed both historically and strategically I suspect. You remind me of how I respond regarding ideas surrounding music theory. Regardless I intuitively stand by my basic assertion that even a year and 9mos away America's industrial might did indeed shock the world. America's deeply insulated seat of said industry would have been a very very tough nut to crack in the 40s.
@@f430ferrari5 So if it's Japan's bad Karma. My mom was a preteen during the occupation of Indonesia and I was acquainted 2nd hand with their brutality, Or just sheer dumb luck.. So very Many crucial pivotal situations worked out to benefit the Allies in both theatres.
@@leehansen4750 Yes Yes the Code breaking was beyond pivotal for both the Battle of the Atlantic as well as Midway and later encounters. I suspect the needlessly Baroque battle Stratigies of the IJN didn't help.
Myth correction: Alaska wasn't a diversion. It was a FULL operation. It was just so dumb that people have assumed it must have been a diversion, but all considerations and records indicate full operation.
Myth correction: Japanese recon plane taking off late had no effect, as the Americans would have been spotted not at all or the same time, due to recon pattern difference.
This documentary is so old it has almost half of the information is wrong. But the footage is outstanding at least.