Where does the writing that is being read during your videos come from? Is written by a team, an individual, is it cited from textbooks or somewhere else?
@@goalwingconsultants142 I opened a second window to Google Maps and searched the Solomon Islands. Then just listen to the narration while looking at the map. They weren't kidding about the "Slot" it's a straight shot from Rabaul to Guadalcanal.
My great-uncle fought in Guadalcanal. My mom actually met him when she was a little girl and said he was a real handsome guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked very much like my son she said. His parents had kept his room exactly the way he had left it when he entered the United States Marine Corps.A baseball glove with ball and bat sat next to a dresser. It was covered with trophies and awards. Model planes hung around the room on strings pinned to the ceiling. His name was Michael but my mom called him uncle Mikey. He never returned home. He was killed assaulting a machine gun nest on Guadalcanal. My mother still cries when her memories put her back to those days 80 short years ago. Still sadness sweeps over our family to this day and we've never met him. He is still loved by our family and missed.
For you and your family "Americans should be grateful they have people like us to protect them from people like us" "Only those who've had the courage to insure the freedom of strangers can truly comprehend it meaning and appreciate its value. Honor always, those willing to sacrifice their tomorrows for your today" Sgt. "Lamoe", USMC 67 / 71, ChuLai 68
Probably one of the greatest assets that the Allied Forces had in the Pacific was the fact that the Japanese Navy and the Japanese Army both hated each other.
There wasn't "hate" between the two branches. Their relationship was adversarial due to two opposite philosophical concepts using their equipment and budgets. Yamamoto's views were more astute than his opponents, because his previous experience gave him an understanding of the enormous potential of America and British industrial abilities. This enabled a more conservative foresight than his political adversaries.
@@nomadpi1 No it was definitely hate. It dates back to the Meiji period. The navy was dominated by one clan. The army by another. Into the 1920s assassinations were pretty common between the two rival services.
@glenchapman3899 it greatly hampered their war efforts. Instead of a central planning to produce war equipment, materials etc you had competing military branches controlling different production facilities. It also prevented a unified air defense of the home islands.
I taught Strategy and Policy at the Naval War College from 1990 through 2012. This presentation is a considerably more sophisticated look at the origins of the Gualdalcanal campaign and the early planning for the Pacific War than we ever managed to give our students, I am sorry to say. I think you could make it about 50 percent more helpful, however, by inserting maps at appropriate moments. There are very few people who carry pictures of the relative location of the various south Pacific island groups in their head, and I don't happen to be one of them. Could you also list your sources? I am especially curious about the arguments among the senior American military leaders. Thanks in any case.
As I've learned more history and about complexity theory, the more I've come to appreciate the importance of context: historical, cultural, technological, political, geographical and climate contexts all have powerful influence on the agents involved that make history. I'm trying to learn more about Japan's history in the, say, 50 years before December 7th, 1941 to especially understand how basically the Japanese Army and Navy came to rule Japan and how the militarists decided that creating an empire by violence was their choice. Like you, I'm grateful for these series of presentations because of the scarcity of other narratives of these profoundly important events that created the world we live in today. I asked the same question you did to the channel owner regarding the source(s) of the text that the apparently AI voice is reading and am increasingly believing the entire was generated by some AI model. One of my favorite aphorisms is "Examine everything carefully; cling firmly to that which you find to be good." So right now my intention is to listen to this narrative and as interest and bandwidth become available, I'll crosscheck the information I'm hearing here and see it it's validated by more referenced sources. As I'm sure you're aware, it's rare that any single historian is capable of assembling and writing a comprehensive, completely knowledgeable and error-free understanding of such massive, sprawling events as World War II.
I would enjoy more maps as well but I just use google maps on another tab and it helps immensely. There are a ton of islands and unfamiliar names to keep track of.
I agree that w/o some maps and force layouts this excellent "sounding" exposition is near useless. Sources lacking. I am not going to subscribe to this channel regardless of my interest in these subjects. Click-bait from some AI b.s.?
It would be beneficial if he would also put a bit more of expression in his voice as well... This is like listening to a year end results financial meeting of a consolidated slipper dust factory.
The biggest effect from the Doolittle Raid was that it re-focused Imperial Japan to re-engage the U.S. immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack instead of devoting its major Naval resources against China and India. This raid directly led to the Battle of Midway as a brilliant U.S. Navy set-up to make a major blow against Japan’s mighty carrier attack fleet! Let us not forget, that approx 250,000 Chinese civilians died in retribution for aiding the downed Doolittle flight crews!
A fair point, but we did almost cock-up the Battle of Midway. We had a great strategic advantage and used NONE of it, along with faulty weapons- Midway was a closer battle then we give credit. It was a great victory for the americans, but it could've easily been MUCH worse. Luck, God, or whatever the hell you believe in was on our side that day, that much is true.
@joemomma2189 Yes! It still required so much luck despite knowing it was coming. Approximately 50% of US aircraft lost. Stunning loses for the side setting the trap. People forget the USS nautilus taking a shot at the Kido Butai, forcing a destroyer to chase it, only to have one of the air groups that was going the wrong way too see the destroyer and follow it to the target, striking exactly when other groups were striking. Just insane luck and devastating loses to go with the great code breaking.
China was our friend, and Japan was our enemy. In europe, Germany was our enemy and Russia was our ally. The banksters have since reversed the roles. 🤡 🙄
The plan was for massive damage motivating the Americans and Brits to sign a quick peace deal. When that didn’t happen, the war was essentially over. It just took 3 1/2 years of suffering, death and destruction to make it real. Such incredible stupidity.
My late father-in-law served under MacArthur in New Guinea. He hated him and called him "that S.O.B.". He told stories of the Japanese snipers tied in trees, but otherwise didn't talk a whole lot about it.
perhaps it might be of your interest to know that Mac was also responsible for ordering Captain “Patton” to tear apart , and destroy the Bonus Army’s encampment (located on the Whitehouse Lawn), & to trample it into dust, … neither officer were punished, but Mac took off for the Philippines, leaving the continental US, the next day& leaving Patton to fend for himself, at the time, …
McArthur was a fucking coward an should not be written as heroes. He abandon so many marines sailors and army personnel so he can escape of island in the dead of night.
Always fascinating to me, that Japan on December 7 proved that battleships were obsolete, yet they continued to build large battleships, and sought a battleship fight with the US Navy. We took what they taught us, and sent their battleships with their 18” guns to the bottom using our carrier planes.
There's a great movie about the war between design philosophy between the old guard of naval planners and the new, called: The Great War of Archimedes. Very good film and it's free on UA-cam.
It really isn't that hard to understand, though. Airplanes underwent rapid development during those years, greatly increasing in capability. The ability to operate at night was not great for carriers and their airplanes, and that too could lead to gun battles, especially if you are tied to location (like a landing zone). Hence Gaudalcanal, with gun (and torpedo) battle after battle.Then, look at the Med. Not the biggest place, yet the British and Italians fought several ship on ship engagements there. And Wasp was scuttled because of surface forces closing in. Leyte saw battleship on battleship combat happen, and could have potentially had had a second if the US fast battleships had been cut loose from chasing the decoy group. Prince of Wales and Repulse were lacking in the air cover they should have had, and that could have saved them. In the Indian ocean, the Japanese carries almost wound up in a rumble with Warspite. In the Atlantic, the British lost a carrier to German capital ship. As is, both the US and Japan realized the importance of carriers pretty early in the war. Japan pretty much only finished off the two BBs in production, and swapped the third into a carrier. Built a bunch of newer carriers as well. Even converted a few of their older battleships into hybrids. But they also realized that they couldn't produce the planes nor train the pilots to be able to withstand the US forces, so wound up using the carriers as decoys, knowing the US would take the bait, because carriers. Also worth noting that, in the US, Japan faced the most formidable anti-aircraft defense in the war. So much CAP, with radios, vectored in by controllers. Rings of ships throwing up flak. Proximity burst shells. Radar detection. Every bit of open deck space that could mount AA being given an AA mount. It's part of why they swapped to kamikaze tactics. The pilots weren't coming home regardless, so might as well do what they could to make hurting the enemy more likely. Meanwhile, the Japanese had destroyers whose guns couldn't be reloaded while at their higher angles (so lower AA fire rate), their very lackluster 25mm AA guns, and a variety of other disadvantages. Had there been parity, we might well have seen some more surface action. The US at Midway, for example, might not have retreated if they'd had the battleships with them. The Japanese, if they could have matched the US navy, it might well have played out a bit closer to the US pre-WW2 war games, with carriers don't some initial softening up and lots of scouting, and then it was gun time.
The battleships were all built by Pearl Harbor. Musashi was finished and would be commissioned soon and Shinano would be completed as a CV. So they didn't "continue building battleships" after Pearl Harbor. Work stalled on Shinano in December 41, after they sank Prince of Wales with airpower. They saw the writing on the wall about what they needed then, but they didn't have the time or industrial base to pivot quick enough.
You're saying that in hindsight. Pearl Harbor did not prove battleships to be obsolete, but it was apparent within a year or two. Obviously there were many who already saw the truth to it before Pearl Harbor, or Yamamoto's emphasis would not have been on the carriers, nor would he have been distressed to find out none were sunk. Nor, if you believe the conspiracy theories, would Roosevelt have ordered the carriers out of Pearl prior to the attack. One of the super battleships Japan was building, a sister of the Yamato, was converted to a carrier. The name eludes me at the moment.
This is why u dont anger the americans. All the infighting and anger gets direxted at u like a flamethrower. For better or worse my country is swriously good at breaking stuff. Great video man ill be back for more!
@@WW2Tales if I may make a request, is it possible to put the episode number at the start of the title? On my iPhone, the text stops before the episode number is displayed. I have to open a browser on my desktop in order to see the order of the episodes. Thank you. Please keep up the great work.
My father served in WWII with a USMC Air Patrol Group on the Island of Funafuti. He flew the Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber. Thankfully, the Japanese never moved into that area.
My father’s cousin Sgt William/Bill Dieter was one of those who died after their bombing raid. The next yr my father John M. Dieter would join the army air core in a B-17 as a radio operator & waist gunner based in north Italy.
If you don’t have it, there is a book called “Four Came Home” by Carroll V. Clines that talks a lot about the two crews that were captured by the Japanese. Your cousin was in plane #6. The other one was plane #16. He was the bombadier. He and the gunner Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, were killed in the crash but the rest of the crew were captured. The Japanese made up charges and convicted some of them (wrongly) of war crimes. They decided to execute the pilot and gunner from each crew. Therefore, they executed your cousin’s pilot, Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, and the pilot and gunner from plane #16. There is a picture of your cousin on page 24. The copilot of plane 16, Lt. Robert L. Hite is from my hometown and that is why I have been doing research on this.
MacArthur’s theater of Operations was ranked in order of supply importance behind the Panama Canal Zone. Marines on Guadalcanal fought the Japanese to a stand still with WW 1 equipment. The Australians beat the Japanese back across the mountains of New Guinea and all in all Winston Churchill got a commitment from FDR to deal with Hitler FIRST. And in spite of all that VJ Day came a mere four months after VE Day. I’d have to say Yamamoto was optimistic in his timeline.
It did help that they were two very different wars. In the Pacific it was all about the Marines and Navy. Europe it was all about boots on the ground and air force.
@@glenchapman3899 I hadn't really considered that before but yeah, it's probably 85% Marines and Navy in the pacific and the inverse in Europe. That does make things easier when you don't have split the branches, just assign each to a theater with a few support elements from the other branches. Just remembered, the airforce was a subsection of the army at the time, so the Army took Europe (they had a few elements in the pacific, but I don't think anything major) and the Navy grabbed their boarding party (Marines) and went to handle the pacific (again, they also had some elements in the atlantic and the med)
Yamamoto was one of the best admirals of the past two centuries and having studied in the US knew early on it was a suicidal insanity of a war… he did his job and a honorable duty. Had the fanatics listened to him there would have never been a war….
Yes. there would have been a war against both America and Britain. Yamamoto was only one voice in a minority of the Japanese military society. The majority of Japanese political leadership was on a path of adversarial aggression fueled by their attack and conquering of Manchuria.
@@nomadpi1 you have clue as to what you’re talking about. You do realize Germany was occupying China. Yes? Read up on WW1 and how Japan/Britain fought against Germany. European nations “conquered” various Asian countries well before Japan stepped in. Care to admit this. Japan only went to Asian countries already controlled by European nations. Japan was on a mission to free Asian nations and utilize their resources in trade or basically do what European nations were already doing. Hypocrite. 😂🤣
@@f430ferrari5 Whoa whoa whoa... hold on there, Hoss. "Japan was on a mission to free Asian nations"??? Is that what you call Nanking oppression? Is that freedom, to stab men, women and babies and treat them as target dummies? You have a very weird sense of "to free".
@@f430ferrari5 I fail to see how your points are relevant to @nomadpi statement. Last I checked the events in Nanking had nothing to do with Europeans or "Freeing" Asian nations. Yes, the Japanese were still riding the high from destroying the Russian Pacific fleets in the Russo-Japanese war. Now your last point has some merit, Japan did intend to take their turn at colonial empire. But don't condemn the European nations for that two lines up and then act like Japan's intent to do the same thing was somehow noble because they were closer geographically.
lol They got to be wondering WTF? They like: Japan did not lose to these continental us yahoos....We lost because of the Greatest American Generation arose to the occasion and set us free!
@coronaflo , They were likely aware of how well armed the citizens of the US were. Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is claimed by some to have said, “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”
My grandfather was at New Caledonia and he remembered seeing flashes of light from over the horizon but this was the closest he ever got to combat. He worked in the motor pool and fixed damaged combat vehicles. The tanks were really bad.
I've had some very good Japanese friends over the years, so I say this with some dread. If the Japanese had attempted to invade North America I fear what we would have done to Japan. It would have been absolutely brutal. As an American I can say that Canadians in particular have a weird dichotomy. You'll never meet a friendlier a bunch, but after you "flip the switch" you really don't want to be fighting them.
My Great Uncle also fought at Guadalcanal. He survived it, but years later not the Donner Pass. He was there abandoned as the whole force for those weeks. He thought little of the American Red Cross coming with the Relief forces and charging 50 cents for coffee and a donut, when the Salvation Army was giving it away. He would stand and yell out at film reel in the US when the Red Cross ads ran, and tell everyone what a fraud the Red Cross was. I found that this presentation was the most informative that I can recall about the reason for Guadalcanal. It is presented here are a mad gambit for the life of Australia. It makes sense as to why forces were stranded without significant support for so long. It was a closely run thing, just as Wellington said of Waterloo.
Very informative. The US was a monster in scale that was and still is the most amazing military power the world has ever known. The US withstood and beat the Japanese on Guadalcanal without having even arming itself and made Europe its priority. No Army to speak of in 1941, built an army in 42, moved it around the world in 43. Landed in France in June 1944 and Germany was defeated 10 months later. Japan was on its back foot in 1944 and the home islands were the next stop, this in the after thought theater of war. They may not have known it in 1942 but by 1944 it was clear a super power had been created.
What makes the US military unmatched is the ability to do enormous amounts of logistics. There’s bigger militaries but they can’t project and supply as much power very far beyond their borders. The US military wasn’t that impressive before Pearl Harbor but the industrial capacity to build one was.
The Doolittle raid was on April 18th 1942. The Battle of Midway was June 4th to the 6th. And yes, that was or should be referred to as the "Wake up Call"
@@longrider42 Well, Midway was a wakeup call for the IJN, at least the brass. But for the rest of Japan, especially the IJA? Nope. How could it have been a wakeup call if they didn't even know about it?
And you can say Midway was won both in the code rooms and at Coral Sea where two fleet carriers were knocked out of the Kidō Butai that hit Midway. Midway was either sides battle to win or lose so one or two more carriers could have made the world of difference for the IJN at Midway.
In 1958 when I was stationed at NAS Atsugi Japan with Marine Air Group 11, I had a copy of Saburo Sakai's book "Samurai" (?) which detailed his experience through pilot training and aerial combat during the War. I think it's important to remember that the men, American, Japanese, British, and German, who fought that war were the survivors who had grown up during the worldwide depression of the 30s. These were men who had not known life with plenty of food, leisure time to play video games, get wasted on drugs and booze, and give the middle finger to all forms of authority. Lord help us if we ever find ourselves in combat.
We have found ourselves in combat. And we never lost a major battle since Vietnam and the golf wars. We left Afghanistan but were not defeated there nor were WE defeated in Vietnam. Two years after we left Vietnam they lost their country. So our guys did pretty well in the last generations. We druggies at least did as well as the boozers that filled the ranks in WWII.
Obama started it & through Joe biden finished the once great nation....I'll keep fighting for the americaan constitution bit the nation as envisioned by the founders is no more...😢
@@RobertBowell100if you leave a field and the enemy take that, is called a defeat. yes , not on the field, but you lost your strategical target. why you go there to combat if you leave it? it's meaningless
@@notcherbane3218 no the goal is to acquire the wealth and experience to better raise your children to be competent. Giving children an easy early life removes important lessons and ensures a hard life dispute favorable circumstances.
I absolutely love your amazing Tale of WW II! I only wish there was a way to include maps and images to compliment your incredible narrative!!! I know the additional work that would take, but it would elevate the quality far above it being an audiobook on UA-cam! I know that many of us would be more than willing to pay for that effort! Cheers!!!💕💕💕
I bought a paperback book in the Honolulu airport bookstore in the 1990's. I still have it. It's "The Pacific War Atlas 1941-1945" by David Smurthwaite, Published in association with the National Army Museum, London, 1995. 144p ISBN 0-11-290548-X
I am THOROUGHLY Impressed by the 'total package' of this Episode -- the rich narrative moves several parallel storylines briskly forward by the quality of its script alone -- with none of the "Radio Verite" crackles- & clicks added by so many 'NPR Wanna Be's. The story-telling seamlessly weaves-in accounts of individual's experiences ('Hand Grenade Hot-Potato") -- then just as smoothly rejoins the greater flow of history. You pack an Amazing quantity- & quality of information into a 'scant-one-hour' program ! I would LOVE to see some 'Behind the Scenes' video of How you Do It ? Also impressive is the level of research which allows you to cite the altitudes to which each side's squadrons of aircraft ascended after take-off -- helping the listener to imagine what 'First Visual Contact' between each military's pilots was like (recall this would be 20-odd years before aircraft were equipped with on-board RADAR). Finally, the narrator's voice, cadence and modulation are 'pitch-perfect' for the material presented. My only suggestion for improvement mirrors that of the former NAVAL WAR COLLEGE instructor -- that the addition of animated maps to highlight the location of events being discussed would raise your Already EXCELLENT Episode to "EXCEPTIONAL". But I appreciate that such highly-detailed Episodes ALREADY take A LOT of time- & effort to research, write & record.
Ive been listening to theses stories for months, and had heard much of the exploits of Saburo Sakai, but until now had not known that the first air battle over Guadalcanal was when he was injured, losing an eye and having his right hand destroyed.
This content is best absorbed by listening as there's nothing to see. I'll play it while driving or while doing other things where my ears aren't really needed
@@RustyShacklefordsGribble-lw5dcFor you that’s fine, but people are all different. For me, I am a visual learner. I retain material much better with visual input. With just auditory, I retain far less.
What I do is get Google maps of the islands and ship movements during the battles. The last I did was the battle of Layte Gulf. Maps of all navies are available and they helped with that narration. If you have UA-cam premium you can look at maps on safari or chrome while continuing to listen to. I wish this content provider would tell what all goes into making these recordings. I’m imagining provider scanning book into computer with AI word recognition and making and posting recordings. Probably very time intensive and I’d bet he can’t afford an intern to attach all the maps etc so we don’t have to.
MacArthur is given more credit than he earns, it seems. He cocked up the defense of the Philippines and then during the war made some questionable decisions , cocked up the defense of Korea.
He deserves nothing! What a piece of shit leaving his troops, who treated their prisoners horribly . Also he botched the airport defense after Pearl Harbor, he was totally unequipped to be in charge
MacArthur had reached mandatory retirement age years BEFORE the attack on Pearl Harbor, He was a military advisor to the President of the Philippines, he was activated just before hostilities began. Just like the Korean Conflict later on MacArthur could only advise, if the United States failed to supply the troops, American and Philippine with the proper arms then that’s not MacArthurs fault, just as in Korea the United States failed to supply South Korea with Tanks and Artillery, again NOT MacArthurs fault, that rests with the politicians and Stalins moles in our government. As far as cocked up the defense that’s a mixed bag he had a peace time Army to fight highly trained VETERANS in the Imperial Japanese Army. MacArthurs skillful maneuvering prevented his forces from being outflanked and was able to retreat into Bataan and Corregidor. Also remember the fuel for our PT boats was sabotaged during that time so there were definitely not so friendly friendliest. He declared Manila an open city but failed to transfer the supplies to Bataan. Also what Air Force they had was caught on the ground just like at Pearl Harbor
MacArthur knew of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but did nothing to prepare for an attack on his forces for 2 whole days. He consequently got caught with his pants way, way down.
I very much like your commentary. I am definitely an expert (?) because of my reading of this era of American history.. Thank you for your presentation.
"In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success." - Yamamoto
Nishizawa was an even better pilot than Sakai. For instance, in one raid on Port Moresby he claimed that his squadron shot down more planes than the Austrailians even had. Truly a fantastic feat of aviation!
@@burt7104 Had he not split up his group, kept things battle-tight and not sent carriers off on a useless good chase to the Aleutians, the outcome would surely have been different. Would they win the war? No, they still had no chance. But it would've made it a lot worse for us had he not hurried through with a half-baked plan they didn't even properly war game in May.
During the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese: (1) did not destroy the American attack carriers. (2) did not destroy the ammo dumps (3) did not destroy the maintenance and repair shops (4) did not destroy the aviation and heavy oil depots (5) did not knock out army airforce airfields, army bases and naval piers (6) did sink some obsolete battleships and kill approximately 3000 american soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.
The IJN did not see logistics as important as destroying an enemy's fighting fleet. The priority was carriers and airfields first. Then battleships. Next, cruisers, destroyers, and cargo ships, in that order. Oil tank farms, repair facilities, etc. were at the bottom of the list.
Of the eight United States Navy battleships present, all were damaged and four were sunk. But, all but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service. Mostly what Japan accomplished was p*$$ing off the United States and ensuring their own destruction.
Doolittle and his men HAD to know there was a really good chance this was going to be a one-way ride..but the notion of being the first American to give these sons of the emperor a preview of coming attractions was a temptation they just couldn't pass up..but the B-25's were one thing...wait til they see the B-29's....
After Midway, Yamamoto’s fears were realized. He’d seen it before anyone else: it was no longer a question of when Japan would win, but IF. If, they could survive America’s navy when it was built back up three times bigger.
My father fought in the battle of Midway and told me great stories of the Japanese bombers flying over his head as he and another soldier much taller and the bomb came down infront of them and the percussion knocked them back on their backs. My dad didn’t get touched but the taller soldier got cut across his mid section from shrapnel. He said the Japanese subs would pop up at night and bomb the other side of the island and that’s where the higher brass slept and they blew up the building and killed all inside. When they first landed on the island the CBs left the mattresses and so my dad’s men took them to sleep on them and the first night they found out why they were outside- they had bed bugs all over them at night time when they slept and ended up throwing them away into the ocean just the same
I met the last living pilot of the Doolittle raid!! He told everyone in the lobby of the hospital at Lackland AFB his version of the story!! It was Amazing.
After the reverses suffered by their Kwantung Army at Nomonhan and Khalkin Gol, the Imperial Japanese Army was rightly wary of further confrontations with the Soviet Union. That was a major reason for vetoing Yamamoto's suggestion to attack the USSR.
Great video, Yamamoto, was right. At that time Australians, had a lot of civilian firearms. Doolittle raid was meant to let the Japanese know that America would fight and strike their home teŕitory
At the risk of irritating my American friends, the USA was warned and advised repeatedly by the British as to the unintended consequences of interfering in Pacific and Sino affairs. The Brits told Teddy Roosevelt not to encourage the war between Russia and Japan over control of Manchuria. That war completely backfired on Roosevelt when he realised an Asian army had defeated a Caucasian army, a notion that clashed with his interpretation of American Exceptionalism and the innate superiority of the white race. Roosevelt betrayed Japan on the issue of reparations, and that laid the seed of xenophobic anger with the nation, as we saw explode during the 30's and 40's. The bizarre thing was that the Japanese were isolationist due to the fear of European ingress into Asia - with the Portuguese leading the way. The US effectively forced the nation to reengage and rebuild its military capability - and we all know the unintended consequence of that. We're needing a sprawling Netflix dramatisation of US policy in this theater between 1850 to 1950. Your average American would be astounded. If you want to narrow it down, start with 1890's McKinlay. I will say this. The USA created the Japanese war machine and unleashed it for narrow and dubious purposes against Imperial Russia. What happened next was one of the greatest examples, possibly the greatest example, of unintended conequences in history.
People don't seem to understand the Japan never ever thought it was going to win or even fight a prolonged war with the United States. They had hoped to knock out our aircraft carriers and do so much damage at Pearl Harbor that we would simply sue for peace as a result of an inability to be able to fight the prolonged war. They were counting on a devastating first attack that would put us on our knees. But because they didn't get the aircraft carriers, that allowed us to counter punch at Midway and sink four of theirs. And for all of the success they initially had at Pearl harbor, it was a strategic failure because the targets that they were going after were not there. They failed to deliver the immediate knockout they were hoping for
You say Japan didn’t expect to win and they describe how they expected to win. If the US sued for peace as a result of Pearl Harbor, that is Japanese victory. Literally the definition of victory in war.
@wallyshedd3157 Perhaps I can help you with your reading comprehension. I know it's hard, but sound the words out and try to follow along. I said that Japan never expected to engage in or win a prolonged war. PROLONGED. Meaning that they expected to strike such a devastating blow right out of the gate that we would sue for peace and get us to remain uninvolved in the affairs of their conquest of the Pacific rim. Even Japanese military leadership realized that a sustained, multi-year war with the United States would not end well because of our manufacturing base, population, and access to energy. That's why the entire attack was designed to be devastating and sudden. I hope that helps, and if you're still confused, look up the word prolonged. And judging by your picture, you're too old to be illiterate.
@@richardbullwood5941 Now now... that was uncalled for. As for your assumption that Japan never thought to win, you apparently didn't listen to this story or contemplated Japanese history. Our narrator stressed that there were divisions in the government. Some felt that they shouldn't war with the Americans & the West, because they felt they couldn't win a protracted war. BUT there is another side, which was calling most of the shots, felt otherwise. They beat the Russians earlier (1905), then successful fought with China, and then pushed the British and Americans out of Philippines and other territories... they felt they couldn't be beaten.
Admiral Yamamoto knew beforehand of America's industrial might and resolve. That's why he didn't want war. But, I'm sure he was shocked at how early America did this raid.
I have always been of the opinion that not attacking the fuel tank farms at Pearl Harbor was a huge mistake on Japan's part. Without those tanks the US Navy would have been mobility constrained by needing to keep tankers in harbor to store fuel (rather than making deliveries) and oilers (not at sea replenishing ships) while the tank farms were repaired and then replenished over many months of deliveries. And then there is Midway where the ships used in the diversionary attack of the Aleutians could have instead been used in support of Midway and possibly changed that outcome given that it would have added 4 additional carriers to the Kido Butai and provided them seaplane support for additional scouting rather than the largely ineffective attempt to divert forces away from Midway (which did not really happen since the US ships largely were already in Alaska or came from West Coast bases Naval Bases in Washington and California).
There was no diversionary attack, the aleutians invasion was an independent operation. Both operations were supposed to start at the same time, so no diversionary value at all. Also, I think the japanese used 2 carriers in that operation, not 4.
@@rodrigorincongarcia771 I got 4 from the order of battle but I just noticed one is listed twice so only 3, seaplane carrier Chiyoda, light carrier Ryūjō, andHiyō-class carrier Jun'yō along with all the other combat vessels in support. As for the objectives of the Aleutians campaign I have seen split opinions so yours is certainly valid. A quick google shows that the Naval War College aligns to your statement calling it a "complimentary" operation to Midway rather than a diversion. In any case NOT doing both operations simultaneously would have allowed more power projection at Midway and that is undeniable. Bad planning and overconfidence along with the absence of Zuikaku who's airwing was lost at Coral Sea but could have had a composite airgroup created from the remnants of Zuiho and Shokaku air groups, but for some reason they did not do this.
You are 100% correct about the BIG MISTAKE of not attacking the oil tank farm. Their biggest mistake was not launching a third and maybe even a fourth attack wave. Pearl Harbor's defenses were very limited after the first 2 waves, and there were plenty of easy targets left. When your enemy is down, you hit him even harder! You don't turn around and sail home.
@@larrybremer4930 Midway operation didn't lack air power because of the Aleutian attack. Actually, the Imperial Navy headquarters decided to launch this operation to take advantage of those assets Yamamoto had already discarded for Midway. In other words, without the Aleutian operation, Midway would have been attacked by exactly the same forces.
@@JugSouthgate The Japanese did not know where the US carriers were, and were very concerned of a surprise attack. Also the Japanese had never planned a third wave. It was a spur of the moment discussion on board the carriers. This does point to definite differences between US and Japanese thinking. If reversed I am sure the Navy would have scrapped together a third attack. To the Japanese command, the mission had been completed, with far less losses than expected, so orders had been followed to the letter, time to head for home boys
Would be fascinating to project what Japanese planners would have done had the Doolittle Raid not happened. The raid achieved absolutely nothing on a strategic level but did influence Japanese strategy into being a bit more cautious and less hyper-aggressive. Just maybe they would have overextended themselves critically (while underestimating the US) to a point when the US would pounce and then consequently achieve some major victories. Simply put : the Doolittle Raid “helped” the Japanese plan better strategically. Please be assured that I in no way am trying to detract away from the bravery and dedication of all the men who made the Doolittle Raid possible. Some paid the ultimate price for that courage. I do acknowledge that it gave a much needed boost in morale to the whole American nation.
Yamamoto had attended Harvard and did not expect that this attack would actually convince the American government to agree to peace. His comments about occupying the West Coast was due to clear implausbility of a successful conquest of the West Coast.
As an Australian I was extremely interested in this episode. However, I was really not able to understand the narrative on its own. I would have appreciated a map background with the fighting areas highlighted during the narrative and a few pics. Pictures would not add to clarity, just make the screen experience a bit more interesting.
Nobody ever spends much time talking about the 250,000 Chinese civilians that were slaughtered by Japan afterward because they allowed Doolittle’s raiders to land. Those are the people who paid the price for the Doolittle raid.
Very interesting information but it would have been much more helpful to have shown maps of the battles rather than an hour long display of a Japanese seaplane!
...excellent use of maps, pictures of military personal cited & videos of said battles really brought this recording together... ...was cassette or 8-track used for the audio?
Mama lost a brother in the Philippines flying a medical plane out with wounded never found. Mama unlike daddy who was a paratrooper 82nd respected the Germans, mama disliked the Japanese very much.
The Japanese were brutal at war. It would have been impossible for anyone to like them. They would have had better success against America and Britain if they had treated their fellow Asians better in the conquered lands. Brutality lost them the war much quicker.
My grandfathet was one of those bomber pilots. Became a POW He hated Asians until the day he died. Right or wrong, I understand why. Heard stories as a kid from a bunch of those guys you see on history documentaries.
@@rlkinnardSelf-defense is a need always. You might get a call for cops to save yourself and family, hours later or whatever? Also, all tyrannical governments first disarms the people, make guns illegal. Why? To make the people easier to oppress.
Japan: Invades north of Australia and marches towards Sydney. Australia: Just wait, in 5 months one bloke will stagger in and surrender to a traffic warden.
I think the distance would play into the Japanese favor. I would be more worried about a rabid dog down the road than one the next town over so to speak. Also, I think every nation had good reason to think they would be treated different or at least better than Germany. Germany never really was just a nation like everyone else, the moment they were formed they were the biggest kid on the block trying to edge their way into the global power game as china has been doing these past few decades. Thirty years after Germany's formation WWI happened which ended with the neutering of what had been for a short time the most powerful of them all. When the Treaty of Versilia was signed many thought it unjust and that it would guarantee a second war of German retribution. The nations in power after WWI had everything to gain from keeping Germany as weak as possible and everything to lose should Germany ever recover and so acted to keep Germany at every opportunity. That is not to say that I believe the Japanese were not fools for expecting the reaction that they did, but I don't think it was entirely irrational.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus For all intents and purposes, Churchill was England at that time. Not taking Churchills reaction into account is like not taking England's reaction into account. It would be like American politicians being entirely ignorant of Xi Ji Pings personality quirks. Sadly, I am sure many of them are ignorant of his character.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus Why wouldn't the Japanese take the British empire into account, seeing as they went to war with them at the same time as the United States?
A nice video, but I thought you might want to know that there's some strange, quiet, low bass noise that I think is being inserted by your editing techniques, because I hear it after every 2nd or 3rd sentence, and it's always in between the sentences. You may need a subwoofer to hear it, or you might be able to see it if you use a spectrum analyzer plugin with whatever DAW you're using.
The Japanese philosophy of keeping the most experienced people, like pilots, in the front throughout the war only made sense if they planned on a quick war. The US cycled people back to train new people based on experience rather than just theory. While this cut down on the number of ace pilots early, it meant the US second tier were vastly better than their Japanese equivalent.
They lost well over a thousand of their best maintenance techs at Midway when their carriers were sunk. And they had years of training that simply could not be replaced.
Any survivors of Japanese defeats were kept well away from Japan / Korea / China, where they could tell the truth. They were shuttled around to the locations of "glorious victories that happen ever closer to home". Anybody who survived all that was very lucky. Also imagine being in the Japanese army, confident the navy has your back in that little side-show war. You are involved in an actual victory that captures a stubborn Chinese trench. Then the next day you get told "we lost, time to home. BTW your whole street is ash."
A second big effect of the Dolittle raid is that the Japanese realocated thousands of troops to guard the homeland. It was a shock to the entire country to find out they were vulnerable to attack. The attack served it's purpose and was a huge shock to all of Japan!
Interesting, but EXCEEDINGLY hard to follow. I suggest a remake with at least 1 map showing the places mentioned and a timeline of events. There is too much back and forth of dates and names.
I do think maps are nice...but you can easily add them yourself... In that most devices allow two windows to split the screen. For vids like this, I almost always have my android phone screen split with the one screen on a browser and then will open a series of tabs with relevant wikipedia articles and similar references that I refer to as needed.
The fleet at Pearl Harbor was severely damaged, but not destroyed. The Japanese did not hit the dry dock, which means the damage could be repaired. The fuel storage tanks were not touched, so the fleet has the ability to leave the harbor and make noise. Ultimately, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his wish for America to be in World War II.
Yamamoto expected to win the war in a few months... or not at all. So, by the time the battleships could have been fixed it would no longer matter. I guess, from that point of view (and not having enough planes to destroy everything) it made sense to focus on destroying the fighting forces (planes, ships...) and forget about everything else.
The fuel storage tanks at Pearl Harbor were scheduled to be destroyed by the third wave of Japanese planes. However, after the first two waves of attack, and fearing the American carriers had been notified of the attack by then, the third wave was called off, and the Japanese fleet high tailed it back to Japan. This plan of action cost the Japanese dearly later in the war, especially at Midway.
To be fair it would at least triple the effort of production, especially if any rudimentary animation of the maps were employed, or even overlaying to show positions of contesting forces.
It is hard to imagine that the Japanese were not aware that most of the fleet in Pearl Harbor was refloated, repaired and returned to combat. Only three ships were actually destroyed.
*Wow… what a blunder. Japan thought that occupying Hawaii and the US West Coast would bring Americans to the negotiating table? That would have brought us straight to Japan!*
It can be hard to imagine, but the Japanese had come to think of Western troops as useless cowards. Look at the fall of Singapore - 30k Japanese troops attacked a garrison force of 85k and captured the entire force with only very modest casualties. They expected to be able to do this to all western forces everywhere -no reason 100k Japanese soldiers can't conquer all the way to Washington DC!
The Japanese developed an impression of invictablity fighting weak unarmed countries. They eventually would learn a hard lesson that Americans were not weak usually in the last fleeting moments of their life.
Bro really thought he was going to invade america by going down through canada from alaska and occupy the west coast? Would have had a better chance at collecting all the dragon ballz and wishing america out of existence.
There never was a plan to go any further than the Aleutian Islands. One, it was a diversion to the main operation to destroy the American carrier forces, hopefully to draw them north away from Midway. Second, strategically the Japanese would control the North Pacific, stop the Americans from using the Aleutians to launch attaks on the Kuril Islands, and, perhaps the Japanese could use the Aleutians to launch raids on the Canadian and US west coast.
(A.) On the one hand, negotiating a Peace agreement with the USA. (B.) Then, out of the blue? A massive surprise attack on Pearl Harbor? (C.) WHAT did these people expect 🤔 us to do? Roll over and play dead? They awakened the "sleeping giant". And paid the price for their folly.
This was great but 30 minutes too long. I wasn't able to stay focused enough to dedicate an hour listening to a soothing sopophoric voice while staring at a Japanese sea plane. I fell asleep twice before the half hour mark.
I talked with a man that served as MP in Japan under MacArthur, he told of a story many told about MacArthur. A junior officer was sent to meet with MacArthur, when he came back they asked him, did you meet GOD? His response was, no but I met GODs boss!
In 1942, Chief-of-Everything King approved Admiral Kelly's early plans to roll back Japan because they were the exact plans King told Kelly to develop. Kind of a one-man show.
Those plans were based on Naval strategies developed in the 1920s to counter a Japanese offensive. There were modifications due to Carrier development.
Ladies And Gentlemen this is Part 1 of Memoirs of Guadalcanal!
Playlist:ua-cam.com/play/PLGjbe3ikd0XFX7IqfQpOZ_LM1jU0bMOAQ.html
No need to cloud the issue with facts
FYI - too much chatter without graphic illustration. Tough to listen too.
Where does the writing that is being read during your videos come from? Is written by a team, an individual, is it cited from textbooks or somewhere else?
@@goalwingconsultants142 I opened a second window to Google Maps and searched the Solomon Islands. Then just listen to the narration while looking at the map. They weren't kidding about the "Slot" it's a straight shot from Rabaul to Guadalcanal.
❤❤❤❤❤
My great-uncle fought in Guadalcanal. My mom actually met him when she was a little girl and said he was a real handsome guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He looked very much like my son she said. His parents had kept his room exactly the way he had left it when he entered the United States Marine Corps.A baseball glove with ball and bat sat next to a dresser. It was covered with trophies and awards. Model planes hung around the room on strings pinned to the ceiling.
His name was Michael but my mom called him uncle Mikey. He never returned home. He was killed assaulting a machine gun nest on Guadalcanal. My mother still cries when her memories put her back to those days 80 short years ago. Still sadness sweeps over our family to this day and we've never met him. He is still loved by our family and missed.
What a tribute to him. I think he would love that remembrance.
In that way, he lives on…
For you and your family
"Americans should be grateful they have people like us to protect them from people like us"
"Only those who've had the courage to insure the freedom of strangers can truly comprehend it meaning and appreciate its value.
Honor always, those willing to sacrifice their tomorrows for your today"
Sgt. "Lamoe", USMC 67 / 71, ChuLai 68
🇺🇲
Thank you and your mom. Words will never take the place of the sacrifice your uncle made.
Probably one of the greatest assets that the Allied Forces had in the Pacific was the fact that the Japanese Navy and the Japanese Army both hated each other.
Yep 100% correct.
There wasn't "hate" between the two branches. Their relationship was adversarial due to two opposite philosophical concepts using their equipment and budgets. Yamamoto's views were more astute than his opponents, because his previous experience gave him an understanding of the enormous potential of America and British industrial abilities. This enabled a more conservative foresight than his political adversaries.
@@nomadpi1 you’re right, hate was probably the wrong word to use. But, their adversarial relationship was counter productive.
@@nomadpi1 No it was definitely hate. It dates back to the Meiji period. The navy was dominated by one clan. The army by another. Into the 1920s assassinations were pretty common between the two rival services.
@glenchapman3899 it greatly hampered their war efforts. Instead of a central planning to produce war equipment, materials etc you had competing military branches controlling different production facilities. It also prevented a unified air defense of the home islands.
I taught Strategy and Policy at the Naval War College from 1990 through 2012. This presentation is a considerably more sophisticated look at the origins of the Gualdalcanal campaign and the early planning for the Pacific War than we ever managed to give our students, I am sorry to say. I think you could make it about 50 percent more helpful, however, by inserting maps at appropriate moments. There are very few people who carry pictures of the relative location of the various south Pacific island groups in their head, and I don't happen to be one of them. Could you also list your sources? I am especially curious about the arguments among the senior American military leaders. Thanks in any case.
As I've learned more history and about complexity theory, the more I've come to appreciate the importance of context: historical, cultural, technological, political, geographical and climate contexts all have powerful influence on the agents involved that make history. I'm trying to learn more about Japan's history in the, say, 50 years before December 7th, 1941 to especially understand how basically the Japanese Army and Navy came to rule Japan and how the militarists decided that creating an empire by violence was their choice.
Like you, I'm grateful for these series of presentations because of the scarcity of other narratives of these profoundly important events that created the world we live in today. I asked the same question you did to the channel owner regarding the source(s) of the text that the apparently AI voice is reading and am increasingly believing the entire was generated by some AI model. One of my favorite aphorisms is "Examine everything carefully; cling firmly to that which you find to be good." So right now my intention is to listen to this narrative and as interest and bandwidth become available, I'll crosscheck the information I'm hearing here and see it it's validated by more referenced sources. As I'm sure you're aware, it's rare that any single historian is capable of assembling and writing a comprehensive, completely knowledgeable and error-free understanding of such massive, sprawling events as World War II.
I would enjoy more maps as well but I just use google maps on another tab and it helps immensely. There are a ton of islands and unfamiliar names to keep track of.
I agree that w/o some maps and force layouts this excellent "sounding" exposition is near useless. Sources lacking. I am not going to subscribe to this channel regardless of my interest in these subjects. Click-bait from some AI b.s.?
This is done by a bot I think.
It would be beneficial if he would also put a bit more of expression in his voice as well... This is like listening to a year end results financial meeting of a consolidated slipper dust factory.
The biggest effect from the Doolittle Raid was that it re-focused Imperial Japan to re-engage the U.S. immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack instead of devoting its major Naval resources against China and India. This raid directly led to the Battle of Midway as a brilliant U.S. Navy set-up to make a major blow against Japan’s mighty carrier attack fleet! Let us not forget, that approx 250,000 Chinese civilians died in retribution for aiding the downed Doolittle flight crews!
A fair point, but we did almost cock-up the Battle of Midway. We had a great strategic advantage and used NONE of it, along with faulty weapons- Midway was a closer battle then we give credit. It was a great victory for the americans, but it could've easily been MUCH worse. Luck, God, or whatever the hell you believe in was on our side that day, that much is true.
@joemomma2189 Yes! It still required so much luck despite knowing it was coming. Approximately 50% of US aircraft lost. Stunning loses for the side setting the trap.
People forget the USS nautilus taking a shot at the Kido Butai, forcing a destroyer to chase it, only to have one of the air groups that was going the wrong way too see the destroyer and follow it to the target, striking exactly when other groups were striking.
Just insane luck and devastating loses to go with the great code breaking.
@@joemomma2189 the fact that we had broken the Japanese naval code was a huge help
@@FoxWood2222 Oh no kidding it was- I just wish we didn't have to sacrifice the torpedo squadrons.
China was our friend, and Japan was our enemy.
In europe, Germany was our enemy and Russia was our ally.
The banksters have since reversed the roles. 🤡 🙄
Maps matching that narrative would be better than a flying boat. love the history.
Then make a video with maps showing it.
Pay attention
@@JohnDowd-r8t Use your imagination.
@@billrich9722what a stupid comment you made
After Pearl Harbour when he learned they had missed sinking any aircraft carriers, admiral Yamamoto already knew they were in deep trouble.
Wasn't he the one that said, " we Have awakened sleeping giant ?
@@tonymills5086 yep, that was him.
The plan was for massive damage motivating the Americans and Brits to sign a quick peace deal. When that didn’t happen, the war was essentially over. It just took 3 1/2 years of suffering, death and destruction to make it real. Such incredible stupidity.
@@tonymills5086 The quote is apocryphal. There is no record that he said it. But it fits.
the fact that they bombed pearl harbor but didn't bother to hit the shipyards sealed the japanese navy's fate.
My late father-in-law served under MacArthur in New Guinea. He hated him and called him "that S.O.B.". He told stories of the Japanese snipers tied in trees, but otherwise didn't talk a whole lot about it.
perhaps it might be of your interest to know that Mac was also responsible for ordering Captain “Patton” to tear apart , and destroy the Bonus Army’s encampment (located on the Whitehouse Lawn), & to trample it into dust, … neither officer were punished, but Mac took off for the Philippines, leaving the continental US, the next day& leaving Patton to fend for himself, at the time, …
McArthur was a fucking coward an should not be written as heroes. He abandon so many marines sailors and army personnel so he can escape of island in the dead of night.
@@johnosman8140 What was the reason for an encampment on the White House lawn ?
@@maxinefreeman8858 enter this into your browser Bonus Army our military been getting the short end of the stick for way too long
They were WWI vets demanding their war pensions. During the Great Depression.
Always fascinating to me, that Japan on December 7 proved that battleships were obsolete, yet they continued to build large battleships, and sought a battleship fight with the US Navy. We took what they taught us, and sent their battleships with their 18” guns to the bottom using our carrier planes.
There's a great movie about the war between design philosophy between the old guard of naval planners and the new, called: The Great War of Archimedes.
Very good film and it's free on UA-cam.
@@folkblues4u I'm gonna look that up, thanks.
It really isn't that hard to understand, though. Airplanes underwent rapid development during those years, greatly increasing in capability. The ability to operate at night was not great for carriers and their airplanes, and that too could lead to gun battles, especially if you are tied to location (like a landing zone). Hence Gaudalcanal, with gun (and torpedo) battle after battle.Then, look at the Med. Not the biggest place, yet the British and Italians fought several ship on ship engagements there. And Wasp was scuttled because of surface forces closing in. Leyte saw battleship on battleship combat happen, and could have potentially had had a second if the US fast battleships had been cut loose from chasing the decoy group. Prince of Wales and Repulse were lacking in the air cover they should have had, and that could have saved them. In the Indian ocean, the Japanese carries almost wound up in a rumble with Warspite. In the Atlantic, the British lost a carrier to German capital ship.
As is, both the US and Japan realized the importance of carriers pretty early in the war. Japan pretty much only finished off the two BBs in production, and swapped the third into a carrier. Built a bunch of newer carriers as well. Even converted a few of their older battleships into hybrids. But they also realized that they couldn't produce the planes nor train the pilots to be able to withstand the US forces, so wound up using the carriers as decoys, knowing the US would take the bait, because carriers.
Also worth noting that, in the US, Japan faced the most formidable anti-aircraft defense in the war. So much CAP, with radios, vectored in by controllers. Rings of ships throwing up flak. Proximity burst shells. Radar detection. Every bit of open deck space that could mount AA being given an AA mount. It's part of why they swapped to kamikaze tactics. The pilots weren't coming home regardless, so might as well do what they could to make hurting the enemy more likely. Meanwhile, the Japanese had destroyers whose guns couldn't be reloaded while at their higher angles (so lower AA fire rate), their very lackluster 25mm AA guns, and a variety of other disadvantages. Had there been parity, we might well have seen some more surface action. The US at Midway, for example, might not have retreated if they'd had the battleships with them. The Japanese, if they could have matched the US navy, it might well have played out a bit closer to the US pre-WW2 war games, with carriers don't some initial softening up and lots of scouting, and then it was gun time.
The battleships were all built by Pearl Harbor. Musashi was finished and would be commissioned soon and Shinano would be completed as a CV. So they didn't "continue building battleships" after Pearl Harbor. Work stalled on Shinano in December 41, after they sank Prince of Wales with airpower. They saw the writing on the wall about what they needed then, but they didn't have the time or industrial base to pivot quick enough.
You're saying that in hindsight. Pearl Harbor did not prove battleships to be obsolete, but it was apparent within a year or two. Obviously there were many who already saw the truth to it before Pearl Harbor, or Yamamoto's emphasis would not have been on the carriers, nor would he have been distressed to find out none were sunk. Nor, if you believe the conspiracy theories, would Roosevelt have ordered the carriers out of Pearl prior to the attack. One of the super battleships Japan was building, a sister of the Yamato, was converted to a carrier. The name eludes me at the moment.
This is why u dont anger the americans. All the infighting and anger gets direxted at u like a flamethrower. For better or worse my country is swriously good at breaking stuff. Great video man ill be back for more!
Excellent as always. I enjoy these stories very much. Thank you.
@ausdoug974 Sir thank you so much, really appreciate your kind support 💐🙏
@@WW2Tales if I may make a request, is it possible to put the episode number at the start of the title? On my iPhone, the text stops before the episode number is displayed. I have to open a browser on my desktop in order to see the order of the episodes. Thank you. Please keep up the great work.
Some maps showing what was being discussed would have been VERY helpful!
My father served in WWII with a USMC Air Patrol Group on the Island of Funafuti. He flew the Douglas SBD Dauntless Dive Bomber. Thankfully, the Japanese never moved into that area.
My father’s cousin Sgt William/Bill Dieter was one of those who died after their bombing raid. The next yr my father John M. Dieter would join the army air core in a B-17 as a radio operator & waist gunner based in north Italy.
If you don’t have it, there is a book called “Four Came Home” by Carroll V. Clines that talks a lot about the two crews that were captured by the Japanese. Your cousin was in plane #6. The other one was plane #16. He was the bombadier. He and the gunner Sgt. Donald E. Fitzmaurice, were killed in the crash but the rest of the crew were captured. The Japanese made up charges and convicted some of them (wrongly) of war crimes. They decided to execute the pilot and gunner from each crew. Therefore, they executed your cousin’s pilot, Lt. Dean E. Hallmark, and the pilot and gunner from plane #16. There is a picture of your cousin on page 24. The copilot of plane 16, Lt. Robert L. Hite is from my hometown and that is why I have been doing research on this.
@@dougtaylor8735 thank you so much Doug for this information! I will pass it on to my brothers & son:)
Not to be a nit-picker but it isn't "core." It is "corp.
Meet Jimmy Doolittle many times as a kid as he would come over to the fly casting pond here in Santa Monica to practice and would give us tips also
MacArthur’s theater of Operations was ranked in order of supply importance behind the Panama Canal Zone. Marines on Guadalcanal fought the Japanese to a stand still with WW 1 equipment. The Australians beat the Japanese back across the mountains of New Guinea and all in all Winston Churchill got a commitment from FDR to deal with Hitler FIRST. And in spite of all that VJ Day came a mere four months after VE Day. I’d have to say Yamamoto was optimistic in his timeline.
It did help that they were two very different wars. In the Pacific it was all about the Marines and Navy. Europe it was all about boots on the ground and air force.
@@glenchapman3899 I hadn't really considered that before but yeah, it's probably 85% Marines and Navy in the pacific and the inverse in Europe. That does make things easier when you don't have split the branches, just assign each to a theater with a few support elements from the other branches.
Just remembered, the airforce was a subsection of the army at the time, so the Army took Europe (they had a few elements in the pacific, but I don't think anything major) and the Navy grabbed their boarding party (Marines) and went to handle the pacific (again, they also had some elements in the atlantic and the med)
22 army divisions fought in the Pacific, 6 Marine divs fought in the Pacific.
@@rungfang27 And 62 divisions fought in Europe
The Aussie troops fighting in the Owen Stanley mountains were the 2nd tier units, too.
Yamamoto was one of the best admirals of the past two centuries and having studied in the US knew early on it was a suicidal insanity of a war… he did his job and a honorable duty. Had the fanatics listened to him there would have never been a war….
Wasn’t even close to one of the best. The IJN had a massive advantage at Midway and Yamamoto blew it with his flawed battle plan for Midway.
Yes. there would have been a war against both America and Britain. Yamamoto was only one voice in a minority of the Japanese military society. The majority of Japanese political leadership was on a path of adversarial aggression fueled by their attack and conquering of Manchuria.
@@nomadpi1 you have clue as to what you’re talking about.
You do realize Germany was occupying China. Yes? Read up on WW1 and how Japan/Britain fought against Germany.
European nations “conquered” various Asian countries well before Japan stepped in. Care to admit this.
Japan only went to Asian countries already controlled by European nations.
Japan was on a mission to free Asian nations and utilize their resources in trade or basically do what European nations were already doing.
Hypocrite. 😂🤣
@@f430ferrari5 Whoa whoa whoa... hold on there, Hoss. "Japan was on a mission to free Asian nations"??? Is that what you call Nanking oppression? Is that freedom, to stab men, women and babies and treat them as target dummies? You have a very weird sense of "to free".
@@f430ferrari5 I fail to see how your points are relevant to @nomadpi statement.
Last I checked the events in Nanking had nothing to do with Europeans or "Freeing" Asian nations.
Yes, the Japanese were still riding the high from destroying the Russian Pacific fleets in the Russo-Japanese war.
Now your last point has some merit, Japan did intend to take their turn at colonial empire. But don't condemn the European nations for that two lines up and then act like Japan's intent to do the same thing was somehow noble because they were closer geographically.
If the Japanese just before WW2 thought Americans were too soft, I wonder what they would have thought of today's Americans.
I can imagine.
lol
They got to be wondering WTF? They like: Japan did not lose to these continental us yahoos....We lost because of the Greatest American Generation arose to the occasion and set us free!
Toyota trumps Ford, Chevy, and Tesla
Japan free is unbeatable
You mean America where almost everyone has a gun.
@coronaflo , They were likely aware of how well armed the citizens of the US were.
Japanese Admiral Yamamoto is claimed by some to have said, “You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.”
My grandfather was at New Caledonia and he remembered seeing flashes of light from over the horizon but this was the closest he ever got to combat.
He worked in the motor pool and fixed damaged combat vehicles. The tanks were really bad.
Thanks!
@2Oldcoots Sir thank you so much, really appreciate your kind support 💐🙏
I've had some very good Japanese friends over the years, so I say this with some dread. If the Japanese had attempted to invade North America I fear what we would have done to Japan. It would have been absolutely brutal. As an American I can say that Canadians in particular have a weird dichotomy. You'll never meet a friendlier a bunch, but after you "flip the switch" you really don't want to be fighting them.
I'm in the US, and agree. We peaceful people are holding in a lot of anger!
Trudeau
The Canadians *NEVER* lost
Not in ANY WAR!!!
Canadians are comfortable at both the North and South poles.
They did , in Alaska
Great respect, honor and gratitude to this Marine who gave his all for us. We how him a debt can never repay. ❤
Excellent coverage of these events. Thank you. 👍🏽
My Great Uncle also fought at Guadalcanal. He survived it, but years later not the Donner Pass.
He was there abandoned as the whole force for those weeks. He thought little of the American Red Cross coming with the Relief forces and charging 50 cents for coffee and a donut, when the Salvation Army was giving it away. He would stand and yell out at film reel in the US when the Red Cross ads ran, and tell everyone what a fraud the Red Cross was.
I found that this presentation was the most informative that I can recall about the reason for Guadalcanal. It is presented here are a mad gambit for the life of Australia. It makes sense as to why forces were stranded without significant support for so long. It was a closely run thing, just as Wellington said of Waterloo.
Your great uncle was spot on. I have a whole list of Red Cross stories and have a similar low opinion.
Very informative. The US was a monster in scale that was and still is the most amazing military power the world has ever known. The US withstood and beat the Japanese on Guadalcanal without having even arming itself and made Europe its priority. No Army to speak of in 1941, built an army in 42, moved it around the world in 43. Landed in France in June 1944 and Germany was defeated 10 months later. Japan was on its back foot in 1944 and the home islands were the next stop, this in the after thought theater of war. They may not have known it in 1942 but by 1944 it was clear a super power had been created.
US military has its troops trained to a British Standard but was at the scale of the Soviet military in troop size.
What makes the US military unmatched is the ability to do enormous amounts of logistics. There’s bigger militaries but they can’t project and supply as much power very far beyond their borders.
The US military wasn’t that impressive before Pearl Harbor but the industrial capacity to build one was.
Yay.
Imagine how exponentially better this lecture would have been with maps showing the theater and movement of allied and Japanese strategy.
Sad.
Just 2 months later, after the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of Midway was the real wake-up call?
The Doolittle raid was on April 18th 1942. The Battle of Midway was June 4th to the 6th. And yes, that was or should be referred to as the "Wake up Call"
@@longrider42I found a Nickel made in 1942.
more like death knell, the nips were walking dead after midway.
@@longrider42 Well, Midway was a wakeup call for the IJN, at least the brass. But for the rest of Japan, especially the IJA? Nope. How could it have been a wakeup call if they didn't even know about it?
And you can say Midway was won both in the code rooms and at Coral Sea where two fleet carriers were knocked out of the Kidō Butai that hit Midway. Midway was either sides battle to win or lose so one or two more carriers could have made the world of difference for the IJN at Midway.
In 1958 when I was stationed at NAS Atsugi Japan with Marine Air Group 11, I had a copy of Saburo Sakai's book "Samurai" (?) which detailed his experience through pilot training and aerial combat during the War. I think it's important to remember that the men, American, Japanese, British, and German, who fought that war were the survivors who had grown up during the worldwide depression of the 30s. These were men who had not known life with plenty of food, leisure time to play video games, get wasted on drugs and booze, and give the middle finger to all forms of authority. Lord help us if we ever find ourselves in combat.
Isn't it the whole point to make sure your descendants have an easier life than you did, Guess what they succeeded. ...
We have found ourselves in combat. And we never lost a major battle since Vietnam and the golf wars. We left Afghanistan but were not defeated there nor were WE defeated in Vietnam. Two years after we left Vietnam they lost their country. So our guys did pretty well in the last generations. We druggies at least did as well as the boozers that filled the ranks in WWII.
Obama started it & through Joe biden finished the once great nation....I'll keep fighting for the americaan constitution bit the nation as envisioned by the founders is no more...😢
@@RobertBowell100if you leave a field and the enemy take that, is called a defeat. yes , not on the field, but you lost your strategical target. why you go there to combat if you leave it? it's meaningless
@@notcherbane3218 no the goal is to acquire the wealth and experience to better raise your children to be competent.
Giving children an easy early life removes important lessons and ensures a hard life dispute favorable circumstances.
I absolutely love your amazing Tale of WW II! I only wish there was a way to include maps and images to compliment your incredible narrative!!! I know the additional work that would take, but it would elevate the quality far above it being an audiobook on UA-cam! I know that many of us would be more than willing to pay for that effort! Cheers!!!💕💕💕
I bought a paperback book in the Honolulu airport bookstore in the 1990's. I still have it. It's "The Pacific War Atlas 1941-1945" by David Smurthwaite, Published in association with the National Army Museum, London, 1995. 144p
ISBN 0-11-290548-X
I am THOROUGHLY Impressed by the 'total package' of this Episode -- the rich narrative moves several parallel storylines briskly forward by the quality of its script alone -- with none of the "Radio Verite" crackles- & clicks added by so many 'NPR Wanna Be's.
The story-telling seamlessly weaves-in accounts of individual's experiences ('Hand Grenade Hot-Potato") -- then just as smoothly rejoins the greater flow of history. You pack an Amazing quantity- & quality of information into a 'scant-one-hour' program ! I would LOVE to see some 'Behind the Scenes' video of How you Do It ?
Also impressive is the level of research which allows you to cite the altitudes to which each side's squadrons of aircraft ascended after take-off -- helping the listener to imagine what 'First Visual Contact' between each military's pilots was like (recall this would be 20-odd years before aircraft were equipped with on-board RADAR).
Finally, the narrator's voice, cadence and modulation are 'pitch-perfect' for the material presented.
My only suggestion for improvement mirrors that of the former NAVAL WAR COLLEGE instructor -- that the addition of animated maps to highlight the location of events being discussed would raise your Already EXCELLENT Episode to "EXCEPTIONAL". But I appreciate that such highly-detailed Episodes ALREADY take A LOT of time- & effort to research, write & record.
Ive been listening to theses stories for months, and had heard much of the exploits of Saburo Sakai, but until now had not known that the first air battle over Guadalcanal was when he was injured, losing an eye and having his right hand destroyed.
Read his book, it's pretty good and gives some insight into the Japanese side of the war.
Capturing territory is not that difficult when your opponents are poorly armed and trained. Holding that territory is another thing.
Yamamoto spent time across the USA. Understood the US and what they were capable of if engaged long term
Yamamoto earned a Masters degree in economics from Harvard.
thats why he didnt wholeheartedly support attackibng us- he knew thetd awaken a sleeping giant
This presentation could have been so much better with additional pictures and maps. Great history.
This content is best absorbed by listening as there's nothing to see. I'll play it while driving or while doing other things where my ears aren't really needed
@@RustyShacklefordsGribble-lw5dcFor you that’s fine, but people are all different. For me, I am a visual learner. I retain material much better with visual input. With just auditory, I retain far less.
What I do is get Google maps of the islands and ship movements during the battles. The last I did was the battle of Layte Gulf. Maps of all navies are available and they helped with that narration. If you have UA-cam premium you can look at maps on safari or chrome while continuing to listen to. I wish this content provider would tell what all goes into making these recordings. I’m imagining provider scanning book into computer with AI word recognition and making and posting recordings. Probably very time intensive and I’d bet he can’t afford an intern to attach all the maps etc so we don’t have to.
MacArthur is given more credit than he earns, it seems. He cocked up the defense of the Philippines and then during the war made some questionable decisions , cocked up the defense of Korea.
He deserves nothing! What a piece of shit leaving his troops, who treated their prisoners horribly . Also he botched the airport defense after Pearl Harbor, he was totally unequipped to be in charge
It was worse than "cocked up". He initially opposed the "island-hopping" strategy, acted contrarily, then later claimed he was the author.
MacArthur had reached mandatory retirement age years BEFORE the attack on Pearl Harbor, He was a military advisor to the President of the Philippines, he was activated just before hostilities began. Just like the Korean Conflict later on MacArthur could only advise, if the United States failed to supply the troops, American and Philippine with the proper arms then that’s not MacArthurs fault, just as in Korea the United States failed to supply South Korea with Tanks and Artillery, again NOT MacArthurs fault, that rests with the politicians and Stalins moles in our government. As far as cocked up the defense that’s a mixed bag he had a peace time Army to fight highly trained VETERANS in the Imperial Japanese Army. MacArthurs skillful maneuvering prevented his forces from being outflanked and was able to retreat into Bataan and Corregidor. Also remember the fuel for our PT boats was sabotaged during that time so there were definitely not so friendly friendliest. He declared Manila an open city but failed to transfer the supplies to Bataan. Also what Air Force they had was caught on the ground just like at Pearl Harbor
MacArthur knew of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but did nothing to prepare for an attack on his forces for 2 whole days. He consequently got caught with his pants way, way down.
MacArthur abandoned several years of supplies in Manila, dooming the Bataan garrison.
I very much like your commentary. I am definitely an expert (?) because of my reading of this era of American history.. Thank you for your presentation.
"In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success." - Yamamoto
Nishizawa was an even better pilot than Sakai. For instance, in one raid on Port Moresby he claimed that his squadron shot down more planes than the Austrailians even had. Truly a fantastic feat of aviation!
This isn't a computer voice reading a script, right? Please say Yes.
You are obviously ignorant of the 22nd Bomb Group. If Johnny Zero shot down 10 Zero's and my dad six, what about the other gunners?
@@mnoliberal7335 It's A.I.
Yamamoto had a clue & his bosses were full of themselves 🤔
Ichiro was also full of himself. His Midway plan was not that good.
@@chipsawdust5816Yeah, but he was a pretty good leadoff hitter.
@@burt7104 Had he not split up his group, kept things battle-tight and not sent carriers off on a useless good chase to the Aleutians, the outcome would surely have been different. Would they win the war? No, they still had no chance. But it would've made it a lot worse for us had he not hurried through with a half-baked plan they didn't even properly war game in May.
@@chipsawdust5816 You missed the joke by a mile my friend.
@@burt7104 Ah OK :) Sometimes it's hard to tell without a wink and a nod!
13:46 AUDIO ISSUE- low frequency ‘roar’ occurs regularly through this presentation. Anyone else notice? Listening through Apple HomePod.
During the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese: (1) did not destroy the American attack carriers. (2) did not destroy the ammo dumps (3) did not destroy the maintenance and repair shops (4) did not destroy the aviation and heavy oil depots (5) did not knock out army airforce airfields, army bases and naval piers (6) did sink some obsolete battleships and kill approximately 3000 american soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.
Did not destroy battleship x the USS South Dakota. I knew someone who was on that battleship
The IJN did not see logistics as important as destroying an enemy's fighting fleet.
The priority was carriers and airfields first. Then battleships. Next, cruisers, destroyers, and cargo ships, in that order.
Oil tank farms, repair facilities, etc. were at the bottom of the list.
They even ignored a brand new heavy cruiser for old battleships.
Also important, the dry docks were still there and started work shortly after the attack.
Of the eight United States Navy battleships present, all were damaged and four were sunk. But, all but USS Arizona were later raised, and six were returned to service. Mostly what Japan accomplished was p*$$ing off the United States and ensuring their own destruction.
enjoyed and learned much from the video. a map of Guadalcanal would have been a great addition.
You alway do such a great job, with these ..thank you.
Really, really good. Thank you !
Doolittle and his men HAD to know there was a really good chance this was going to be a one-way ride..but the notion of being the first American to give these sons of the emperor a preview of coming attractions was a temptation they just couldn't pass up..but the B-25's were one thing...wait til they see the B-29's....
After Midway, Yamamoto’s fears were realized. He’d seen it before anyone else: it was no longer a question of when Japan would win, but IF. If, they could survive America’s navy when it was built back up three times bigger.
My father fought in the battle of Midway and told me great stories of the Japanese bombers flying over his head as he and another soldier much taller and the bomb came down infront of them and the percussion knocked them back on their backs. My dad didn’t get touched but the taller soldier got cut across his mid section from shrapnel. He said the Japanese subs would pop up at night and bomb the other side of the island and that’s where the higher brass slept and they blew up the building and killed all inside.
When they first landed on the island the CBs left the mattresses and so my dad’s men took them to sleep on them and the first night they found out why they were outside- they had bed bugs all over them at night time when they slept and ended up throwing them away into the ocean just the same
I met the last living pilot of the Doolittle raid!! He told everyone in the lobby of the hospital at Lackland AFB his version of the story!! It was Amazing.
Did he say anything new about it that no one had known before? Which pilot?
After the reverses suffered by their Kwantung Army at Nomonhan and Khalkin Gol, the Imperial Japanese Army was rightly wary of further confrontations with the Soviet Union. That was a major reason for vetoing Yamamoto's suggestion to attack the USSR.
And when WII ended, the Soviets disarmed the Kwantung Army, and turned the weapons and munitions over to the Chinese Communists.
Great video, Yamamoto, was right. At that time Australians, had a lot of civilian firearms. Doolittle raid was meant to let the Japanese know that America would fight and strike their home teŕitory
Everyone always thinks they’ll be home for Christmas, but it never works out that way.
At the risk of irritating my American friends, the USA was warned and advised repeatedly by the British as to the unintended consequences of interfering in Pacific and Sino affairs. The Brits told Teddy Roosevelt not to encourage the war between Russia and Japan over control of Manchuria. That war completely backfired on Roosevelt when he realised an Asian army had defeated a Caucasian army, a notion that clashed with his interpretation of American Exceptionalism and the innate superiority of the white race.
Roosevelt betrayed Japan on the issue of reparations, and that laid the seed of xenophobic anger with the nation, as we saw explode during the 30's and 40's.
The bizarre thing was that the Japanese were isolationist due to the fear of European ingress into Asia - with the Portuguese leading the way. The US effectively forced the nation to reengage and rebuild its military capability - and we all know the unintended consequence of that.
We're needing a sprawling Netflix dramatisation of US policy in this theater between 1850 to 1950. Your average American would be astounded. If you want to narrow it down, start with 1890's McKinlay.
I will say this. The USA created the Japanese war machine and unleashed it for narrow and dubious purposes against Imperial Russia. What happened next was one of the greatest examples, possibly the greatest example, of unintended conequences in history.
Bro, you should pay somebody to do some animations with your voice over. You'd have a million subs in no time.
its ai
The F4F’s soon learned to use the “Thatch Weave” developed by Jimmy Thatch and first jested successfully against Zero’s at Midway.
People don't seem to understand the Japan never ever thought it was going to win or even fight a prolonged war with the United States. They had hoped to knock out our aircraft carriers and do so much damage at Pearl Harbor that we would simply sue for peace as a result of an inability to be able to fight the prolonged war. They were counting on a devastating first attack that would put us on our knees. But because they didn't get the aircraft carriers, that allowed us to counter punch at Midway and sink four of theirs. And for all of the success they initially had at Pearl harbor, it was a strategic failure because the targets that they were going after were not there. They failed to deliver the immediate knockout they were hoping for
You say Japan didn’t expect to win and they describe how they expected to win. If the US sued for peace as a result of Pearl Harbor, that is Japanese victory. Literally the definition of victory in war.
Because of spies, the Japanese had to know the carriers were not there. Maybe they were too far along to stop or delay the attack.
@wallyshedd3157 Perhaps I can help you with your reading comprehension. I know it's hard, but sound the words out and try to follow along. I said that Japan never expected to engage in or win a prolonged war. PROLONGED. Meaning that they expected to strike such a devastating blow right out of the gate that we would sue for peace and get us to remain uninvolved in the affairs of their conquest of the Pacific rim. Even Japanese military leadership realized that a sustained, multi-year war with the United States would not end well because of our manufacturing base, population, and access to energy. That's why the entire attack was designed to be devastating and sudden. I hope that helps, and if you're still confused, look up the word prolonged. And judging by your picture, you're too old to be illiterate.
@@wallyshedd3157 prolonged, wally
@@richardbullwood5941 Now now... that was uncalled for. As for your assumption that Japan never thought to win, you apparently didn't listen to this story or contemplated Japanese history. Our narrator stressed that there were divisions in the government. Some felt that they shouldn't war with the Americans & the West, because they felt they couldn't win a protracted war. BUT there is another side, which was calling most of the shots, felt otherwise. They beat the Russians earlier (1905), then successful fought with China, and then pushed the British and Americans out of Philippines and other territories... they felt they couldn't be beaten.
Nicely narrated. A good summary, thank you.
You couldn’t find a few more pictures to go along with this fine documentary
Jack Taylor, founder of Enterprise Leasing, served on the Enterprise. He named his company after the ship he served on.
Doolittle Raid demonstrated how audacious and creative the US was willing to go to win that war.
Not just war at everything.
Admiral Yamamoto knew beforehand of America's industrial might and resolve. That's why he didn't want war. But, I'm sure he was shocked at how early America did this raid.
I have always been of the opinion that not attacking the fuel tank farms at Pearl Harbor was a huge mistake on Japan's part. Without those tanks the US Navy would have been mobility constrained by needing to keep tankers in harbor to store fuel (rather than making deliveries) and oilers (not at sea replenishing ships) while the tank farms were repaired and then replenished over many months of deliveries.
And then there is Midway where the ships used in the diversionary attack of the Aleutians could have instead been used in support of Midway and possibly changed that outcome given that it would have added 4 additional carriers to the Kido Butai and provided them seaplane support for additional scouting rather than the largely ineffective attempt to divert forces away from Midway (which did not really happen since the US ships largely were already in Alaska or came from West Coast bases Naval Bases in Washington and California).
There was no diversionary attack, the aleutians invasion was an independent operation. Both operations were supposed to start at the same time, so no diversionary value at all. Also, I think the japanese used 2 carriers in that operation, not 4.
@@rodrigorincongarcia771 I got 4 from the order of battle but I just noticed one is listed twice so only 3, seaplane carrier Chiyoda, light carrier Ryūjō, andHiyō-class carrier Jun'yō along with all the other combat vessels in support. As for the objectives of the Aleutians campaign I have seen split opinions so yours is certainly valid. A quick google shows that the Naval War College aligns to your statement calling it a "complimentary" operation to Midway rather than a diversion. In any case NOT doing both operations simultaneously would have allowed more power projection at Midway and that is undeniable. Bad planning and overconfidence along with the absence of Zuikaku who's airwing was lost at Coral Sea but could have had a composite airgroup created from the remnants of Zuiho and Shokaku air groups, but for some reason they did not do this.
You are 100% correct about the BIG MISTAKE of not attacking the oil tank farm.
Their biggest mistake was not launching a third and maybe even a fourth attack wave. Pearl Harbor's defenses were very limited after the first 2 waves, and there were plenty of easy targets left. When your enemy is down, you hit him even harder! You don't turn around and sail home.
@@larrybremer4930 Midway operation didn't lack air power because of the Aleutian attack. Actually, the Imperial Navy headquarters decided to launch this operation to take advantage of those assets Yamamoto had already discarded for Midway. In other words, without the Aleutian operation, Midway would have been attacked by exactly the same forces.
@@JugSouthgate The Japanese did not know where the US carriers were, and were very concerned of a surprise attack. Also the Japanese had never planned a third wave. It was a spur of the moment discussion on board the carriers. This does point to definite differences between US and Japanese thinking. If reversed I am sure the Navy would have scrapped together a third attack. To the Japanese command, the mission had been completed, with far less losses than expected, so orders had been followed to the letter, time to head for home boys
Propinquity…. had to look that one up. learned something new today… in addition to the great history lesson.
Two grenade throwbacks.... imagine being either guy in that?
Two words on both sides are being uttered "holy Sh*t!"
Would be fascinating to project what Japanese planners would have done had the Doolittle Raid not happened. The raid achieved absolutely nothing on a strategic level but did influence Japanese strategy into being a bit more cautious and less hyper-aggressive. Just maybe they would have overextended themselves critically (while underestimating the US) to a point when the US would pounce and then consequently achieve some major victories. Simply put : the Doolittle Raid “helped” the Japanese plan better strategically. Please be assured that I in no way am trying to detract away from the bravery and dedication of all the men who made the Doolittle Raid possible. Some paid the ultimate price for that courage. I do acknowledge that it gave a much needed boost in morale to the whole American nation.
It was more for American morale in my opinion.
Great story!!
Yamamoto had attended Harvard and did not expect that this attack would actually convince the American government to agree to peace. His comments about occupying the West Coast was due to clear implausbility of a successful conquest of the West Coast.
As an Australian I was extremely interested in this episode. However, I was really not able to understand the narrative on its own. I would have appreciated a map background with the fighting areas highlighted during the narrative and a few pics. Pictures would not add to clarity, just make the screen experience a bit more interesting.
Nobody ever spends much time talking about the 250,000 Chinese civilians that were slaughtered by Japan afterward because they allowed Doolittle’s raiders to land. Those are the people who paid the price for the Doolittle raid.
Very interesting information but it would have been much more helpful to have shown maps of the battles rather than an hour long display of a Japanese seaplane!
...excellent use of maps, pictures of military personal cited & videos of said battles really brought this recording together...
...was cassette or 8-track used for the audio?
Mama lost a brother in the Philippines flying a medical plane out with wounded never found. Mama unlike daddy who was a paratrooper 82nd respected the Germans, mama disliked the Japanese very much.
The Japanese were brutal at war. It would have been impossible for anyone to like them. They would have had better success against America and Britain if they had treated their fellow Asians better in the conquered lands. Brutality lost them the war much quicker.
Racism? Pretty common back then...never would have dropped an A Bomb on Berlin...
With names like Mama and Daddy, racism and close-minded distrust of different cultures are understandable.
@@barbaraguntfat3047 What are you talking about, guntfat? Got any relevant experience to share, or are you just an empty troll?
My grandfathet was one of those bomber pilots. Became a POW
He hated Asians until the day he died. Right or wrong, I understand why.
Heard stories as a kid from a bunch of those guys you see on history documentaries.
"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass".
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Justification for the Second Amendment
He actually never said that. It's just a typical urban legend that has been repeatedly disproven over the last 80 plus years.
i call BS!
@@stephenbrecht1696 Yamamoto never said that; no need for the second amendment.
@@rlkinnardSelf-defense is a need always. You might get a call for cops to save yourself and family, hours later or whatever? Also, all tyrannical governments first disarms the people, make guns illegal. Why? To make the people easier to oppress.
Japan: Invades north of Australia and marches towards Sydney.
Australia: Just wait, in 5 months one bloke will stagger in and surrender to a traffic warden.
Yamamoto didn't take Churchill into account. If Churchill wouldn't give into the much closer Germans why would the Japanese get special consideration?
I think the distance would play into the Japanese favor. I would be more worried about a rabid dog down the road than one the next town over so to speak. Also, I think every nation had good reason to think they would be treated different or at least better than Germany. Germany never really was just a nation like everyone else, the moment they were formed they were the biggest kid on the block trying to edge their way into the global power game as china has been doing these past few decades. Thirty years after Germany's formation WWI happened which ended with the neutering of what had been for a short time the most powerful of them all. When the Treaty of Versilia was signed many thought it unjust and that it would guarantee a second war of German retribution. The nations in power after WWI had everything to gain from keeping Germany as weak as possible and everything to lose should Germany ever recover and so acted to keep Germany at every opportunity. That is not to say that I believe the Japanese were not fools for expecting the reaction that they did, but I don't think it was entirely irrational.
Why should the Japanese have cared about Churchill?
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus For all intents and purposes, Churchill was England at that time. Not taking Churchills reaction into account is like not taking England's reaction into account. It would be like American politicians being entirely ignorant of Xi Ji Pings personality quirks. Sadly, I am sure many of them are ignorant of his character.
@@fantabuloussnuffaluffagus
Why wouldn't the Japanese take the British empire into account, seeing as they went to war with them at the same time as the United States?
@@reginabillotti Because the Brits had their hands more than full with the Germans, were half a world away, and well past their prime.
A nice video, but I thought you might want to know that there's some strange, quiet, low bass noise that I think is being inserted by your editing techniques, because I hear it after every 2nd or 3rd sentence, and it's always in between the sentences. You may need a subwoofer to hear it, or you might be able to see it if you use a spectrum analyzer plugin with whatever DAW you're using.
I can hear it in my headphones too.
Rather than a photo of a Japanese plane the entire video, it would have helped to have some maps that corresponded with the narration.
I have a feeling a lot of these videos are AI generated at this point. What book is this from?
The Japanese dispersed everyone involved in Midway except the pilots, thus losing many aircraft technicians who could have helped on other carriers.
The Japanese philosophy of keeping the most experienced people, like pilots, in the front throughout the war only made sense if they planned on a quick war. The US cycled people back to train new people based on experience rather than just theory.
While this cut down on the number of ace pilots early, it meant the US second tier were vastly better than their Japanese equivalent.
They lost well over a thousand of their best maintenance techs at Midway when their carriers were sunk. And they had years of training that simply could not be replaced.
Any survivors of Japanese defeats were kept well away from Japan / Korea / China, where they could tell the truth. They were shuttled around to the locations of "glorious victories that happen ever closer to home". Anybody who survived all that was very lucky.
Also imagine being in the Japanese army, confident the navy has your back in that little side-show war. You are involved in an actual victory that captures a stubborn Chinese trench. Then the next day you get told "we lost, time to home. BTW your whole street is ash."
A second big effect of the Dolittle raid is that the Japanese realocated thousands of troops to guard the homeland. It was a shock to the entire country to find out they were vulnerable to attack. The attack served it's purpose and was a huge shock to all of Japan!
Amazing education here thank you.
Interesting, but EXCEEDINGLY hard to follow. I suggest a remake with at least 1 map showing the places mentioned and a timeline of events. There is too much back and forth of dates and names.
some maps would have been nice...
I do think maps are nice...but you can easily add them yourself... In that most devices allow two windows to split the screen. For vids like this, I almost always have my android phone screen split with the one screen on a browser and then will open a series of tabs with relevant wikipedia articles and similar references that I refer to as needed.
The Doolittle raid doesn't seem to be in this video at all.
The fleet at Pearl Harbor was severely damaged, but not destroyed. The Japanese did not hit the dry dock, which means the damage could be repaired. The fuel storage tanks were not touched, so the fleet has the ability to leave the harbor and make noise. Ultimately, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had his wish for America to be in World War II.
Churchill wanted and needed America's entry even more than FDR.
Yamamoto expected to win the war in a few months... or not at all. So, by the time the battleships could have been fixed it would no longer matter. I guess, from that point of view (and not having enough planes to destroy everything) it made sense to focus on destroying the fighting forces (planes, ships...) and forget about everything else.
The fuel storage tanks at Pearl Harbor were scheduled to be destroyed by the third wave of Japanese planes. However, after the first two waves of attack, and fearing the American carriers had been notified of the attack by then, the third wave was called off, and the Japanese fleet high tailed it back to Japan. This plan of action cost the Japanese dearly later in the war, especially at Midway.
Don't forget the luck of the (4?)US Aircraft Carriers not being at Pearl Harbor
@@actionsouthnewsouthnetwork5690it seems as if FDR knew it was coming
Missed the part of the "Doolittle Raid". Must've drifted off?
what would help this narration would be maps of the areas concerned as they are discussed
To be fair it would at least triple the effort of production, especially if any rudimentary animation of the maps were employed, or even overlaying to show positions of contesting forces.
It is hard to imagine that the Japanese were not aware that most of the fleet in Pearl Harbor was refloated, repaired and returned to combat. Only three ships were actually destroyed.
Did I miss the part about Doolittle?
Anyone know the book being read?
*Wow… what a blunder. Japan thought that occupying Hawaii and the US West Coast would bring Americans to the negotiating table? That would have brought us straight to Japan!*
It can be hard to imagine, but the Japanese had come to think of Western troops as useless cowards. Look at the fall of Singapore - 30k Japanese troops attacked a garrison force of 85k and captured the entire force with only very modest casualties. They expected to be able to do this to all western forces everywhere -no reason 100k Japanese soldiers can't conquer all the way to Washington DC!
they were never going to invade hawaii or the west coast. army was bogged down in china
The Japanese developed an impression of invictablity fighting weak unarmed countries. They eventually would learn a hard lesson that Americans were not weak usually in the last fleeting moments of their life.
Bro really thought he was going to invade america by going down through canada from alaska and occupy the west coast? Would have had a better chance at collecting all the dragon ballz and wishing america out of existence.
There never was a plan to go any further than the Aleutian Islands. One, it was a diversion to the main operation to destroy the American carrier forces, hopefully to draw them north away from Midway.
Second, strategically the Japanese would control the North Pacific, stop the Americans from using the Aleutians to launch attaks on the Kuril Islands, and, perhaps the Japanese could use the Aleutians to launch raids on the Canadian and US west coast.
Uh.... is there a part 2? A list? Links?
The Japanese army found out about the defeat 4 days after the arrived home.
(A.) On the one hand, negotiating a Peace agreement with the USA.
(B.) Then, out of the blue? A massive surprise attack on Pearl Harbor?
(C.) WHAT did these people expect 🤔 us to do? Roll over and play dead?
They awakened the "sleeping giant". And paid the price for their folly.
This was great but 30 minutes too long. I wasn't able to stay focused enough to dedicate an hour listening to a soothing sopophoric voice while staring at a Japanese sea plane. I fell asleep twice before the half hour mark.
Maybe work on your passive focus and ADHD but otherwise yeah it can be rough
Change the playback speed to 2x...
Very interesting...but why nust show a photo of an old plane?Surely there are photos of Yamamoto...etc etc?...
Etc etc ....more photos.. etC. ..etc...
I talked with a man that served as MP in Japan under MacArthur, he told of a story many told about MacArthur. A junior officer was sent to meet with MacArthur, when he came back they asked him, did you meet GOD? His response was, no but I met GODs boss!
In 1942, Chief-of-Everything King approved Admiral Kelly's early plans to roll back Japan because they were the exact plans King told Kelly to develop. Kind of a one-man show.
Those plans were based on Naval strategies developed in the 1920s to counter a Japanese offensive. There were modifications due to Carrier development.