Watch our episode on the "True Size of a Spartan Army" which covers their organization, formations, and fortifications: ua-cam.com/video/XLd1tab8f0c/v-deo.html
It might be the only story he can tell but, but he is one of the few who are qualified to actually tell the story. That was his life's work that he offered for us, and I'm grateful he was the one to tell it.
Craig Symonds is an amazing historian and does such a great job with the presentation. I do know that he hosts a lot of these sorts of interviews and symposiums so he is practiced when it comes to explaining the subject.
This exactly. I did reports on Midway as a kid, read plenty of books about it, watched specials of it, and have listened to these facts dozens of times. But I sat through it all from start to finish again because he just told the story so well.
The real MVP here is trollmaster USS Nautilus that spooked the Kido Butai and made a destroyer chase it. Then that destroyer rushing to return to the fleet unintentionally gave a direction for McClusky's lost squadron to follow.
@@cluster4583 Don't forget it made the group from Yorktown to attack at the same time. If they didn't chase destroyer they would have attacked at different times. The little ripple effects that changed history. Maybe it even goes more deeper like some co captain convinced the submarine commander to go a certain direction to find the kido betai. 1 Person could have changed history.
@@mysteryman2219 u know just before he iron Fist strike on the kido butai 15 devastators came strike em and all the zeroes gone to destroy those torpedo equiped devastator now ofc torpedo bombers r in low altitude so zeroes also gone down away from the carriers to destroy em and right after that iron Fist came none zeroes were thr to protect the carriers + japanese were just gna strike yorktown when the iron Fist came so some planes were on the deck fueled and equiped with torpedoes and bombs and that started a chain reaction
@@cluster4583 you know the Japanese wouldn’t have done what the American soldiers did and break away like that without orders. They were like robot when it came to orders, that’s why one commander on the Japanese side wouldn’t break protocol and it cost them as they got stuck trying to convert the ship to attack other ships rather than launch planes when the Americans started hitting them. That one squadron leader did an incredible job following his instincts and taking a risk on low fuel like that and it led to the mother load.
My Grandfather was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He then fought in The Solomons and Guadalcanal campaigns. He was severely wounded at Guadalcanal but recovered and then sent to The European Theater. He then fought in The Rhineland and The Ardennes. He survived WWII. He ultimately received 3 Purple Hearts and 3 Bronze Stars. I thank God for The Greatest Generation. They saved the world once. We need to be the generation to save it again before it is too late.
Jesus, assuming you’re telling the truth, that means he’s one of the few Americans who managed to get involved in both the East and Western Theaters. Good lord my man. Mad respecc. God bless him for his service.
Japan: dame those Americans are masters of war tactics! First they made our fighters to go low so their dive bombers can attack unopposed, so afterwards their second dive bombers group can flank us from the rear, what a masterpiece of planning! Such precision! America: dunno wtf happened but we won
My granddad fought in this battle. He was a dive bomber on the Yorktown. Im so incredibly proud of him. Seeing things like this means so much to me. He passed a couple of years ago. He never really talked about his service, but he was always such a happy and funny guy
What an awesome guy! I have a lot of respect, for fighter pilots dive bombers and torpedo bombers. If I was alive back then I would want to be a dive bomber or a fighter
The Yorktown was one of three ships my father served on during WWII. He was a Radioman on the Yorktown during The Battle of the Coral Sea, then was transferred to the Enterprise while the Yorktown was being repaired. And was a Radioman on the Enterprise during the Battle of Midway. One story he told me... he was working on one of the antennas on the Yorktown when he decided to take break and grab something to eat. Not 5 minutes after he closed the hatch, a Japanese fighter crashes into the spot where he and a sailor had been working. Gives you an idea of what a difference a couple minutes can make.
I know this is very intense, but minutes are a lot. Just walking over a street: Instead of minutes its seconds deciding whether you can walk over it or getting hit by a car. Its still crazy! But time is critical all the... time.
You’re rightly so proud of him and so are all Americans 🇺🇸 Japanese lost all of their skilled aviators who had been reigning havoc all over Asia since the mid 1930s, bombing China and other countries and islands as they seized them. But they always kept their skilled pilots flying , whereas we sent many of ours back home to TEACH at our military flying schools . It was a wise move and yielded crop after crop of great pilots.
Prof. Symonds is not only an expert, he's a great storyteller. I am going to have to read his book. Midway is a fascinating episode in the Pacific theater of WWII.
*Eddie, Matthew and I Art:* Never confuse efforts with results. This is a life lesson that separates successful people from those who eke by and merely exist rather than lead or win the game of life.
Some might say it's dumb luck. Some might say the subconscious mind made you make those foolish mistakes because it had a better idea and didn't want your dumb conscious mind to know what it was so you wouldn't bungle it up. I practice subconscious integration and when I make remarkable unconscious mistakes I assume it's the hand of the devil..
@DiscordChaos Probably not really true, a good trained crew of any nation would immediately recognize any enemy tank no matter what is painted on it. The white star was just terrible in general because it just ruins the camouflage of the tank, more of a pride thing if anything.
I have read about wars that have occurred over millennia. But I simply never grasped how devastating battles could be. Four aircraft carriers, hundreds of aircrafts that took years to build, pilots that took years to train, lives that were lived for decades each - all for a day’s worth of war. I am reminded of some naval battles of Punic wars where tens of thousands of lives went to Neptune, along with fleets that took years to raise. It’s a sobering thought. Makes one thankful for the peace that we have learned to keep at the cost of so many lives.
Americans: Breaking orders, flying off allone into suicide missions, getting lost and flying to the wrong place Japanese Admiral: Oh my god, they outmaneuvered us, sacrficed and coordinated their attacks perfectly. They are the true master of war.
One of the accounts that I watched said the Japanese could get a full fighter umbrella up in 7 minutes. The Americans took an hour to get their torpedo planes off of the Yorktown. Isn't that what being American was back then? You tell them they are outgunned, out trained, outnumbered, and have no chance to even live and Americans be like: Okay fine, is my plane fueled and armed? I need to sink some boats.
Not really relevant, IMO. Carl von Clausewitz: "War is the realm of chance." Helmut von Moltke: "No plan survives the first contact with the enemy." George S. Patton: "Battle is an orgy of disorder."
Almost 30 years ago, I was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. Professor Symonds was a cool, young department head running the History Department. His classes were the best, so much so, that I chose to be a history major. Great to see that his knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is still there. Great video.
Ray Barata, the Japanese definitely had the equipment to destroy the whole American fleet. Japanese had little info on American positions. The switching of bombs & Torpedos were self evident of this lack of info. That was a huge mistake of having bombs scattered on their carriers decks. I seriously think if the Japanese had reliable intelligence. They would have destroyed the American carriers. U.S. planes were obliterated trying to attack the Japanese carriers. They didn't get in one hit on Japanese carriers & battle ships
@@davidvance6367 The one thing that the Japanese didn't have was radar. That meant that we could get close before their spotters could get a visual. Our PBY Catalinas and other aircraft also gave us some advantage leading up to the start of the engagement. No radar, though, was a big problem for the Japanese.
"The reason that the American army does so well in wartime is, is that war is chaos, and the American army practices chaos on a daily basis" -German Officer
I don't know how I missed this video when it first came out. I have read several of Professor Symonds' books. In fact, I took one of his classes when he was teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy. That happened to be a course on the the Civil War to Modern America. Professor Symonds is a subject matter expert on the Civil War, and the same is can be said regarding WWII. He was without a doubt my most favorite professor when I was at the Academy, and I've been a student of history ever since. What a masterful story teller he was.
The best explanation and narration of Midway I've heard. He tells how our victory was about 1/3 luck, 1/3 pilot courage and 1/3 skill of our codebreakers. He doesn't paint it with a patriotic brush. Pretty good.
@@5133937 no it isn’t. You’re putting the carriage in front of the horse. Had the IJN used the right battle plan and used their battleships, cruisers, and destroyers then the code breaking and chance and luck go out the window.
あなた？どこの国ですか？ 何故？敗戦する事が悪いのか？ 日本は、アジアの為に戦ったのです。 反省などしません 反省するのは、無差別爆撃をやった 連合国です。反省するべし！ 二発の原子爆弾は、人体実験です！ you? What country are you in? why? Is it bad to lose the war? Japan fought for Asia. I will not reflect Reflecting on the indiscriminate bombing Allied. You should reflect on it! The two atomic bombs were human experimentation!
@@f430ferrari5 ...If we had some ham, we could have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs. Meaning, you can do hypothetical 'what ifs' all day and all night, but some of us just want to understand and explain history. First of all, it was lucky the US aircraft carriers were out to sea during the Pearl Harbor attack. It was skill and talent that allowed the code breaking of the Japanese military transmissions. It was a mistake for Japan to not listen to Yamomoto and to underestimate American character, ability and resources. Finally, like war often is, luck in battle played a major role in its outcome. A few degrees of difference in pilot aim could have led to another defeat for America. These all played a part in Midway.
I agree. I have watched and read many accounts of the battle. This is by far the most informative, especially since it is also one of the shortest. And, out of all accounts, only this one really hits home the fact that not even all of our aircraft was in the fight. The poor Yorktown. I walked past a very old man walking bent over and relying heavily on a cane in the grocery store about a year ago wearing a Yorktown hat. It took several second before I realized it had CV-5 under the "Yorktown". I ran back and asked him, "You were really on the original Yorktown... the CV-5?". He said, "Yes", taken aback a little I even knew the difference. I asked him, "Were you on her at Midway?". "Oh yeah... I was there. The hit and runs, the Coral Sea. I... I watched her go down", he replied, and you could see it all come back to him. I stood there in disbelief and said, "Sir, it is indeed an honor and a privilege to meet you". It's then I also noticed the two silver bars on the brim. I went to attention and saluted saying, "SSgt Fifer, United States Air Force Lieutenant. Thank you for your service and for saving this country". He looked at me, forced himself to stand up straight, and gave a stiff salute back. As I walked away I turned my head... he was walking straight up and proud as he headed to the checkout. I'm crying as I type this just thinking about it.............. And to think that most college students now don't even know there WAS a WW2.
Don F 11.16.19. If I may suggest, read Incredible Victory by Walter Lord. Dan F, thank you for being so observant! What a beautiful account of you’re encounter, had you not noticed his hat with the CV-5 we would never of known of this chance encounter! You are correct to state that most college students are unaware of America’s past history in World War II and in this case the Pacific theater so early in the war! How very pivotal that battle was❗️
Craig Symonds is the essence of a great historian: A superb storyteller who vividly brings history, the events and the people who made it, come actively alive for us to savor. Well done, Mr. Symonds! Excellent visuals also, supporting your narrative.
In the 70's I met ensign George Gay who was shot down inside the Japanese fleet and spent the battle watching from the water. He had an interesting perspective.
His was the OFFICIAL perspective -- and is now codified into USN lore. His account is considered the best account of a naval action -- ever. (!) Gay seems to have had a photographic mind.
Imagine floating in the water, knowing your entire squadron was destroyed without anything to show for it and thinking the battle would most likely be lost... then suddenly seeing your dive bombers come out of nowhere and decimate the enemy fleet.
Despite the American deaths, the fact that Japan suffered such an earth shattering defeat makes me feel extremely grateful for those brave American airmen.
My grandfather was a Merchant Marine that joined when he was 16, dropped out of school to do so. He survived three separate ships being sunk, once by the Germans, twice by the Japanese. Funnily enough, his father was on the ship that saved the surviving crew of the third ship's sinking. Incredible man with a long and storied career as Chief Engineer.
Goodness, the story of three carriers lit up in 5 minutes still sends shivers down my spine. I saw the Heston-Fonda movie in the theater, as a wee tyke. It affected me the same then as it does now. Stunning bit of history.
I am teaching 3-5th graders about WW2 in a homeschool class. I can't wait to see their faces light up as they watch portions of this easily understandable video! Kuddos to all involved.
Anyone remember Riker's line from the Contagion episode: "Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." According to IMDB, this line is based on a statement by 19th-century German Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck: "God loves children, drunkards, and the United States of America." May she always be under His protection.
True, Jade. A pity about the slight hiccough near the end: two 'heavy carriers' when he meant to say two 'heavy cruisers'; but that's just nitpicking on my part. A most enjoyable talk from an expert.
Sun Tsu says “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” shows how important it is to have intelligence.
@hognoxious Geezers will always get off tangent in finding ways to justify their existence and than spout out pointless arguments showing that they don't even know what they don't know and consequently they think they know.
So much credit is given to the carrier group for this victory, and it is well earned. But the marines on Midway who forced the need for a second attack seem to be overlooked.
@@kbanghart The USS Hornet absolutely were not part of the individuals who had a hand in the victory. What the Hornet did led to Enterprise and Yorktown having to fend for themselves and be the only planes to bomb the Japanese fleet and Yorktown ended up getting sunk by the Japanese. Why doesn't anybody here talk about the complete failure by Admiral Marc Mitscher and Commander Stanhope C. Ring (of course this infamous squadron commander doesn't even have a Wikipedia page because the Navy doesn't want his name and failure to become well-known and tarnish the reputation of Admiral Mitscher and the USS Hornet) of the USS Hornet who completely failed their mission and the bombers, fighters, and scouts went on a goose chase called the "Flight to Nowhere"? The intelligence aspect of Midway is highly overrated. They all knew something was going to happen at Midway with or without the intelligence. Nimitz actually had very limited intelligence unlike what the movie and documentaries try to portray, hence the lucky sighting of that final destroyer of the Japanese fleet. And that lack of good intelligence was what led to the disaster of the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere". Hornet's failure to contribute anything at Midway led to the loss of Yorktown. It was a complete fluke that Halsey who was not in a right state of mind due to stress and the skin condition was not there at Midway because he was very offensive-oriented unlike the calm and collected and conservative Spruance. The Enterprise's bombers and Yorktown's bombers actually hit the first three Japanese carriers to be sunk at the same time in a completely uncoordinated fluke also. That was not a coordinated perfectly timed attack from two separate carriers from completely different coordinates. That accidentally simultaneous strike was one of the greatest fluke joint attacks in the history of war. Here is what happened with the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere". 15 Hornet torpedo bombers led by their leader who knew exactly where the Japanese fleet was located told his commanding officer who was in charge of the rest of Hornet's planes where the fleet was but the commanding officer in the lead plane told him the fleet is actually northwest. What ended up happening was all 15 Hornet torpedo bombers were destroyed with no hits on any Japanese ships and all the Wildcat fighters in that group had to crash into the ocean due to running out of fuel. You know what happened to Mitscher and Stanhope Ring? Nobody punished or investigated them and Ring became an ADMIRAL while Mitscher was promoted and went on to become one of the most famous "darlings" of the Central Pacific Campaign.
"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy" This was the basic difference. In view of incomplete information you cannot rigidly stick to plan and wait orders from the general for every minute detail (what Japanese did). The US and Germans gave wide freedom to field officers that increased the flexibility and adaptation to the quickly changing contitions during the battle. This was crystallized later in the OODA loop for pilots and other parts of the army. The US didn't won Midway because of luck but because they had very good training for lower officers.
Kelly Arthur Nagumo shouldn’t have to be making decisions. It seems apparent that you don’t want to have Fletcher or Spruance making decisions or being caught in a dilemma. When one has 11 battleships plus Yamato and 9 carriers with over 500 planes at their disposal and have 22 cruisers and 64 destroyers and your enemy only has 3 carriers with 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers then the dilemma belongs to the guys with the smaller force. It don’t matter if you know they are coming.
Kelly Arthur you’re not understanding the battle plan. Of course the 11 total battleships are not going after the US Task Force. 4 of them would though. The IJN had 4 Kongo class battleships capable of 30 knots. Yorktown was barely doing mid 20 knots. After she got hit the 1st time she slowed to 19 knots. So the concept in play is that IJN bomber pilots “wound” and slow carriers down by directing bombs to push the Us carriers west. Another 5 battleships are shelling Midway. The US pilots can’t all go after the IJN carriers. They have to address the battleships. Yes Fletcher would have a dilemma. He has to decide if he is to launch at all or abandon Midway. If he attacks then he needs to decide where to attack and with however many planes. What Fletcher doesn’t realize is that he’s totally outnumbered in this alt scenario.
That's true. That's why they had so many heroes. They were all thinking on their feet and had the balls to act on the slightest hunch. Japan, Including the Senior officer Nagumo couldn't make any decision without "perfect" information. Hence his wishy washy backtracking decision making that put his fleet into Jeopardy.
Being a Brit, talking to my parents, Grandparents, family and friends who lived and fought through the war I had at least some understanding of 'our' experience and the conflict ' over here.'I was aware of there was a massive significance to the Battle of Midway (and the USS Yorktown) but had very little knowledge about exactly why it was so significant to the war and the USA.This brilliant, concise documentary and commentary compacts so much, so clearly in such clarity.Thank you for the documentary and thank you to those brave servicemen who gave so much half a world away from where I am now and my parents and family were then.
Our culture of flexibility and critical thinking was crucial. Piecing together what the Japanese were up to. Faking the water plant problem. MacClusky turning into a box search. Best independently breaking off. Getting Yorktown ready at Pearl and after the first attack.
The presentation was extremely good...riveting...this is what happens when you have someone who is not only knowledgeable about the subject but passionate as well. Great stuff!!
Same thing happened when the US first bombed the Romanian City of Ploiesti, where the Germans were getting their oil from. # groups of B-24 bombers left North Africa from different places. main navigation plane broke down and had to abort. Rest got lost but managed to get to the city at the same time from 3 different directions. This made coordination of air defenses all but impossible. The Germans were in awe of the navigation skills and planning required so the 3 groups could arrive at the same time. After the war they found out it was just plain dumb luck.
Not quite. The raid on Ploiesti was in fact an allied failure. Shortly after the raid, the combined output of the surviving refineries in the region was higher than before the raid. Out of almost a dozen of refineries in the region, only a few got hit, and I believe only one was damaged beyond repair. More than a quarter of all planes making it to the target were lost to air defense and enemy aircraft. Most bombs didn't hit their target. Aircraft losses were disproportionate - less than 10 for the defending Axis forces to more than 40 for the attackers. I have a hard time believing this is the result of a coordination-less air defense.
@@a0flj0 I wasn't commenting on the success or failure of the mission, and didn't even bother mentioning that the damage was quickly repaired. I was commenting how failures in navigation and execution of the plans led to attacks from different directions that to the enemy seemed to be coordinated or even brilliant. It is the details of these things add to the flavor of events and make them more real.
@@tomb7088 Not quite. Its quite a rapid drop from the mountains down to the flood plain where ploesti is. Youve got to lose about 4000 ft of alititude in about 12 miles for the low level runs they were attempting. Some of the 88s were being fully depressed over open sights. Jerry had a field day that day. Tidal Wave is usually held up as an example of what NOT to do.
@@davidtuttle7556 Once again, not commenting of the relative victory or loss. The comment was how military navigational mistakes can and often happen and result in very interesting results. The attack on Ploiesti was not this massive failure so many seem to think it was. Excess capacity used during repairs was destroyed and German had to lavish wild amounts of resources to hold off additional attacks. It only included something like 180 planes, a far cry from the thousand plane raids just a year later. It was a learning experience, just like everything else tried the first few times. They also learned the so few planes never had a chance to accomplish such lofty goals. Try to no look at the scoreboard in limited terms. In war, its not just about scoring points as in baseball, it is far more often about moving your pieces into place like Chess.
Yorktown has been hit multiple times since its battle at coral sea Yorktown has suffered enough damage to be abandoned Yorktown pushed on despite the injuries and fought on Yorktown carried on until the last moment Be like Yorktown.
Ac Ze /The Yorktown was dunk 2 days after the battle as it was being towed back to Pearl Harbor and only after the Japanese spited the oil slicks it was trailing
Five carriers fought at Coral Sea (3 Japanese). Only the Yorktown survived to fight at Midway. IJN thought she was sunk at Coral Sea. They mistook her as two other American carriers at Midway, again believing they sank her. It took a submarine attack to finally sink her. Of the seven Japanese carriers she fought, five were sunk and two limped off to Japan.
This is probably my favorite video you've ever made. Craig Symonds is a fantastic narrator, and you're easy to understand illustrations add tons of clarity!
The Japanese doctrine was they knew exactly what America would do. They were wrong from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. The attack on Pearl Harbor was supposed to break American’s morale, make it seek a settlement with Japan. Instead it united the US with the goal to burn Japan to ashes. According to Japan’s midway plan the US forces would would be divided between the Aleutian diversion and the midway trap. Instead the US ignored the Aleutian Islands and set their own trap for the Kido Butai. And if the American fighters simultaneously found the Japanese carriers “by accident“ they were looking for them and the Japanese had no such happy accident; all their luck was bad. Japanese doctrine was the combat air patrol was to protect their carriers. When the dive bombers arrived Japanese doctrine failed completely.
I love this instructor. I would take every course he teaches or taught. Full. Stop. I’ve been a student of higher education long enough (too long!!) to recognize when a professor can communicate a fairly complex structure with multiple moving parts to an uninitiated audience (that would be be me) and yet-make it completely understandable and interesting. And leave his students eager to learn more on the subject. Brilliant! BRAVO!! Thank you, Sir!
Best video summary of the Battle of Midway which I've seen. Clearly lays out Nagumo's dilemma. Excellent illustration of where the US flight groups went, and when, and the results from each group. Superb narration.
It is shocking how the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere" is not talked a lot at all even though what the Hornet did was a complete disgrace and should be one of the biggest talking points of the Battle of Midway. Hornet's failure led to the loss of all her torpedo bombers due to becoming unescorted by the rest of Hornet's planes and many of the rest of Hornet's planes having to crash because they literally went on a Flight to Nowhere due to Admiral Mitscher and Commander Stanhope Ring's fault. Hornet's disastrous failure at Midway led to the loss of Yorktown and then later the losses of Hornet and Wasp at Guadalcanal led to Guadalcanal having to become the six-month long horrendous meatgrinding turning point of the Pacific War, not Midway. Imagine if Yorktown survived Midway and was available for Guadalcanal...One of the greatest what ifs in history.
Japanese: We're going to ambush the Americans. Nimitz: I ambush your ambush! Japanese: NANI!? Chester Nimitz is from Fredericksburg, Texas. The hotel where he grew up (speaking German, which was not uncommon in many parts of Texas) is still there as a museum, and there's a very nice Pacific War museum in town. Worth the trip if you're in the area... which you won't be - San Antonio or Austin are about as close as it gets for major cities.
*I think all of our 'Ice-Cream Suit Admirals' should have SHOT THEMSELVES for the shame of losing ships at Pearl Harbor thru negligence and incompetence...since they all knew far in advance that 'Pearl' was a 'prime target' for the Japanese and ALL had been warned that relations with Japan were 'critical' in terms of possible open warfare...these same 'posturing Peacocks' simply ignored everything or were too stupid to realize that attack from the air or sea could ANNHILATE ships at-anchor and so close together it would be virtually impossible to miss them!*
*I saw when it came-out and on TV...what has that got to do with what I wrote? You mean the scene at Pearl where a bullet 'pings' thru the glass window and the Admiral says "I wish the bullet had hit me"* *For reference...look-up 'Admiral Boorda- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff' who SHOT HIMSELF after being humiliated for the 'false wearing' of a 'Viet-Nam War Service' ribbon* ( *Admiral 'Bull' Halsey was a 'first-class pinhead' for forcing a carrier directly into gale-force winds in a typhoon! The wave-action was so high it bent the 'flight-deck' back like 'melted taffy' and did it AGAIN under the same circumstances with yet another ship! The man was a fucking menace with no intellect whatever that endangered an aircraft carrier just to follow 'General Orders' ...he managed to do something the Japanese could not...put a U.S. Carrier out-of-commission for WEEKS! These two incidents formed the basis for the book "The Caine Mutiny"* )
@@gerrynightingale9045 Quite simply, the War Department thought the Philippines to be the primary target - they were half right - it was a primary target. The War Department's failure as it relates to the Admirals was the still common sea battle doctrine of the battleship's primacy. The Army screwed up with their assumption of sabotage being the greatest threat. Be that as it may, it is doubtful the damage at Pearl Harbor would have been significantly decreased even if the Army could have launched more interceptors than they ultimately did. But the largest failure was, and it was only in hindsight - armchair quarterbacking - no one except the Japanese could imagine getting such a huge air fleet and support across such a great distance without detection or significant problems. The genius to the Japanese attack was being able to coordinate so many ships across a vast stretch of water, often in inclement weather, and keep ships fueled while maintaining a radio silence to put themselves into a position to launch. As much of an American failure or failures was Pearl Harbor, and while the Japanese attack was a tactical victory but a strategic failure, the Japanese being able to conceive of such an attack with such a great number of moving parts and even greater practical restrictions and still manage to pull it off in complete secrecy was a testament to the innovative genius of Genda and Yamamoto, as well as the operational ability of the IJN at the time - against great odds they pulled it off.
Excellent...incredibly excellent narration of what happened strategically in the Battle of Midway! My father served on the USS Louisville, a heavy cruiser, which survived direct hits by Kamikaze and forced the ship to limp back to Pearl Harbor for repair and refitting.
one of the gifts we have, is this amazing treat to have such a gifted historian comment so quickly, on a battle that happened so long ago - thank you Mr Symonds and thank you Invicta for bringing this incredible dissertation for us to view.
I just wanted to say that this format (expert talking, you making the video stuff like animation) is the most professional and polished video I've seen from you so far. I started watching this channel when it was only total war gaming videos and I really like the new content as most of us total war players are also into history.
I commend you for giving the most concise and complete description of the Midway battle. My father fought at D-Day but I have made it my task to understand and appreciate the greatest generation. You did it very well!!!
Best 24 minutes spent on the subject of Midway. Thank you Craig for your most interesting, clear, concise and immersive narrative of the key events of the battle. A story worth telling over and over again.
As a veteran myself... I can see precisely the same sort of "bro we just did whatever... and somehow we won" kinda thing playing out. Truth is that our greatest strength, as a force, is that we give our lesser leadership the ability to make decisions for themselves... and somehow... through the chaos, they find a way to get it to work in the most unbelievable ways possible... and it truly is unbelievable because half the time it's uncoordinated, but it just works because of timing and pure luck. We don't even know what we are doing half the time, and as the saying goes... if we can't know what we are going to do... then neither can the enemy know what we are going to do. Haha. Case in point... don't mess with us. We have no idea what we are doing. :P
its good because local unit leaders usually knows the exact situation of the surrounding theyre in, so acting on their own initiative usually brings better outcome.
Prepare the best you can, and put up a good plan- like the Calais deception for D-Day- then execute while praying for heavenly help- that's the "Lucky" factor, to my mind. And thanks after success.
The IJN's night-fighting ability was almost legendary. It's no surprise that Spruance wanted no part of a night-time engagement. Why would he take such a risk? He'd already accounted for four top-tier Japanese carriers, and lost a carrier himself. There was no reason to risk his two remaining carriers to engage in a fight where the Japanese would have an advantage. All objectives were attained: Midway was safe, so was Hawaii by extension, and four of the most dangerous naval air combat units had been put out of action.
@@mikespangler98 Yep. They sure as shit did. Savo Island showed the US Navy exactly what would have happened if Fletcher and Spruance had tried to engage Nagumo's remaining ships in a night fight.
@Russ Gallagher actually, no. The Mogami class had their 155 mm guns removed and placed on the Yamatos as secondary guns, with 8" guns just like all the other heavy cruisers replacing them. Actual Japanese light cruisers acted as destroyer leaders and had a bunch of single-mount 5.5" (or so) guns. In any event, Savo Island featured Chokai ⁹ten 8" guns), all four Aoba/Furutaka-class cruisers (six 8" guns), light cruisers Tenryu and Yubari (four and six 5.5" guns), and a lone destroyer Yunagi. The US, OTOH, kept their Brooklyn/St. Louis class light cruisers intact, found their rapid-fire 6" guns incredibly useful for swatting destroyers at night, and built two and a half-dozen more Clevelands and Fargos.
I agree, there was no reason to pursue into a night fight. Also, the main Japanese battle fleet had already turned back to Japan, so they had about a 300 mile head start, Our carrier fleet was faster but that is a lot of ground to catch up. To do so means the carriers at flank speed, which outruns nearly all their support vessels, tin cans, subs etc. and especially the very slow oilers and supply ships. They just fought a battle, the carriers probably needed supplies, ordnance and oil and AV fuel before starting a pursuit. I wouldn't start a pursuit with half a tank of oil minus all the ordnance and AV gas expended at Midway, I would like to be fully locked and loaded. A pursuit by the carriers would give the U.S. air superiority but not necessarily naval superiority in that situation. Just didn't make sense in a lot of ways. Besides, when a dog tries to bite you and you kick the snot out of it, you usually don't have to chase it to kick it again, he learned his lesson, that is why he is running away.
Great presentation. As a Naval Air veteran, I find these narrations, books, and film clips about Midway very fascinating. Your narrative is the best that I’ve seen and heard. What do you think would’ve happened if Yamamoto committed his other two carriers to Midway instead of the Aleutians? Also, what if he committed the Yamato, with her 18 inch guns, to the battle instead of being two hundred miles to the west? We’ll never know. Excellent narration.
We should remember that war is hell, and every man who lives through it is changed forever. My father was in the British Army fighting the Japanese during WW2 and never talked about it until the day he died. My thoughts go out to all who served in this terrible loss of life on both sides.
@@timhallas4275 Hi, Tim. OK, right, now I'm with you. If you'd said Ben Hur, I wouldn't have wasted our time. :) Glad you enjoyed the 1976 version; afraid I didn't much. One of the best things about it was (the late) Christina Kokubo. Could have watched the whole 132 minutes just on her. An absolute delight. What a shame she's no longer with us.
I been seeing this quote from Mike Tyson a lot lately. Its funny. I thought about it for a second and said "what a odd placement for a Mike Tyson quote" but it actually fits and it made me laugh.
Craig Simon's analytic presentation is brilliant. Precise, concise and his grammatical usage (especially his choice of adjectives) is a delight to listen to. Just great and thank you. - Dr. Steven Sprouse
I've got that book (audio version) and highly recommended it. In addition to the usual presentation on what happened like a normal history book he also spends lots of time talking about the personalities of the key people and the difference in culture. It brings the battle to life really helps you understand what happened and why.
EXCELLENT short analysis/explanation of the battle ! Uncomplicated and easy to follow, it said all that needed to be said. Well done, Invicta and Craig Symonds ! Thank You both !
The US pilots gave their lives by risking running out of fuel and looking for and attacking the enemy with brilliant strategy. From that day on The Japanese learned they under estimated the fighting spirit of the American Warrior. Those brave pilots should always be honored for their sacrifices. We lost most of them ...RIP true and faithful Patriots
It beats being too soft to protect your own country, surrendering to the same invader--twice--then having no choice but to beg for help from American farm boys to come toss them out--again.
It really makes you appreciate just how chaotic and unpredictable warfare is, reminds me that one quote from I think one of American Generals "The one who wins isn't the one who did everything right but the one who made the least mistakes."
@@InvictaHistory the illustrations help I'd say, and I'm more of a fan of your narrations but he did a honorable job. I'd share, but I'm banned from the digital town square.
Thank you Craig for collaborating with one of UA-cam’s best and brightest history channel. I loved the episode and to know the Invicta channel has such support from the academic realm melts my heart. Keep on kicking ass Invicti!!!
man this gave me insight into the reality of the fog of war. how many mistakes, accidents, miscommunications, and pure stroke of luck really played a part in a battle. nothing is for certain and they had to estimate everything, sometimes just wild guessing, to anticipate enemy intentions. the way they do things makes it feel so rudimentary and primitive. For example, box search sounds like a brute force exhaustive method that has no smart search algorithm in its design.
@@f430ferrari5 The carriers had priority for targets. Maybe when they were burning some bombs could be spared for the damage- sponge BBs. Best thing the BBs could've done was add to the flak screen, which was tattered when Yorktown & Enty's dive bombers arrived. With few heavy AA guns available and the carriers separated by repeated evasions the SBDs were practically dropping their bombs before flak was a factor.
@@observationsfromthebunker9639 what are you talking about. You clearly don’t understand what the US Naval War College stated in reference to how the IJN should have used their surface ships. The IJN carriers are further away from the US carriers/planes. You’re trying to say that the US planes would bypass the closer IJN battleships shelling Midway? Or are you trying to say the US carrier planes would have bombed the IJN battleships? With what? You obviously have no clue as to what the US had in its arsenal in 1942. They didn’t have sufficient armor piercing bombs and the torpedos and torpedo planes were junk. In the scenario of IJN carriers place behind the surface ships the IJN would have loaded their carriers with more fighter planes vs bombers. Why the need for extra bombers if battleships are shelling Midway. Even with a 2/3 mixture flip flop the number of fighter planes double to 160-170 vs only 80-85 in the actual battle of Midway. Two smaller IJN carriers Zuiho and Hosho would have been made better use of which would have added 35-45 more planes. Zuikaku could have been brought to Midway for CAP support. 75-80 more planes. The US was clearly potentially outnumbered. The IJN blew it.
I just saw the movie, "Midway", yesterday, and came away deeply impressed. While most war documentaries are over-dramatized and certain elements "hyped" for certain audience segments, this one is dramatically different. Credit is due scriptwriter Wes Tooke and his group for weaving an enormous amount of detail into a coherent story-- and presenting it in a clear, realistic and convincing fashion. If any of us thought we knew the story of Midway, we found we knew only the highlights from our history class(es). In fact, the victory was an amazing combination of sheer luck, and dogged determination. US Navy codebreaker Lt. Cdr. Rochefort, of Hawaii's station Hypo, played a key role, discovering the information that led to victory. Amazingly, it was only after the war that Rochefort got full credit for his contribution. As a stickler for detail, I found the movie's computer graphics approached a realism that made the movie work, on even its massive scale. Recreated were panoramic scenes of an American WW2 carrier battle group, faithfully depicted as the actual ships they were, and scenes of carrier night landings, deck crashes and explosions which surely will set a new bar for other movies to follow. Yes, I would have changed a few scene renderings, but the overall effect was excellent.
Manure. Ships don't travel that close together, his numbers are wrong and dive bombers come down sequentially at timed intervals, individually. Not in squadron groups.
for me, Henry Fonda will ALWAYS BE Chester Nimitz...Harrelson just carries too much comedic background baggage for a role this serious...the orig, to me, despite the Hoky back story of 'Merican boy loves inter'd Jap gal, told the story quite well, but I will give props to the remake for better graphics
If the Yorktown and Lexington (Press F) hadn’t fought the two other Japanese carriers in the Coral Sea the US would have faced off against 6 carriers at Midway instead of 4 and history could have been quite different. So not only was it the first Carrier v Carrier battle, the Coral Sea engagement had a large impact on future events in the Pacific.
This is about the best overview of the battle in about ten minutes you’re going to find. I resisted watching it for the longest time because of the thumbnail. I thought it was going to be just a telling of the 2019 movie, which is a pretty good movie, by the way. I was way wrong. This is worth every second of your time.
I think you'll find that this video provides a good overview. But if you really want to dig deep I recommend this video: "The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective" ua-cam.com/video/Bd8_vO5zrjo/v-deo.html
yeah right, ain't that what men wishes in today's age. until you can see for yourself the chaos and your comrades getting slaughtered and blood, guts, limbs, bodies, and heads getting blown out. not to mention the nonstop noices of planes, bombs, shells, and bullets piercing your eardrums till they bleed out and the noice still won't stop. then you'll find yourself praying that you will get home and still win the war or else the ones you want to protect would get raped and enslaved
I did 8 and half years on the USS Midway until it was decommissioned after Desert Storm. She was a great Carrier and serves now as a museum in San Diego.
So many family members fought in WW2. I wish I knew the stories behind 2 of my grandmother's nephews time in that war. They served in the US Navy. She had at least 5 nephew's involved in WW2 and 2 sons
Having read several books on the war in the Pacific, including a good book recently, “Shattered Sword” written from the Japanese perspective as well as “Joe Rochefort’s War”, I have to say this 23 minute video does it real justice. The Professor is a great story teller and I’ll be adding his book to my list for sure.
Great narration and analysis of the Battle of Midway. Discussing both the Japanese and US tactics, strategy and objectives, really provides the full version history behind this amazing sea battle. Thank you Craig Symonds!
Watch our episode on the "True Size of a Spartan Army" which covers their organization, formations, and fortifications: ua-cam.com/video/XLd1tab8f0c/v-deo.html
This guy needs a UA-cam page. He's very good at story telling. I like him
It might be the only story he can tell but, but he is one of the few who are qualified to actually tell the story.
That was his life's work that he offered for us, and I'm grateful he was the one to tell it.
I like him too
@@dbznappa
He's the PROFESSOR!
Despite the victory, the fact that so many american pilots died, thinking they'd completely failed has me feeling rather solemn.
weston - He speaks very highly of you as well.
There is a man that can tell a story i´ve already heared a half a dozen times, and still make it entertaining to listen to him!
Craig Symonds is an amazing historian and does such a great job with the presentation. I do know that he hosts a lot of these sorts of interviews and symposiums so he is practiced when it comes to explaining the subject.
This exactly. I did reports on Midway as a kid, read plenty of books about it, watched specials of it, and have listened to these facts dozens of times. But I sat through it all from start to finish again because he just told the story so well.
He is just so engaging. Brilliant!
Well said
Is it Montemayor?
The real MVP here is trollmaster USS Nautilus that spooked the Kido Butai and made a destroyer chase it. Then that destroyer rushing to return to the fleet unintentionally gave a direction for McClusky's lost squadron to follow.
Ikr us were alot lucky too
@@cluster4583 Don't forget it made the group from Yorktown to attack at the same time. If they didn't chase destroyer they would have attacked at different times. The little ripple effects that changed history. Maybe it even goes more deeper like some co captain convinced the submarine commander to go a certain direction to find the kido betai. 1 Person could have changed history.
@@mysteryman2219 u know just before he iron Fist strike on the kido butai 15 devastators came strike em and all the zeroes gone to destroy those torpedo equiped devastator now ofc torpedo bombers r in low altitude so zeroes also gone down away from the carriers to destroy em and right after that iron Fist came none zeroes were thr to protect the carriers + japanese were just gna strike yorktown when the iron Fist came so some planes were on the deck fueled and equiped with torpedoes and bombs and that started a chain reaction
@@cluster4583 you know the Japanese wouldn’t have done what the American soldiers did and break away like that without orders. They were like robot when it came to orders, that’s why one commander on the Japanese side wouldn’t break protocol and it cost them as they got stuck trying to convert the ship to attack other ships rather than launch planes when the Americans started hitting them. That one squadron leader did an incredible job following his instincts and taking a risk on low fuel like that and it led to the mother load.
"we shall partake in a bit of tomfoolery" - USS Nautilus commander, 1942
My Grandfather was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. He then fought in The Solomons and Guadalcanal campaigns. He was severely wounded at Guadalcanal but recovered and then sent to The European Theater. He then fought in The Rhineland and The Ardennes.
He survived WWII.
He ultimately received 3 Purple Hearts and 3 Bronze Stars.
I thank God for The Greatest Generation. They saved the world once. We need to be the generation to save it again before it is too late.
Jesus, assuming you’re telling the truth, that means he’s one of the few Americans who managed to get involved in both the East and Western Theaters. Good lord my man. Mad respecc. God bless him for his service.
Salute to your grandfather :)
Who we fightin.... we america we got issues but when push comes to shove we cleaner than sneaky oppressive commees in china and putinville...
Unfortunately today's enemy has more variety, you can't go to war with white collar financial dbag
Its to late..sadly
Japan: dame those Americans are masters of war tactics! First they made our fighters to go low so their dive bombers can attack unopposed, so afterwards their second dive bombers group can flank us from the rear, what a masterpiece of planning! Such precision!
America: dunno wtf happened but we won
Japan: How did you do that?!
USA: I don't know, I just pressed all buttons
@@kanjtrader1740 hahaha
Kanj Trader perfect lol
real war It's like that, plans are just that plans, nothing comparing to the real execution and Inprovisation during the chaos of the battle
@@v44n7 ikr! American admirals would be like :ok, nothing went as planned, but end working better than the plan itself
My granddad fought in this battle. He was a dive bomber on the Yorktown. Im so incredibly proud of him. Seeing things like this means so much to me. He passed a couple of years ago. He never really talked about his service, but he was always such a happy and funny guy
Incredible it is not.
I believe you in being very proud.
Respect
Be proud of grandpop
Holy sh*t.
What an awesome guy! I have a lot of respect, for fighter pilots dive bombers and torpedo bombers. If I was alive back then I would want to be a dive bomber or a fighter
The Yorktown was one of three ships my father served on during WWII. He was a Radioman on the Yorktown during The Battle of the Coral Sea, then was transferred to the Enterprise while the Yorktown was being repaired. And was a Radioman on the Enterprise during the Battle of Midway.
One story he told me... he was working on one of the antennas on the Yorktown when he decided to take break and grab something to eat. Not 5 minutes after he closed the hatch, a Japanese fighter crashes into the spot where he and a sailor had been working. Gives you an idea of what a difference a couple minutes can make.
I know this is very intense, but minutes are a lot. Just walking over a street: Instead of minutes its seconds deciding whether you can walk over it or getting hit by a car. Its still crazy! But time is critical all the... time.
You’re rightly so proud of him and so are all Americans 🇺🇸
Japanese lost all of their skilled aviators who had been reigning havoc all over Asia since the mid 1930s, bombing China and other countries and islands as they seized them.
But they always kept their skilled pilots flying , whereas we sent many of ours back home to TEACH at our military flying schools .
It was a wise move and yielded crop after crop of great pilots.
Robert Prescott
Yes; without a doubt 🗽
RESPECT 👍
not the first time a SPAMsandwich saved someones ass!
Prof. Symonds is not only an expert, he's a great storyteller. I am going to have to read his book. Midway is a fascinating episode in the Pacific theater of WWII.
Japanese Navy: *Surgically precise, planned strikes with disciplined pilots and superior aircraft*
American Navy: LEEEEEROOOOOOOY JENKINS!
Never underestimate the initiative of the cowboy
Pretty much.
The Japanese Army was familiar with Leeeeroooy.
*Eddie, Matthew and I Art:*
Never confuse efforts with results. This is a life lesson that separates successful people from those who eke by and merely exist rather than lead or win the game of life.
Some might say it's dumb luck. Some might say the subconscious mind made you make those foolish mistakes because it had a better idea and didn't want your dumb conscious mind to know what it was so you wouldn't bungle it up. I practice subconscious integration and when I make remarkable unconscious mistakes I assume it's the hand of the devil..
"If we dont know what we are doing, the enemy certainly cannot anticipate our future actions"
Love your handle ... Also .. can you enlighten a guy who said that
@@sagebiddi Its unknown.
@@sagebiddi every Americans
@@sagebiddi unofficial US Army motto/proverb.
That is like the 'back shoulder' throw in football. If the defender is playing too good defense you throw the ball a little behind on purpose.
How nice of the Japanese for putting those big red bullseyes on their aircraft carriers.
I'm dying
It inspired the Staples "easy" button
Shoot the meatball.
@DiscordChaos Probably not really true, a good trained crew of any nation would immediately recognize any enemy tank no matter what is painted on it. The white star was just terrible in general because it just ruins the camouflage of the tank, more of a pride thing if anything.
If you want a bull's eye. Aim for the meatball.
I have read about wars that have occurred over millennia. But I simply never grasped how devastating battles could be. Four aircraft carriers, hundreds of aircrafts that took years to build, pilots that took years to train, lives that were lived for decades each - all for a day’s worth of war.
I am reminded of some naval battles of Punic wars where tens of thousands of lives went to Neptune, along with fleets that took years to raise.
It’s a sobering thought. Makes one thankful for the peace that we have learned to keep at the cost of so many lives.
"Train soldiers for years, for use in a single day." -Chinese saying
Americans: Breaking orders, flying off allone into suicide missions, getting lost and flying to the wrong place
Japanese Admiral: Oh my god, they outmaneuvered us, sacrficed and coordinated their attacks perfectly. They are the true master of war.
LMAO, this sounds a lot like the first time Japanese learnt about firearms:
ua-cam.com/video/xZnaCel6LdU/v-deo.html
That’s called war. Any general or admiral will tell you that planing goes out the window once you make contact with the enemy.
@@alienlife7754 sure
But in that case planning got out of the window right after the planes took of.
One of the accounts that I watched said the Japanese could get a full fighter umbrella up in 7 minutes. The Americans took an hour to get their torpedo planes off of the Yorktown. Isn't that what being American was back then? You tell them they are outgunned, out trained, outnumbered, and have no chance to even live and Americans be like:
Okay fine, is my plane fueled and armed? I need to sink some boats.
Not really relevant, IMO.
Carl von Clausewitz: "War is the realm of chance."
Helmut von Moltke: "No plan survives the first contact with the enemy."
George S. Patton: "Battle is an orgy of disorder."
Almost 30 years ago, I was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy. Professor Symonds was a cool, young department head running the History Department. His classes were the best, so much so, that I chose to be a history major. Great to see that his knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is still there. Great video.
Ray Barata, the Japanese definitely had the equipment to destroy the whole American fleet. Japanese had little info on American positions. The switching of bombs & Torpedos were self evident of this lack of info. That was a huge mistake of having bombs scattered on their carriers decks. I seriously think if the Japanese had reliable intelligence. They would have destroyed the American carriers. U.S. planes were obliterated trying to attack the Japanese carriers. They didn't get in one hit on Japanese carriers & battle ships
@@davidvance6367 The one thing that the Japanese didn't have was radar. That meant that we could get close before their spotters could get a visual. Our PBY Catalinas and other aircraft also gave us some advantage leading up to the start of the engagement. No radar, though, was a big problem for the Japanese.
wow.
The Japanese never learned the importance of flooding their fuel lines with nitrogen during battle.
Hm, better to be a history major then a history captain.
"The reason that the American army does so well in wartime is, is that war is chaos, and the American army practices chaos on a daily basis"
-German Officer
"if we do not know what we are doing, then the enemy certainly can not predict our future actions"
American officer
Ismael Jiménez hope you know this is BS. But, I doubt it.
Clarity A1, When Hitler was starting the war. A general said to Hitler. The English can be very dangerous. Evidently Hitler didn't listen
'We just ended World War II.'
-Americans
A german officer, a loser, and in most cases a pervert
I don't know how I missed this video when it first came out. I have read several of Professor Symonds' books. In fact, I took one of his classes when he was teaching at the U.S. Naval Academy. That happened to be a course on the the Civil War to Modern America. Professor Symonds is a subject matter expert on the Civil War, and the same is can be said regarding WWII. He was without a doubt my most favorite professor when I was at the Academy, and I've been a student of history ever since. What a masterful story teller he was.
The best explanation and narration of Midway I've heard. He tells how our victory was about 1/3 luck, 1/3 pilot courage and 1/3 skill of our codebreakers. He doesn't paint it with a patriotic brush. Pretty good.
It’s actually a poor unrealistic narration. It’s 99% the blunder of the IJN’s battle plan.
@@f430ferrari5 That blunder is due to US codebreaking and dumb luck, as Frank said.
@@5133937 no it isn’t. You’re putting the carriage in front of the horse.
Had the IJN used the right battle plan and used their battleships, cruisers, and destroyers then the code breaking and chance and luck go out the window.
あなた？どこの国ですか？
何故？敗戦する事が悪いのか？
日本は、アジアの為に戦ったのです。
反省などしません
反省するのは、無差別爆撃をやった
連合国です。反省するべし！
二発の原子爆弾は、人体実験です！
you? What country are you in?
why? Is it bad to lose the war?
Japan fought for Asia.
I will not reflect
Reflecting on the indiscriminate bombing
Allied. You should reflect on it!
The two atomic bombs were human experimentation!
@@f430ferrari5 ...If we had some ham, we could have some ham and eggs if we had some eggs. Meaning, you can do hypothetical 'what ifs' all day and all night, but some of us just want to understand and explain history.
First of all, it was lucky the US aircraft carriers were out to sea during the Pearl Harbor attack. It was skill and talent that allowed the code breaking of the Japanese military transmissions. It was a mistake for Japan to not listen to Yamomoto and to underestimate American character, ability and resources.
Finally, like war often is, luck in battle played a major role in its outcome. A few degrees of difference in pilot aim could have led to another defeat for America. These all played a part in Midway.
This is the clearest explanation of the confusing Midway events I've ever heard, and I've heard them all, well done.
Check out Jonathan Parshall. He's a lot more insightful.
Totally agree.
I agree. I have watched and read many accounts of the battle. This is by far the most informative, especially since it is also one of the shortest. And, out of all accounts, only this one really hits home the fact that not even all of our aircraft was in the fight. The poor Yorktown. I walked past a very old man walking bent over and relying heavily on a cane in the grocery store about a year ago wearing a Yorktown hat. It took several second before I realized it had CV-5 under the "Yorktown". I ran back and asked him, "You were really on the original Yorktown... the CV-5?". He said, "Yes", taken aback a little I even knew the difference. I asked him, "Were you on her at Midway?". "Oh yeah... I was there. The hit and runs, the Coral Sea. I... I watched her go down", he replied, and you could see it all come back to him. I stood there in disbelief and said, "Sir, it is indeed an honor and a privilege to meet you". It's then I also noticed the two silver bars on the brim. I went to attention and saluted saying, "SSgt Fifer, United States Air Force Lieutenant. Thank you for your service and for saving this country". He looked at me, forced himself to stand up straight, and gave a stiff salute back. As I walked away I turned my head... he was walking straight up and proud as he headed to the checkout. I'm crying as I type this just thinking about it.............. And to think that most college students now don't even know there WAS a WW2.
Don F 11.16.19. If I may suggest, read Incredible Victory by Walter Lord. Dan F, thank you for being so observant! What a beautiful account of you’re encounter, had you not noticed his hat with the CV-5 we would never of known of this chance encounter! You are correct to state that most college students are unaware of America’s past history in World War II and in this case the Pacific theater so early in the war! How very pivotal that battle was❗️
@@donf3877 Wow, what a story! Thanks for sharing.
Shout-out to Montemayor. His video on Midway is told from the Japanese perspective only and it's really good.
that video is just incredible! same like this one
Definitely! Can't wait for him to complete the series
He does such awesome work.
@@InvictaHistory Yes, Also waiting for part 2. His insight on Pearl is also quite informative.
Fully agree!
Craig Symonds is the essence of a great historian: A superb storyteller who vividly brings history, the events and the people who made it, come actively alive for us to savor. Well done, Mr. Symonds! Excellent visuals also, supporting your narrative.
Hey America, what's your plan for victory?
We're just gonna do it.
"Get there first with the most men." ~ Nathan Bedford Forrest
Often erroneously but colorfully reported as "Git thar fustest with the mostest."
and we're gonna do it "bigly"
America: Plan? I don’t plan to win, I JUST WIN!
cause murica 🇺🇸
Mari E Damn right
In the 70's I met ensign George Gay who was shot down inside the Japanese fleet and spent the battle watching from the water. He had an interesting perspective.
When asked what it was like floating on the water watching the battle instead of flying in it, he said "It was Gay". (sorry, couldn't resist)
His was the OFFICIAL perspective -- and is now codified into USN lore. His account is considered the best account of a naval action -- ever. (!) Gay seems to have had a photographic mind.
Imagine floating in the water, knowing your entire squadron was destroyed without anything to show for it and thinking the battle would most likely be lost... then suddenly seeing your dive bombers come out of nowhere and decimate the enemy fleet.
@@captainobvious9233 All the while thinking "Man, I hope that PBY gets here soon.."
Seeing the battle unfold just above your head must have been majestic and absolutely terrifying at the same time.
Despite the victory, the fact that so many american pilots died, thinking they'd completely failed has me feeling rather solemn.
Little would they know that they bought precious time and lured the Japanese fighters away
Despite the American deaths, the fact that Japan suffered such an earth shattering defeat makes me feel extremely grateful for those brave American airmen.
Crying in anger, thinking what may befall your loved ones, a common item then sadly.
@Stephen Negley They mention it at 13:30. The torpedo squadron broke away from the escort and attacked separately
That they didn't realise that they literally saved the world with their sacrifice. The truest of heroes!!
My grandfather was a Merchant Marine that joined when he was 16, dropped out of school to do so. He survived three separate ships being sunk, once by the Germans, twice by the Japanese. Funnily enough, his father was on the ship that saved the surviving crew of the third ship's sinking. Incredible man with a long and storied career as Chief Engineer.
Finally a true account of the battle. To the men of the Yorktown, to the men who died trying to save it 146 men died. Our ETERNAL gratitude.
Yes. Their story should be told with the upmost respect and truth. And this guy did that! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸✊
What about the Japanese sailors?
@Larry Moran they deserve gratitude for laying down their lives for their country
@Larry Moran no but from the Japanese people
After making this documentary I'm excited to see the Midway movie this weekend. Are you going to see it?
@@ApexPredatorWithSungGlasses thats good news!
I'll catch it on netflix eventually... unless I cancel em for spreading propaganda 😉
yes, i was yesterday, i liked it a lot
Saw it yesterday with a friend. Really liked it but the battle was confusing. But after this video the battle became much clearer.
I would be curious to hear what you have to say Invicta, because the previews make the movie sound like WW2 according to Micheal Bay.
Goodness, the story of three carriers lit up in 5 minutes still sends shivers down my spine. I saw the Heston-Fonda movie in the theater, as a wee tyke. It affected me the same then as it does now. Stunning bit of history.
One of the best war films of all.
I am teaching 3-5th graders about WW2 in a homeschool class. I can't wait to see their faces light up as they watch portions of this easily understandable video! Kuddos to all involved.
"Let's make sure history never forgets the name Enterprise"
Damn straight.
The newest USS Enterprise, CVN-80 is being built in Newport News now, estimated commissioning in 2027. The 3rd in the Ford class of carriers.
The name Enterprise has been to space as well. Not just in the fictional sense either.
Anyone remember Riker's line from the Contagion episode: "Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise." According to IMDB, this line is based on a statement by 19th-century German Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck: "God loves children, drunkards, and the United States of America."
May she always be under His protection.
The Enterprise, the most decorated ship in the history of the United States of America, what a shame that she was scrapped.
Professor Craig Lee Symonds’ explanation of the Battle of Midway is absolutely riveting.
True, Jade. A pity about the slight hiccough near the end: two 'heavy carriers' when he meant to say two 'heavy cruisers'; but that's just nitpicking on my part. A most enjoyable talk from an expert.
@@drcurv, thank you for your clarification for 21:59 that the Mikuma & the Mogami were Japanese heavy cruisers instead of heavier carriers.
@@jadenephrite Hi, Jade - you're welcome. :)
It was just a Freudian slip on the part of our guest speaker.
Sun Tsu says “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” shows how important it is to have intelligence.
honestly, i don't think the Americans were smarter than the Japanese, what seems to have won them the battle was luck and the resilience of yorktown
Tell it to the Mongols.
@hognoxious AND he's dead...lol.
@hognoxious Geezers will always get off tangent in finding ways to justify their existence and than spout out pointless arguments showing that they don't even know what they don't know and consequently they think they know.
What won them was not the order of their admirals but the decisions and intuitions of the American Pilots.
So much credit is given to the carrier group for this victory, and it is well earned. But the marines on Midway who forced the need for a second attack seem to be overlooked.
You're right, they should be mentioned more. Lots of individuals had a hand in this battle.
@@kbanghart The USS Hornet absolutely were not part of the individuals who had a hand in the victory. What the Hornet did led to Enterprise and Yorktown having to fend for themselves and be the only planes to bomb the Japanese fleet and Yorktown ended up getting sunk by the Japanese.
Why doesn't anybody here talk about the complete failure by Admiral Marc Mitscher and Commander Stanhope C. Ring (of course this infamous squadron commander doesn't even have a Wikipedia page because the Navy doesn't want his name and failure to become well-known and tarnish the reputation of Admiral Mitscher and the USS Hornet) of the USS Hornet who completely failed their mission and the bombers, fighters, and scouts went on a goose chase called the "Flight to Nowhere"? The intelligence aspect of Midway is highly overrated. They all knew something was going to happen at Midway with or without the intelligence. Nimitz actually had very limited intelligence unlike what the movie and documentaries try to portray, hence the lucky sighting of that final destroyer of the Japanese fleet. And that lack of good intelligence was what led to the disaster of the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere". Hornet's failure to contribute anything at Midway led to the loss of Yorktown. It was a complete fluke that Halsey who was not in a right state of mind due to stress and the skin condition was not there at Midway because he was very offensive-oriented unlike the calm and collected and conservative Spruance. The Enterprise's bombers and Yorktown's bombers actually hit the first three Japanese carriers to be sunk at the same time in a completely uncoordinated fluke also. That was not a coordinated perfectly timed attack from two separate carriers from completely different coordinates. That accidentally simultaneous strike was one of the greatest fluke joint attacks in the history of war.
Here is what happened with the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere". 15 Hornet torpedo bombers led by their leader who knew exactly where the Japanese fleet was located told his commanding officer who was in charge of the rest of Hornet's planes where the fleet was but the commanding officer in the lead plane told him the fleet is actually northwest. What ended up happening was all 15 Hornet torpedo bombers were destroyed with no hits on any Japanese ships and all the Wildcat fighters in that group had to crash into the ocean due to running out of fuel. You know what happened to Mitscher and Stanhope Ring? Nobody punished or investigated them and Ring became an ADMIRAL while Mitscher was promoted and went on to become one of the most famous "darlings" of the Central Pacific Campaign.
Welcome to the Corps.
"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy"
This was the basic difference. In view of incomplete information you cannot rigidly stick to plan and wait orders from the general for every minute detail (what Japanese did). The US and Germans gave wide freedom to field officers that increased the flexibility and adaptation to the quickly changing contitions during the battle. This was crystallized later in the OODA loop for pilots and other parts of the army.
The US didn't won Midway because of luck but because they had very good training for lower officers.
True
@Zara Thustra. The IJN simply has a very poor battle plan in approaching the Battle of Midway. Nothing else really mattered.
Kelly Arthur Nagumo shouldn’t have to be making decisions.
It seems apparent that you don’t want to have Fletcher or Spruance making decisions or being caught in a dilemma.
When one has 11 battleships plus Yamato and 9 carriers with over 500 planes at their disposal and have 22 cruisers and 64 destroyers and your enemy only has 3 carriers with 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers then the dilemma belongs to the guys with the smaller force. It don’t matter if you know they are coming.
Kelly Arthur you’re not understanding the battle plan.
Of course the 11 total battleships are not going after the US Task Force. 4 of them would though. The IJN had 4 Kongo class battleships capable of 30 knots.
Yorktown was barely doing mid 20 knots. After she got hit the 1st time she slowed to 19 knots.
So the concept in play is that IJN bomber pilots “wound” and slow carriers down by directing bombs to push the Us carriers west.
Another 5 battleships are shelling Midway. The US pilots can’t all go after the IJN carriers. They have to address the battleships.
Yes Fletcher would have a dilemma. He has to decide if he is to launch at all or abandon Midway.
If he attacks then he needs to decide where to attack and with however many planes.
What Fletcher doesn’t realize is that he’s totally outnumbered in this alt scenario.
That's true. That's why they had so many heroes. They were all thinking on their feet and had the balls to act on the slightest hunch. Japan, Including the Senior officer Nagumo couldn't make any decision without "perfect" information. Hence his wishy washy backtracking decision making that put his fleet into Jeopardy.
Being a Brit, talking to my parents, Grandparents, family and friends who lived and fought through the war I had at least some understanding of 'our' experience and the conflict ' over here.'I was aware of there was a massive significance to the Battle of Midway (and the USS Yorktown) but had very little knowledge about exactly why it was so significant to the war and the USA.This brilliant, concise documentary and commentary compacts so much, so clearly in such clarity.Thank you for the documentary and thank you to those brave servicemen who gave so much half a world away from where I am now and my parents and family were then.
Fixing a Aircraft Carrier with tape and baling wire is one of the most American things i've heard.
If you tell the crews that you don't need it to work forever, but you need it to work now they will find a way no matter how jank.
Thank Admiral MacGyver.
If duct tape cant fix it, it aint broke!
Our culture of flexibility and critical thinking was crucial. Piecing together what the Japanese were up to. Faking the water plant problem. MacClusky turning into a box search. Best independently breaking off. Getting Yorktown ready at Pearl and after the first attack.
Probably more truth in that, than we'll ever know.
The presentation was extremely good...riveting...this is what happens when you have someone who is not only knowledgeable about the subject but passionate as well. Great stuff!!
Legends say the 16 submarines are still searching for the aircraft carriers
Same thing happened when the US first bombed the Romanian City of Ploiesti, where the Germans were getting their oil from.
# groups of B-24 bombers left North Africa from different places. main navigation plane broke down and had to abort.
Rest got lost but managed to get to the city at the same time from 3 different directions.
This made coordination of air defenses all but impossible.
The Germans were in awe of the navigation skills and planning required so the 3 groups could arrive at the same time.
After the war they found out it was just plain dumb luck.
Not quite. The raid on Ploiesti was in fact an allied failure. Shortly after the raid, the combined output of the surviving refineries in the region was higher than before the raid. Out of almost a dozen of refineries in the region, only a few got hit, and I believe only one was damaged beyond repair.
More than a quarter of all planes making it to the target were lost to air defense and enemy aircraft. Most bombs didn't hit their target. Aircraft losses were disproportionate - less than 10 for the defending Axis forces to more than 40 for the attackers. I have a hard time believing this is the result of a coordination-less air defense.
@@a0flj0 I wasn't commenting on the success or failure of the mission, and didn't even bother mentioning that the damage was quickly repaired.
I was commenting how failures in navigation and execution of the plans led to attacks from different directions that to the enemy seemed to be coordinated or even brilliant.
It is the details of these things add to the flavor of events and make them more real.
@@tomb7088 Not quite. Its quite a rapid drop from the mountains down to the flood plain where ploesti is. Youve got to lose about 4000 ft of alititude in about 12 miles for the low level runs they were attempting. Some of the 88s were being fully depressed over open sights. Jerry had a field day that day. Tidal Wave is usually held up as an example of what NOT to do.
@@davidtuttle7556 Once again, not commenting of the relative victory or loss.
The comment was how military navigational mistakes can and often happen and result in very interesting results.
The attack on Ploiesti was not this massive failure so many seem to think it was.
Excess capacity used during repairs was destroyed and German had to lavish wild amounts of resources to hold off additional attacks.
It only included something like 180 planes, a far cry from the thousand plane raids just a year later.
It was a learning experience, just like everything else tried the first few times.
They also learned the so few planes never had a chance to accomplish such lofty goals.
Try to no look at the scoreboard in limited terms. In war, its not just about scoring points as in baseball, it is far more often about moving your pieces into place like Chess.
@Mark Lawrence Just think how many people would be utterly lost right now if the GPS system stopped working.
This is one of your best videos yet! So much meticulous detail it makes the historian in me tear up.
In only 23 min., Prof. Symonds gives a clear and concise description of this epic battle. I definitely was left wanting more!
Read his book then. It's fantastic
Yorktown has been hit multiple times since its battle at coral sea
Yorktown has suffered enough damage to be abandoned
Yorktown pushed on despite the injuries and fought on
Yorktown carried on until the last moment
Be like Yorktown.
Ac Ze /The Yorktown was dunk 2 days after the battle as it was being towed back to Pearl Harbor and only after the Japanese spited the oil slicks it was trailing
Five carriers fought at Coral Sea (3 Japanese). Only the Yorktown survived to fight at Midway. IJN thought she was sunk at Coral Sea. They mistook her as two other American carriers at Midway, again believing they sank her. It took a submarine attack to finally sink her. Of the seven Japanese carriers she fought, five were sunk and two limped off to Japan.
Ac Ze The Yorktown still floats today in permanent harbor in Charleston, South Carolina.
@@TheEvilbunny150 Different Yorktown as that's her successor CV-10 Yorktown the Essex carrier named in honor of Yorktown CV-5 that was sunk at Midway.
That's another Yorktown. She was built with Essex Class carriers to replace the Enterprise Class Yorktown.
This is probably my favorite video you've ever made. Craig Symonds is a fantastic narrator, and you're easy to understand illustrations add tons of clarity!
Yay! Happy to hear it was a success
I love american Doctrine: if we don't know what we're doing the enemy sure as shit won't either.
Sounds like an insult
Brave dudes.
@@chaosXP3RT but (as an American) its true though.
The Japanese doctrine was they knew exactly what America would do. They were wrong from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. The attack on Pearl Harbor was supposed to break American’s morale, make it seek a settlement with Japan. Instead it united the US with the goal to burn Japan to ashes. According to Japan’s midway plan the US forces would would be divided between the Aleutian diversion and the midway trap. Instead the US ignored the Aleutian Islands and set their own trap for the Kido Butai. And if the American fighters simultaneously found the Japanese carriers “by accident“ they were looking for them and the Japanese had no such happy accident; all their luck was bad. Japanese doctrine was the combat air patrol was to protect their carriers. When the dive bombers arrived Japanese doctrine failed completely.
Nagumo made a few too many errors.
One of the best explanations of this fine victory by US at Midway that I have encountered.
I love this instructor. I would take every course he teaches or taught. Full. Stop.
I’ve been a student of higher education long enough (too long!!) to recognize when a professor can communicate a fairly complex structure with multiple moving parts to an uninitiated audience (that would be be me) and yet-make it completely understandable and interesting. And leave his students eager to learn more on the subject. Brilliant!
BRAVO!! Thank you, Sir!
"No plan survives contact with the enemy" - Helmut von Moltke
Didn't Sun Tzu say something to the same effect?
'Plans mean nothing, planning is everything' -Eisenhower
rockyblacksmith “Everybody has a plan till they get punched in the mouth” - Mike Tyson
Incoming fire has the right of way---call of duty modern warfare
I read that as "No plane survives contact with the enemy" and I thought "Yeah, that would be why Japan lost."
Last time I was this early, the US was still Neutral
fish died for our fins Last time I was this early North America was still uninhabited by humans
I really like your username...
Last time I was this early, the US were splitting to North and South.
Midway; June, 1942 after Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Best video summary of the Battle of Midway which I've seen. Clearly lays out Nagumo's dilemma. Excellent illustration of where the US flight groups went, and when, and the results from each group. Superb narration.
It is shocking how the Hornet's "Flight to Nowhere" is not talked a lot at all even though what the Hornet did was a complete disgrace and should be one of the biggest talking points of the Battle of Midway. Hornet's failure led to the loss of all her torpedo bombers due to becoming unescorted by the rest of Hornet's planes and many of the rest of Hornet's planes having to crash because they literally went on a Flight to Nowhere due to Admiral Mitscher and Commander Stanhope Ring's fault.
Hornet's disastrous failure at Midway led to the loss of Yorktown and then later the losses of Hornet and Wasp at Guadalcanal led to Guadalcanal having to become the six-month long horrendous meatgrinding turning point of the Pacific War, not Midway. Imagine if Yorktown survived Midway and was available for Guadalcanal...One of the greatest what ifs in history.
16:40 Never underestimate a man named Dick Best.
:))))))))))
Roll call, "Best, Dick"!
A thousand gotta be it indeed
@@lektrikbass why have you done this
@@crazywarriorscatfan9061 '
Roll call, last name first.
Happens all over the place.
Japanese: We're going to ambush the Americans.
Nimitz: I ambush your ambush!
Japanese: NANI!?
Chester Nimitz is from Fredericksburg, Texas. The hotel where he grew up (speaking German, which was not uncommon in many parts of Texas) is still there as a museum, and there's a very nice Pacific War museum in town. Worth the trip if you're in the area... which you won't be - San Antonio or Austin are about as close as it gets for major cities.
Went from ambusher to ambushee.
*I think all of our 'Ice-Cream Suit Admirals' should have SHOT THEMSELVES for the shame of losing ships at Pearl Harbor thru negligence and incompetence...since they all knew far in advance that 'Pearl' was a 'prime target' for the Japanese and ALL had been warned that relations with Japan were 'critical' in terms of possible open warfare...these same 'posturing Peacocks' simply ignored everything or were too stupid to realize that attack from the air or sea could ANNHILATE ships at-anchor and so close together it would be virtually impossible to miss them!*
@@gerrynightingale9045 see the film Tora Tora Tora, probably my favorite wwII film, and no cgi.
*I saw when it came-out and on TV...what has that got to do with what I wrote? You mean the scene at Pearl where a bullet 'pings' thru the glass window and the Admiral says "I wish the bullet had hit me"* *For reference...look-up 'Admiral Boorda- Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff' who SHOT HIMSELF after being humiliated for the 'false wearing' of a 'Viet-Nam War Service' ribbon* ( *Admiral 'Bull' Halsey was a 'first-class pinhead' for forcing a carrier directly into gale-force winds in a typhoon! The wave-action was so high it bent the 'flight-deck' back like 'melted taffy' and did it AGAIN under the same circumstances with yet another ship! The man was a fucking menace with no intellect whatever that endangered an aircraft carrier just to follow 'General Orders' ...he managed to do something the Japanese could not...put a U.S. Carrier out-of-commission for WEEKS! These two incidents formed the basis for the book "The Caine Mutiny"* )
@@gerrynightingale9045 Quite simply, the War Department thought the Philippines to be the primary target - they were half right - it was a primary target.
The War Department's failure as it relates to the Admirals was the still common sea battle doctrine of the battleship's primacy.
The Army screwed up with their assumption of sabotage being the greatest threat.
Be that as it may, it is doubtful the damage at Pearl Harbor would have been significantly decreased even if the Army could have launched more interceptors than they ultimately did.
But the largest failure was, and it was only in hindsight - armchair quarterbacking - no one except the Japanese could imagine getting such a huge air fleet and support across such a great distance without detection or significant problems.
The genius to the Japanese attack was being able to coordinate so many ships across a vast stretch of water, often in inclement weather, and keep ships fueled while maintaining a radio silence to put themselves into a position to launch.
As much of an American failure or failures was Pearl Harbor, and while the Japanese attack was a tactical victory but a strategic failure, the Japanese being able to conceive of such an attack with such a great number of moving parts and even greater practical restrictions and still manage to pull it off in complete secrecy was a testament to the innovative genius of Genda and Yamamoto, as well as the operational ability of the IJN at the time - against great odds they pulled it off.
I've watched loads of these about Midway and this was by far the best explanation.
ua-cam.com/video/Bd8_vO5zrjo/v-deo.html is a well done analysis..
Certainly concise and accurate. Wondered if it could be done well in 24 minutes.
Excellent...incredibly excellent narration of what happened strategically in the Battle of Midway! My father served on the USS Louisville, a heavy cruiser, which survived direct hits by Kamikaze and forced the ship to limp back to Pearl Harbor for repair and refitting.
one of the gifts we have, is this amazing treat to have such a gifted historian comment so quickly, on a battle that happened so long ago - thank you Mr Symonds and thank you Invicta for bringing this incredible dissertation for us to view.
Yorktown tanked the battle until the healer ran out of spell slots...
Overrated comment
Healers down....need a Rez. 😉
I just wanted to say that this format (expert talking, you making the video stuff like animation) is the most professional and polished video I've seen from you so far. I started watching this channel when it was only total war gaming videos and I really like the new content as most of us total war players are also into history.
I commend you for giving the most concise and complete description of the Midway battle. My father fought at D-Day but I have made it my task to understand and appreciate the greatest generation. You did it very well!!!
Best 24 minutes spent on the subject of Midway. Thank you Craig for your most interesting, clear, concise and immersive narrative of the key events of the battle. A story worth telling over and over again.
As a veteran myself... I can see precisely the same sort of "bro we just did whatever... and somehow we won" kinda thing playing out.
Truth is that our greatest strength, as a force, is that we give our lesser leadership the ability to make decisions for themselves... and somehow... through the chaos, they find a way to get it to work in the most unbelievable ways possible... and it truly is unbelievable because half the time it's uncoordinated, but it just works because of timing and pure luck.
We don't even know what we are doing half the time, and as the saying goes... if we can't know what we are going to do... then neither can the enemy know what we are going to do. Haha.
Case in point... don't mess with us. We have no idea what we are doing. :P
Emberwatch Studio
Actually, some German units were organized exactly like that. Local commanders authorized to take over and do their part to complete the mission.
its good because local unit leaders usually knows the exact situation of the surrounding theyre in, so acting on their own initiative usually brings better outcome.
Prepare the best you can, and put up a good plan- like the Calais deception for D-Day- then execute while praying for heavenly help- that's the "Lucky" factor, to my mind. And thanks after success.
The irony is that the IJN is the one who didn’t know what they were doing.
"Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless."
- General Norman Schwarzkopf
Sometimes, it better to be lucky, then good.
"everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face"- mike tyson
"No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy"
~Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
I could listen to Craig Symonds all day, what a superb historian
I don't want to take anything away from our humble host, but this was an amazing documentary. I'm glad he was able to set this up and give it to us.
The IJN's night-fighting ability was almost legendary. It's no surprise that Spruance wanted no part of a night-time engagement. Why would he take such a risk? He'd already accounted for four top-tier Japanese carriers, and lost a carrier himself. There was no reason to risk his two remaining carriers to engage in a fight where the Japanese would have an advantage. All objectives were attained: Midway was safe, so was Hawaii by extension, and four of the most dangerous naval air combat units had been put out of action.
The US Navy learned more about the IJN's night-fighting ability the hard way at Savo Island.
@Russ Gallagher Funny thing is, damage control might've saved Yorktown again if it hadn't been for that Japanese submarine.
@@mikespangler98 Yep. They sure as shit did. Savo Island showed the US Navy exactly what would have happened if Fletcher and Spruance had tried to engage Nagumo's remaining ships in a night fight.
@Russ Gallagher actually, no. The Mogami class had their 155 mm guns removed and placed on the Yamatos as secondary guns, with 8" guns just like all the other heavy cruisers replacing them. Actual Japanese light cruisers acted as destroyer leaders and had a bunch of single-mount 5.5" (or so) guns. In any event, Savo Island featured Chokai ⁹ten 8" guns), all four Aoba/Furutaka-class cruisers (six 8" guns), light cruisers Tenryu and Yubari (four and six 5.5" guns), and a lone destroyer Yunagi.
The US, OTOH, kept their Brooklyn/St. Louis class light cruisers intact, found their rapid-fire 6" guns incredibly useful for swatting destroyers at night, and built two and a half-dozen more Clevelands and Fargos.
I agree, there was no reason to pursue into a night fight. Also, the main Japanese battle fleet had already turned back to Japan, so they had about a 300 mile head start, Our carrier fleet was faster but that is a lot of ground to catch up. To do so means the carriers at flank speed, which outruns nearly all their support vessels, tin cans, subs etc. and especially the very slow oilers and supply ships. They just fought a battle, the carriers probably needed supplies, ordnance and oil and AV fuel before starting a pursuit. I wouldn't start a pursuit with half a tank of oil minus all the ordnance and AV gas expended at Midway, I would like to be fully locked and loaded. A pursuit by the carriers would give the U.S. air superiority but not necessarily naval superiority in that situation. Just didn't make sense in a lot of ways. Besides, when a dog tries to bite you and you kick the snot out of it, you usually don't have to chase it to kick it again, he learned his lesson, that is why he is running away.
A fantastic story teller. I never realize that almost the entire battle was formed by accidents.
Great presentation. As a Naval Air veteran, I find these narrations, books, and film clips about Midway very fascinating. Your narrative is the best that I’ve seen and heard. What do you think would’ve happened if Yamamoto committed his other two carriers to Midway instead of the Aleutians? Also, what if he committed the Yamato, with her 18 inch guns, to the battle instead of being two hundred miles to the west? We’ll never know. Excellent narration.
I suspect he didn't want to risk the battleships coming under attack by American planes.
We should remember that war is hell, and every man who lives through it is changed forever. My father was in the British Army fighting the Japanese during WW2 and never talked about it until the day he died. My thoughts go out to all who served in this terrible loss of life on both sides.
This was brilliant. The most concise explanation I have ever heard.
Watch the movie. It's practically a documentary... except the part where Moses is a naval officer.
Walter Lord - Incredible Victory. A must read!
@@timhallas4275 Hi, Tim. Which movie are you referring to here please ?
Moses?
@@drcurv The original movie "Midway" with Charelton Heston ( who also played Moses in the Ten Commandments).
@@timhallas4275 Hi, Tim. OK, right, now I'm with you. If you'd said Ben Hur, I wouldn't have wasted our time. :)
Glad you enjoyed the 1976 version; afraid I didn't much. One of the best things about it was (the late) Christina Kokubo. Could have watched the whole 132 minutes just on her. An absolute delight. What a shame she's no longer with us.
Right when I'm watching your video about the Battle of Ecnomus, I see the notification about this great encounter. Thank you, Invicta😂😎
This is the result of genuinely enjoying what youre speaking about.
"Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth" Mike Tyson.
I been seeing this quote from Mike Tyson a lot lately. Its funny. I thought about it for a second and said "what a odd placement for a Mike Tyson quote" but it actually fits and it made me laugh.
To bad he forgot that when he faught Buster Douglas.
@@edwinhughes6493 😂😂
"No plan survives first contact with the enemy."
- Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising
@@edwinhughes6493 lol
Like we say here "excelente". How intense the narration. Those soldiers wrote history with their sweat and blood. Thank you.
Craig Simon's analytic presentation is brilliant. Precise, concise and his grammatical usage (especially his choice of adjectives) is a delight to listen to. Just great and thank you. - Dr. Steven Sprouse
I've got that book (audio version) and highly recommended it. In addition to the usual presentation on what happened like a normal history book he also spends lots of time talking about the personalities of the key people and the difference in culture. It brings the battle to life really helps you understand what happened and why.
EXCELLENT short analysis/explanation of the battle ! Uncomplicated and easy to follow, it said all that needed to be said. Well done, Invicta and Craig Symonds ! Thank You both !
Great job, thank you for this. Please do more video's like this.
Thanks for the feedback. I wasn't sure what people would think of the subject matter or format.
@@InvictaHistory it was amazing. I dont care much about WW2, but this great explanation made it very interesting.
That was a brilliant US attack that was completely by accident
I was a Godkiss.
And A Godsmack to the empire of Japan.
The US pilots gave their lives by risking running out of fuel and looking for and attacking the enemy with brilliant strategy. From that day on The Japanese learned they under estimated the fighting spirit of the American Warrior. Those brave pilots should always be honored for their sacrifices. We lost most of them ...RIP true and faithful Patriots
henochparks strategy no bravery yes
It beats being too soft to protect your own country, surrendering to the same invader--twice--then having no choice but to beg for help from American farm boys to come toss them out--again.
The US military is a bit like Mike Tyson right after he got out of prison. Big, bad, and dangerously unstable.
It really makes you appreciate just how chaotic and unpredictable warfare is, reminds me that one quote from I think one of American Generals "The one who wins isn't the one who did everything right but the one who made the least mistakes."
This was an astounding video. It interested me as much as ancient history which modern event seldom do.
Awesome! I think a huge part of that is the amazing historian Craig Symonds. If you enjoyed definitely do share the video around as every bit helps!
@@InvictaHistory the illustrations help I'd say, and I'm more of a fan of your narrations but he did a honorable job. I'd share, but I'm banned from the digital town square.
Symond's book is the best, clearest and comprehensive work on Midway. Highly recommended.
Thank you Craig for collaborating with one of UA-cam’s best and brightest history channel. I loved the episode and to know the Invicta channel has such support from the academic realm melts my heart. Keep on kicking ass Invicti!!!
This is a lovely and comprehensive version of telling the battle of midway. Craig Simonds does a great job. More of this please.
man this gave me insight into the reality of the fog of war. how many mistakes, accidents, miscommunications, and pure stroke of luck really played a part in a battle. nothing is for certain and they had to estimate everything, sometimes just wild guessing, to anticipate enemy intentions. the way they do things makes it feel so rudimentary and primitive. For example, box search sounds like a brute force exhaustive method that has no smart search algorithm in its design.
Yea I never knew that 27 of 30 went for the Kaga. LT Best made a great decision to go for the Akagi. They definitely made there own good luck.
ashdoglsu but what would the Us pilots have done if they saw IJN battleships approaching first.
@@f430ferrari5 The carriers had priority for targets. Maybe when they were burning some bombs could be spared for the damage- sponge BBs. Best thing the BBs could've done was add to the flak screen, which was tattered when Yorktown & Enty's dive bombers arrived. With few heavy AA guns available and the carriers separated by repeated evasions the SBDs were practically dropping their bombs before flak was a factor.
@@observationsfromthebunker9639 what are you talking about. You clearly don’t understand what the US Naval War College stated in reference to how the IJN should have used their surface ships.
The IJN carriers are further away from the US carriers/planes.
You’re trying to say that the US planes would bypass the closer IJN battleships shelling Midway?
Or are you trying to say the US carrier planes would have bombed the IJN battleships? With what?
You obviously have no clue as to what the US had in its arsenal in 1942. They didn’t have sufficient armor piercing bombs and the torpedos and torpedo planes were junk.
In the scenario of IJN carriers place behind the surface ships the IJN would have loaded their carriers with more fighter planes vs bombers.
Why the need for extra bombers if battleships are shelling Midway.
Even with a 2/3 mixture flip flop the number of fighter planes double to 160-170 vs only 80-85 in the actual battle of Midway.
Two smaller IJN carriers Zuiho and Hosho would have been made better use of which would have added 35-45 more planes.
Zuikaku could have been brought to Midway for CAP support. 75-80 more planes.
The US was clearly potentially outnumbered. The IJN blew it.
I just saw the movie, "Midway", yesterday, and came away deeply impressed. While most war documentaries are over-dramatized and certain elements "hyped" for certain audience segments, this one is dramatically different. Credit is due scriptwriter Wes Tooke and his group for weaving an enormous amount of detail into a coherent story-- and presenting it in a clear, realistic and convincing fashion.
If any of us thought we knew the story of Midway, we found we knew only the highlights from our history class(es). In fact, the victory was an amazing combination of sheer luck, and dogged determination. US Navy codebreaker Lt. Cdr. Rochefort, of Hawaii's station Hypo, played a key role, discovering the information that led to victory. Amazingly, it was only after the war that Rochefort got full credit for his contribution.
As a stickler for detail, I found the movie's computer graphics approached a realism that made the movie work, on even its massive scale. Recreated were panoramic scenes of an American WW2 carrier battle group, faithfully depicted as the actual ships they were, and scenes of carrier night landings, deck crashes and explosions which surely will set a new bar for other movies to follow. Yes, I would have changed a few scene renderings, but the overall effect was excellent.
Manure. Ships don't travel that close together, his numbers are wrong and dive bombers come down sequentially at timed intervals, individually. Not in squadron groups.
for me, Henry Fonda will ALWAYS BE Chester Nimitz...Harrelson just carries too much comedic background baggage for a role this serious...the orig, to me, despite the Hoky back story of 'Merican boy loves inter'd Jap gal, told the story quite well, but I will give props to the remake for better graphics
If the Yorktown and Lexington (Press F) hadn’t fought the two other Japanese carriers in the Coral Sea the US would have faced off against 6 carriers at Midway instead of 4 and history could have been quite different. So not only was it the first Carrier v Carrier battle, the Coral Sea engagement had a large impact on future events in the Pacific.
Ryan W. I was somewhat surprised that coral sea was hardly mentioned at all.
The US would have had 4 carriers instead of 3.
Earl Mac the Japanese would've had 6, rather than 4.
JonnyRicter yes I know. 6 vs 4+midway as opposed to 4 vs 3+ Midway.
@@earlmac8402 5
Japan: Let’s take out all of the US’s Carriers.
US: *Uno Reverse card*
Japan: Plays "sink one Carrier" Card
US: Draw Four
Ha Ha Ha 😄
Lol the uno puns are so funny my stomach is starting to hurt from laughing so hard
Lol
"Perfectly timed attack, yep we intended to do that"
This is about the best overview of the battle in about ten minutes you’re going to find. I resisted watching it for the longest time because of the thumbnail. I thought it was going to be just a telling of the 2019 movie, which is a pretty good movie, by the way. I was way wrong. This is worth every second of your time.
Just started to look into this battle yesterday.
I think you'll find that this video provides a good overview. But if you really want to dig deep I recommend this video: "The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective" ua-cam.com/video/Bd8_vO5zrjo/v-deo.html
In all of American military history, Midway will be remembered as one of the most significant victories we've ever had.
Yes it was because not only did we win that battle we eventually won the war. The Battle of Midway was definitely a turning point in winning WW2
Don't forget Coral Sea that took two carriers out of the battle for Midway due to Japanese Military Management of Air Assets.
Dogfights and pacific warfareeeeee, this is exactly how I want to spend my Saturday morning 😁😁
yeah right, ain't that what men wishes in today's age. until you can see for yourself the chaos and your comrades getting slaughtered and blood, guts, limbs, bodies, and heads getting blown out. not to mention the nonstop noices of planes, bombs, shells, and bullets piercing your eardrums till they bleed out and the noice still won't stop. then you'll find yourself praying that you will get home and still win the war or else the ones you want to protect would get raped and enslaved
@@kidzi4073 ok boomer
kid zi heads weren’t being blown off in the battle of midway this i naval and air warfare....
Blessed Yorktown, you suffered greatly and we thank you for your service.
I did 8 and half years on the USS Midway until it was decommissioned after Desert Storm. She was a great Carrier and serves now as a museum in San Diego.
My father in-law had his retirement ceremony on board the Midway.
@@MattMongostomp That's awesome.
So many family members fought in WW2.
I wish I knew the stories behind 2 of my grandmother's nephews time in that war. They served in the US Navy. She had at least 5 nephew's involved in WW2 and 2 sons
This presentation was most excellent. *Loved* listening to it -- thank you for creating this and making it available. Great job.
at 22:00: Symonds mentions 'two heavy carriers' but probably means to say 'two heavy cruisers'
Yes, correct. He recovers immediately.
Technically they only sank one crippling the other one.
"Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise."
Craig Symonds is simply awesome. There's lot's of WWII documentaries on UA-cam. No one explains what happened as well as Mr. Symonds.
*"This is for Pearl."*
-Richard 'Dick' Best
PEARL BAILEY??
He flew 4 time a day and suck 2 Aircraft Carrier and still alive....
Having read several books on the war in the Pacific, including a good book recently, “Shattered Sword” written from the Japanese perspective as well as “Joe Rochefort’s War”, I have to say this 23 minute video does it real justice. The Professor is a great story teller and I’ll be adding his book to my list for sure.
This book is excellent. Enjoy!
Shattered Sword is excellent.
We will always be eternally grateful to our American friends for their assistance in WW2. From an Australian.
Great narration and analysis of the Battle of Midway. Discussing both the Japanese and US tactics, strategy and objectives, really provides the full version history behind this amazing sea battle. Thank you Craig Symonds!