The Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3)
एम्बेड करें
- 26/04/2019 को प्रकाशित
- (Animated Battle Map)
This is part one of a three part video series covering Operation MI. As you can see I spent a considerable amount of time covering Nagumo’s Dilemma. To me it's one of most striking examples of how tough it can be for a commander to make a decision based on the information at hand. I found that to be the most interesting aspect of the battle.
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Corrections:
"Strength" , "Auxiliary", and "unknown" are misspelled in the video.
At 22:55 I should have stated “North of Midway” instead of Northeast of Midway. The illustration shows a 10 degree 240 nm from midway location. Not so Northeast as I audibly stated.
At 23:43 I should have stated 79 aircraft instead of 78 and I should have displayed 35 instead of 34 torpedo bombers. the “mistake” came about because sources still differ on whether there were 27 or 26 Carrier attack planes (Kates). If it was 27 it would have been 79 Planes. if it was 26 it would have been 78. During the recording I somehow mixed up the numbers.
Additional Notes:
notice that the carriers started off the battle in a box formation. This provided further mutual support for their rather weak AA fire. however, due to the incessant air attacks from VT-8, VT-6 and VT-3, the carriers were never able to reform in a box formation, instead they were in a ragged line which further worsened their AA capabilities.
-----------------------------------------Spoiler Below regarding Nagumo's Dilemma---------------------------------------------
So what was the answer to Nagumo’s Dilemma?
“Taking all together, and admittedly operating with the benefit of hindsight, the “right” answer to Nagumo’s conundrum probably should have emphasized maneuver, offensive speed in preference to mass, and passive damage control. With fifteen minutes in which to act, he didn’t really have time to implement anything terribly fancy. But he could have helped himself immensely by immediately spotting every strike airplane in his hangars, whether they were armed or not, and launching them at the Americans. The sixty-four armed aircraft he had in had were perfectly capable of doing enormous damage to his enemy. And by emptying his hangars, he removed the single greatest danger to his carriers --- the presence of fueled and armed aircraft within them.”
Parshall, Jonathan B.; Tully, Anthony P.: Shattered Sword. The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Potomac Books: United States, 2007 : p. 170
Music :
filmstro.com/
Ride of the Valkyries - Wagner
Sources:
Isom, D. W. (2007). Midway inquest: Why the Japanese lost the Battle of Midway. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Lundstrom, J. B. (2013). The First Team Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway. New York: Naval Institute Press.
Parshall, Jonathan B.; Tully, Anthony P.: Shattered Sword. The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Potomac Books: United States, 2007.
Stille, M. (2010). Midway 1942: Turning-point in the Pacific(Vol. 226, Campaign). Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
Toll, I. W. (2012). Pacific crucible: War at sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942. New York: W.W. Norton.
Willmott, H. P. (2008). The barrier and the javelin: Japanese and Allied Pacific strategies, February to June 1942. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press.
And of course:
www.combinedfleet.com/
This is an incredible video, so well layed out. THANK YOU for this
Excellent objective viewpoint
Basically what I got from this:
Japan = Renekton
USA = Nasus
In that time Wil, there is no time for sinaing.
Hey ginagawa mo?
Kamusta Wil, never expected you are also a History Fan..
This is a testament to how a simple style can help the story unfolding. The lack of explosions and flashy theatrics make it easier for me to follow along exactly what's happening. Great damn job, this was fantastic
Considering the simple (yet great) format, i thought the last part felt like alot of explosions and flashy theatrics with Ride of the Valkyries suddenly playing.
@A-10 Warthog please stop...
Yep. My least favorite part of midway (the movie) is that its hard to follow. All the stuff happens at once and you cant tell the characters apart anyways. This is simple, yet good looking aswell
Too simple.
Amazing and awesome!!!! Thank you!
In hindsight. The situation was perfectly setup for the Americans to destroy the Japanese fleet. They had sailed into a trap that was executed far from perfectly but good enough to win the battle and pretty much the war.
My father was aboard the USS Yorktown when it sunk at Midway. He spent 10 hours in the ocean before a destroyer picked him up. He was transferred to the USS Enterprise and taken back to Pearl.
@Xwl
Nope You tube blocked Heaven
@Simon Dowsett ouch😀
and when you said "Transferred", you really mean that the Enterprise beamed him up.
@Michael Bagnall hats off to you sir, well done.
My granny was the very first kamikaze in the Japanese navy. True story.
I have watched several documentaries about Midway, but this is by far the clearest explanation I've ever watched of what happened. Also recounting it from a Japanese perspective is inspired. You have a new subscriber!
When I recently started getting into reading stuff about WW2, I was reading wikipedia versions of all the battles. Very good & informative.
I just finished (yesterday) listening to “Shattered Sword - The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway”. It’s an analysis of the battle from the Japanese perspective and is a deep dive into Japanese carrier doctrine. It also appears to be the inspiration/primary source for this video.
A good book and this video is very helpful organizing the last 11 hours of audiobook.
@FooBar Maximus
Shuuush.......
Grown-Up's are talking.
@FooBar Maximus Silence is golden
This is how a damn documentary should be. To the point without all the theatrics. Kudos and outstanding job.
amen to that
@the zimra I am genuinely curios as to where this "normal media" is. Please tell me. All the TV shows from all the countries I have seen so far have been, for the most part, just as cancer as American media. Although, mythbusters was rad.
I would really appreciate some examples of your homeland TV shows that weren't cancer. (Preferably dubbed, but subs would be okay)
The comment section is the most cancerous thing about youtube. Look at this. You cant watch a video without people making jabs and complaining about something else. People in comment sections are miserable, and it's apparent.
or building up to the same point over an over
As someone who loves simulation games, this is exactly the information that I would be paying attention to, and this presentation style isn't distracting and going off topic for emotion like a lot of docs do. These are just cold facts and an overview of the tactics. I love it so much. I need more battle content from you asap lol
It sounds more like a real person and not a methodical robot .
Unlike too many documentarians, he didn't forget the story.
Well done on the Devastator' slow loaded speed... So few people ever explain why those planes were so easy to pick off imagine attacking the Japanese Navy at 96 mph... terrifying
@Bob Bartlett god bless you, Bob. Much like the ball turrets of b-17s, being a helicopter gunner is not a job I envy.
Wishing nothing but the best for you and yours.
The 8th Air Force (please don't get technical) in Europe suffered casualties equal to the Marine Corps in the Pacific.
As a combat Marine in Vietnam both on the ground and in the air (helicopter door gunner), I came to respect the UNWAVERING courage of air crews. You can't duck. You can't dodge. You can't seek cover. You must screw your courage to the sticking place and fly straight into all oncoming fire. It really is the equivalent of an infantryman charging in a full frontal assault on a machine gun nest. Also, I say this as a Marine who received his Purple Heart as a result of nighttime action on the ground.
Was I personally courageous? The pilots flying the helicopters that I served on sure were. I was like the tail on a kite. I just went along for the ride. I had an advantage over Nagumo. My battle decisions were made for me.
When you study a war, you look at all sides, listen to them all, form no opinions and dig deep. This does that. Very well done.
@Galland780 Sup, I live in Malaysia too but I don't give a fuck about the past. I love America, UK and Japan today even with their flaws.
@Harrison Karn ok
@Galland780 his point wasn't that Japan was good. He was just saying not every Japanese soldier was bad. The Pacific Theater was a long distance from East Asia. Combine that with classified war news and it's very unlikely that regular Japanese sailors and pilots even knew the war crimes were happening (Aside from Peral Harbor). All they knew was that they had to defend Japan at all costs.
It's kind of like how the American police force has many flaws in it, but that doesn't mean that every American cop is a bad person.
This video is fantastic. One of the best tactical breakdowns of a major battle I have ever seen. And I’ve seen many.
When a low-budget diy-documentary beats every million $ history channel docu-soap in every aspect. Just "wow"!
I have watched this at LEAST 60 times. I agree with your assessment. He did a GREAT job!
Because large companies most likely have deadlines.
For real!
@Paul well, over two years after.... Ive watched alot of something elses.
@Ryan Water Whatever . . .
This example shows you the importance of a thing called "combat initiative". If you act aggressively and decisively in attack, your opponent is FORCED to defend your attacks therefore they are not able to act, but only react to your actions. This is an immense disadvantage in a combat situation. You MUST act aggressively to pacify your enemies attack, otherwise, they are the conductor and you the chorus.
act aggressive only works if you have information advantage. In this case of midway this advantage was on US's side
Lets not forget that the Americans were helped by a series of Japanese mistakes. Like not using radar which was available. They used their fighter screen poorly. They deployed 4 squadrons of zeros in a concentrated bunch that simply left an open flank. The dive bombers exploited this.
The Japanese Navy should have won at Midway. Over confidence caused laziness.
Breaking the enemy's code helps, I'm sure.
@Ui Unfortunately the torpedo bombers had lousy torpedoes but Naval Ordinance would not admit and blamed the pilots. They weren't supposed to be suicide runs, but they turned out that way.
one little thing that stood out to me the most was how well executed the narration pauses were. using the pause before the near miss of the suicide bomber attack left me and many others id imagine on the edge of my seat. fantastic job
i laughed so hard at that moment. fantastic haha 12:57
My Great Uncle was part of the VT-6 torpedo attack from the USS Enterprise. It seems it didn't go so well, but he still got a ship named after him. Takes balls to die like that, at 23 years old.
@NatHarwood States in the article there were two ships named after him.
@NatHarwood quite some stories. It's good to know the Navy tries to remember.
@Steve K Hah nice find! My mother's maiden name was Holder. The Harwoods were busy fighting Rommel's army in the Sahara with the British Army, no connection to Bruce. Here's the ship: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Holder_(DD-819)
There's a destroyer named after torpedo aviator Bruce Harwood. He was killed in 1944.
I have to be honest and I have never been a fan of anything war related. I stumbled on this video and found your in depth analysis incredibly interesting and promptly watched all your other videos. Great work.
shit wasn't legit, movie with time portals was made that is what happened.
I love the idea of incorporating the fog of war and actually encouraging the viewer to imagine what they'd have done instead of just presenting the facts like most other documentaries.
Really does help make you think about the aspects that surround the battle.
I think there was even more fog of war than mentioned. The Japanese knew that the Yorktown suffered major damage at the Battle of Coral Sea. In their minds, it couldn't be at Midway. From their perspective, they could only be facing only two frontline US carriers. The number of planes attacking their carriers was the first hint that they were facing more than two carriers which could only mean they were also facing a new ship with an inexperienced crew or a light carrier. Thus, the Hiryu thought they had the opportunity to sink what they assumed was the final carrier in the US Pacific fleet so they wanted to close the distance to prevent the US carrier from escaping. If they had sunk the final carrier then the land assault at Midway could continue. It was the Japanese battle plan for their carriers to facilitate taking Midway, not yet to be fighting a decisive carrier battle. Defeating US carriers would not have been a shocking defeat for the US public that would have raised calls for peace. Japan would need to occupy Midway after shattering the US Pacific fleet and be threatening to blockade and later invade Hawaii.
It is also incorrect to say that Yorktown was repaired in 48 hours in drydock at Pearl. It left port with numerous land based repair crews and was being repaired at sea. It was not battle ready when it left port.
At first I thought this was going to be a very amateur presentation of this battle, but the way the narrator explained everything is soooo helpful for me. This is better than History Channel and recreations for me. Very well presented...to see only one side of war...as info comes in. I'm actually a little nervous watching this because all the new intell makes for a great nerve-wracking story. Well done!!!
I would say the more improvisational and less doctrinaire approach of the US forces made better advantage of the fog or war.
Also, the Battle of Midway is like a microcosm of the entire war from a US perspective. Think about it, we lost plane after plane, against a mighty and skilled Japanese fleet, and yet the US won the battle because of the war of attrition. There's a reason why the Japanese wanted to end the war on us as fast as possible. They knew we could outproduce them. Even if we would have lost Midway, it wouldn't have mattered. Our production rate was going up, while theirs were going down.
This is compared to the entire war in general. Germany and Japan weren't going to keep up with our production, especially considering how both were struggling to secure oil. This is why 3 countries can't take on an entire world.
@Ernie Winn what ? It was the fact that the japanese Fleet was destroy during the battle of midway blocking them of doing any operation outside of there control
The 2nd amendment was why Japan didn't invade us.
Most of the losses were because of the inexperienced planes on the actual island of midway, and then the inexperienced pilots of the American carrier (Hornet) that hadn't been used yet in carrier battles. The Japanese and the Americans had the same amount of materiel during the Battle, although it is an adept description of the Pacific war as a whole
I come to this site every now and then just to re-enjoy this “history movie”. Oh god, what a beautiful serie of videos. Great work again and again.
You know a documentary is good when it keeps the attention of 9yr old. My daughter came into my room while I was folding laundry and had this on the TV (YT app) and she just started watching, and when it was over, she wanted me to start it again.
Well Done.
Man I was almost falling asleep when I came across this video and I finished all 3 episodes at once. The music from 38:58 gives me real chills.
Yeah! Get her interested young, that's what my dad did with me. By age 22 I was asking him to watch The Great Courses Plus's whole lecture series on World War II in the Pacific theater. It was a good time, and I had a lot of fun.
I have been interested in the Midway campaign since I was a child in 1965 when my father read me a magazine article. I’ve never passed up an opportunity to learn something new about the battle when I’ve crossed paths with some documentary. This fog of war from the Japanese perspective was a brilliant, fascinating, and objective piece of work. You should know that you produced a valuable document here. Thanks.
You used the right American flag, 48 stars bc no Alaska or Hawaii, I'm impressed
@Theft Parrot I care. Accuracy in a historical video is very important. If they get the small things correct, it gives me more confidence in the larger points.
@Eggchin Hawaii and Alaska became states in '59 so during WW2 the US flag only had 48 stars
@Henry Cebula What do you mean? When was Hawaii added
@moarliekmirite I don't either, and I'm from St.Louis
@Brian McK You don’t need to count them. You can recognize the pattern the stars are placed in to know which flag it is. If you study this period of American history enough, you get used to seeing the 48 star flag and can therefore spot it pretty easily.
A phenomenal demonstration of a complex battle. This is precisely how military engagements should be explained and simultaneously depicted. Great story line, explanations and progression. Exceptional is the only way I would describe this!!
I'm about 15 minutes into this video and I can't stress enough how clear and concise everything is. A bit dry perhaps for younger audiences but exquisitely relayed information at every step of the way. Your means of relaying information in time and showing not just CGI/animations but also offering photography of the battle itself to me draws me in as a military historian.
Exquisite work friend, i'm subscribed now and eager for more.
Props to you for presenting historical events in a fact-heavy yet entertaining way
This presentation is phenomenal! Great job! The human brain will “eat up” laconic communication, pictures, simple animation, colors, etc. presented in a logical way. This narrative is wonderfully sequenced and paced!! What a terrific teacher you are! I genuinely understand the Battle of Midway now. I stumbled upon this video, but if you made these videos for every major battle in every war I would watch them in awe!
Would love to see this from the American’s perspective. God rest the souls of our brave pilots who knew they likely weren’t returning from their mission.
Nagumos Dilemma was one of the reasons that modern aircraft carriers have a angled flight deck so that can do 2 operations on deck at a time
@Rick Simon The only remaining carrier took out Yorktown easily. Had Nagumo not closed with the Americans, they couldn't have touched him.
To those commentors below that suggest Japan using two carriers to attack and the other two to land planes: that would have required good communications all around. Could the Americans have used radio to call out nonsense on Japanese channels and interrupt communications?
@OGDC! Ahh...I didn't realize that you were referring to the class as modified.
@ManilaJohn01 I’m saying it was redesigned which made it one of the earlier carriers to have angled flight decks. But HMS Ark Royal was the first carrier to be fitted with angled flight decks.
@Mike Walker There was nothing cowardly about the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese carried out an attack on the Russians at Port Arthur without a prior declaration of war, both the British and Americans regarded it as a surprise attack. British newspapers even referred to "plucky little Japan". One's outlook depends on whether one is a third party bystander, or the victim.
I just want to remind you all that this masterpiece was entirely free to watch.
I've never subscribed to a channel this quickly. The sheer amount of data that you've put into this, movement patterns, time stamps, specs on planes, and then on top of that the visualization which is simple but effective is outstanding. You have done extremely well and have shed light on history that I knew about but not like this. Extremely well done.
Absolutely captivating series. I watched all three and plan to watch every video on your channel. Please make more! I would pay for this type of content to continue on more battles.
I didn't realize how much guesswork went into this. They really went into the fight damn near blind and hoped their guesses where accurate.
They really had to think they where doing great at first with a great kill to loss ratio.
Facanating.
Japanese Navy doctrine focus too much on old tactics than practical strategies
@Howard Lam There's still a lotta guesswork going on with those half-evidences.
@Howard Lam MAGIC
Now would be a golden time to come out with Part 2. So many people stuck in their homes under lockdown orders craving online content!
In my opinion, Japan could NOT grasp the American Citizen’s mindset that once Pearl Harbor was attacked the US would never surrender, they would never negotiate. If you reversed the outcome of Midway and the three American carriers went to the bottom the US would continue.
Japan would have to invade the west coast of the US and conquer the country on the ground. Japan sealed it’s fate on Dec 7 1941.
@Ray C eeeewwweee
well you're in luck!!
@moth Christ wait until they realized he released part 3 too!
I really appreciate the decision-based analysis in this video. I finally understand the importance of decisions made in the movie Midway (the old and good movie, not the new one)
This is a great recounting of the battle, very clearly defined with the situations faced by the Japanese. Wonderfully detailed... Thank you!
This is easily one of the most fascinating stories told. Particularly the perspective being zero'd in on the Japanese side. Each moment I am saying wow. Great job!
That Thatch Weave is genius. It definitely was an ad-hoc improv to solve the dogfighting issues they faced against the Zero fighters, the battle hardened methods that prove most effective in lots of these epic battles
Watched this, then the history channel version. There's no comparison, this is so much better, easier to follow, and WAYYYYY more interesting.
History channel is propaganda lol
@HolyPastrami or the Sherman tank is bad myth.
wrr
@adamcrookedsmile Heck its all propaganda bs you are watching on the history channel documents to get you brainwashed.
Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
This was absolutely amazing and what history needs to tell the whole story, good and bad.
Really an incredible documentary of the battle of Midway with carrier strike groups. And I enjoy the nuances of the American carrier group using cloud cover to hide from the Japanese scout planes.
This is really, really good historical stuff. Many thanks for doing this.
Great video . I have watched movie after movie after movie never really understood the details of how big of a battle this was. You put it in layman's terms no fancy effects. Hats off to ya.
From the OP: "
1 month ago
Hello guys, so here’s an update.
Part 2 is still in the making. At moment it’s clocking in at 46 minutes. So, It’s actually longer than part 1. A breakdown of it goes as follows:
0:00-28:00 It starts off with the disaster at 1026 and Hiryu’s retaliatory strike. It carries on to the conclusion of the battle with some analysis. Then I go into some detail regarding the sinking of the Mikuma and the Yorktown. Then the final conclusion.
28:00-46:00 I give a recap of the Morning events but this time from the American POV. This is to illustrate (clearly, I hope), how the Americans were able to get the drop on the Japanese and win the battle.
At the moment, I am about 85% done with the animations. Then I have to record, edit, and add the music. And I’m trying something new this time, I want to add some artwork to the video.
So once that is all done, I’ll publish the video. Sorry for the long wait guys! the success of part 1 was completely unexpected for me. If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have posted Part 1 without having completed part 2 as well.
It's out
well its actually 30 mins, so that was a lie
This is the best work I have seen from the Midway battle investigation. Well done and can't wait for the next chapters.
I have a question. Aren't the numbers at 23:45 wrong?
If we recall, Carrier Division 1 Dive Bombers were sent to attack Midway.
18 From Akagi and 18 from Kaga equals 36.
Soryu and Hiryu still had theirs in reserve, with 16 on Soryu and 16 on Hiryu, equaling 34.
So how is it 44 Dive Bombers?
And as for the Kates: Carrier Division 2 launched theirs with 18 from Soryu and 18 from Hiryu equaling 36.
Carrier Division 1 had kept theirs in reserve, with 18 on Akagi and 27 on Kaga equaling 45, so how come it's only 34?
Part 2 and 3 is out noww, after a whole year
Wow ! Never knew about all the failed US attempts to torpedo those carriers. Great job putting this together !
Really, really well done to help with understanding the sequence of battle and complex situations the Japanese faced as things unfolded.
This is very impressive and well researched. Serious kudos to your skills as an historian and entertainer
Really incredible. I've read many books on the War in the Pacific from the American perspective and really appreciate the detail here. Thanks for putting so much thought into this piece.
You break the battle down to a 100% understandable order of events. Bravo, you do a great service to history.
@Modus Fair enough. Although I see many great documentaries that don't go over the top on the sound effects. We definitely are an interested audience. If you get a chance, watch the film Hacksaw Ridge.
@Astro Gremlin To be fair, they certainly do it that way because they have research showing that that is what gets viewers to keep watching. They need to capture the channel flippers. This guy just needs to put out good content and the people who are genuinely interested will come watch.
@Jacob Blomstrom Watch "Men Who Made America" on HC and get back to me.
much better than what >youtube< provides
@Astro Gremlin And that doesn't include the junk science shows: Ghosts, UFO's, ancient astronauts, etc.
You have done an amazing job with these videos. Your hard work is evident as they are superb.
Sir, this was an amazing set of videos! All around a fantastic job! Thank you for your time and trouble to share your efforts!
I'd like to know what application you used to create the visuals. Those were truly awesome as well!
This is amazing! Thank you for putting in all the time to understand and study this battle, as well as to create this extremely interesting video!
Would you consider posting an "educational version" of this video without the swearing? I would love to show this to students, but cannot due do that alone😕
Great Content. I loved the way you went in detail for every confrontation and adding pictures before, during, and after made it a more immersive experience.
This is representative of the 5% of the truly good content on INclips. Thanks.
Agreed. Hope there'll be more like this quality content.
.1%
@Per Christian Løkke😸
@SkyClap
To name some other people I'd recommend the following channels too:
Mark Rober
TierZoo
Summoning Salt
Super Eyepatch Wolf
@SkyClap
I would personally highly recommend anything from the 'Chart Party' or 'Pretty Good' series of videos by a man named "Jon Bois". You can find some of his stuff on SB Nation, with the rest on his personal channel.
Before watching his stuff you'll think "There's no way I want to spend all this time watching videos about athletes named Bob, or some baseball player from the 80s named Lonnie Smith" etc, and I used to think that too before I watched every video from those two series several times over with zero regrets.
Please, please, PLEASE do more of this. It's so interesting and informative
This series was entertaining and informative! I loved it. Thank you!
Excellent, detailed explanation of the critical twists and turns of this historic battle. Very well done. Four stars at least. History as it should be told and examined. Great job!!!
I wonder what might have been, had the Japanese executed the Midway attack on December 7th 1941? Six carriers, instead of four. A total surprise attack against a less defended Midway. Drawing the U.S. carriers and battleships out to sea, in one massive sea battle. Could the Japanese have captured and used Midway as a land based area for its planes? Warships sunk at sea, could not be salvaged, by either navy.
I guess it was impossible and a bit useless for japanese imperial navy to take midway and continue to occupy at that time, since they were in hurry to take resource rich islands in the south.
Their objective of the war against US, Dutch and British was simply for the resources.
Unlike Russia, Japan cannot survive even a day without importing resources.
You know a production is good when you don't realize 42 minutes just went by. This is very well done!
Agreed! (I wanted the finish!)
wtf! didn't even realize that!!! :D it was just simply so good
You know a production was good when you come back for part two nearly daily.
wait what? I have been watching for over 50 minutes!?
I thought it was a 20min video I didn't even realize it
This is excellent research and excellent storytelling. Thank you for your labors to create something so beautiful.
Excellent video, the complex, sort of left to luck handling of early carrier battles is just amazing, the bravery and skill shown by naval crews and pilots expected to fight at close quarters is shocking.
This was amazing! Kudos on doing such a good job!!
Great work as usual, I truly appreciate your work more than you know.
The inclusion of the fog of war was great. Shows how easy hindsight makes to see the "obvious" mistakes the commanders make.
@miss Frill Symonds book has 5 rating from Amazon with 2500 reviews and he deserves it.
I don't get the fog of war issue here. The Americans had already launched their attack before Nagumo made any decisions about rearming. He couldn't launch, even later because he had to recover the planes from the Midway attack, and also he had to constantly maneuver while bombs were being dropped on him by B-17s, etc. So he couldn't turn into the wind and launch. Basically what ever decision he made he was screwed. Besides the scout plans initial reports to him didn't identify a carrier and the last thing he wanted to do was launch an attack before he knew where the carriers were. Basically whatever Nagumo did, he was screwed. There was picket line of submarines that was supposed to be set up to detect the carriers coming from Hawii, but since they knew the plans they arrived early. Bottom line the plan was destined to fail since the US knew their plans. It was Yamamoto's plan - blame him.
@Gotterdammerung05 To win must keep the enemy off balance. One does that by doing the unexpected unexpectedly. That requires risk-taking sometimes. If your side does what the enemy thinks you will do - you lose.
@Gotterdammerung05 Americans understand that when the first round goes down range all planning becomes obsolete.
@Gotterdammerung05
Admiral Nimitz was brought out of retirement to lead this fight. He was considered a “gifted strategist” which shows clearly starting with the division of the carriers into 2 separate task forces. In the leadup to the battle, he ignored a pilot report that claimed to have seen the Japanese carrier force concluding it was the invasion force the pilot had seen. He positioned the American forces in anticipation of where he guessed the Japanese mustcome from. Brilliant.
JUst found this video - wow, what a great job! I'd love to see more of your style and thinking regarding the battle of the Coral Sea, and other great naval battles.
Incredible job! So well done. I watched entire thing. Very, very clear the way you laid it out. Thank you.
I greatly appreciate your focus on tactics and maps. Trying to watch all these other documentaries with all their flashy pics and interviews gets old but your great!
These videos are so well done and a treat to watch. Thank you!
Me 42 minutes ago: "There's *no way* I'm going to watch an entire 42 minute video on Midway from the Japanese perspective." Current Me: "Okay, I can admit when I'm wrong!"Nice video!
@dosran what, you think he wrote this story?
Part 2 and 3 hit well there is 2 and a half hours gone
9
I was like, I'll watch 5 minutes...42 minutes later. XD It was actually really good.
@dosran first of all, i kindly disagree and do think that u are rather the simple mind here ...but thats just an opinion based on no facts ...just like
it was an opinion from u but I think you stand corrected by many "simple minded" men (just look at the comments and at ur zero likes on the comments... one could even believe you did dislike ur own comment)
"salty about an overwhelming american victory against heavy odds? how does this comment even make sense?"
looks like u did not watch the video then ... this is from the viewpoint of the japanese forces and by no means was it "overwhelming" if you are counting the amount of planes that where (potential power was kinda even matched) not taking part in this fight just because they made few (crucial) mistakes!
u pointed to no legit reasons why you think this was such an overwhelming force ...and if it was ..then why did they put themself into this position ... no matter how you look at it ... just go read some more SunZi ... u make not a single halfbacked good reason except for some high and mighty words like "sophomoric" oohh boi I have not even a clue what that means ohh... wait I just looked it up and it does kinda describe your childish behaviour perfectly ...thanks for this new word, always nice to improve and learn
"lol he copied books you trashbag my comment was about his laziness not the subject matter. go smoke more meth arkansas boy."
was it thou ? was it?(thats a "modern family" inside joke, I hope my simple mind does entertain u) and does it put you in a better position ? you know there are a lot of ways to learn and some people don't read history books about the second ww ... me included ... I love SciFi stuff but I don't like this stuff where I already know the outcome ... I had such great school history teachers in germany and I do love history but they all kinda focused hardly on the German part of the war and we kinda learnt not that much about what was going on in the Pacific, yes we got like a the date and a battles name and the name of the victor and outcome but not such in dept reports and I am kinda not interested in searching for this details on my own(since I do kinda know the outcome) .. and he did visualize the maneuvers of the Fleet and put a bunch of sideinfo's into his Video, he made timesheets and integrated the viewer himself into the video by asking us how we would have been reacting in the admirals shoe's
(I honestly doubt you watched the same video)
HOW IS THIS LAZY ?
( I know I am a lazy guy and I only do the minimalistics (as I always say "the best horses only jump as high as they have to" (I hope the meaning doesn't die in the translation xD) but this Video is by far not the work of an lazy Person and even if then he did Jump high enough in my eyes)
EVEN IF your comment was directed to the comment-writer then I don't get it how you are measuring his lazyness by a comment ... well I guess you are now just deep into this statement and can't get yourself out of this swamp now ... ironic how sophomoric u behave .. just stand up, be a men! Admit you where just trying to impress your gf "look how manly I am and how much I destroyed that guy in the comment's!! xD Or just say u where trolling and this is over ... #OnTheWrongSideOfTheHistoryAndThisWillBeRememberedAsAnVictoryForMeNowHahaLookHowSophomoricIAmNowMomGetTheCamIGotAnotherOne
(I made it easier to read for you)
I was thinking just the same as the OP on this comments that there is no way I would watch a 42min video but in the end I was suprised there was no 2nd Part and I would love to see more of this stuff ... I am in no way a simple minded men (I am an academics in engineerings ... I play EU III & IV, Crusader Kings and Hearts of Iron... I do read Books but more Scifi, Fantasie, History (but the middle ages) and I did freakin love this video.(did even subscribe to the channel just based on this one video)
I know this is a long comment and in the end it sounded like I am trying to give you my profile for some hot dating action but I don't mind if you just reply with a "gaaay" comment or what else ... just proves my point! ;) live long and prosper my Waffenbruder
This, and the 2nd and 3rd pieces, are tremendous videos. Incredible analysis of the events. I learned so much from watching these videos. I can't say thank you enough for creating these videos. I'll be watching more and more from your channel now!!
Great video which explains very well the dynamic of the sea battle from a Japanese standpoint
Wow. Im not normally into history and I decided to just click on it and once I saw it was 40 mins I was about to click away but Im so glad I didn't. This entire video had me to the edge of my seat and the information, the graphics, the narrating was just absolutely on point. If I was presented history like this in school I would've definitely been more into it. I cant wait to watch the other parts now of this! Please continue to make more videos like this about all historical events! Purely amazing.
This narrative very complete accurate. Took many details into account I've never heard. Great work
please don't stop making these, they are by far the best ww2 naval battle explanations I have seen
The perfect transition from sketched maneuvers to aerial image hooked me. Now I'm going to go over everything this channel has made.
I was going to make a similar comment. Great videos indeed 👍
This is the only channel on youtube with a documentary on the battle of Savo island. I heartily second you.
I've never seen videos like this in any format. I didn't even know this kind of breakdown and detailed information was known. To top it off by presenting from both sides is just amazing. I love this whole series! Such a wonderful job. I hope you consider doing similar representations of other battles. I'd be highly interested in Vietnam battles or even more recent encounters, assuming you have access to similar information. Either way, really really nice work!
I can't imagine the panic the officers on the Hiryu were going through. Not only did their fleet commander die, they have a bunch of planes in the air, recovery missions for all the sailors/pilots, and an entire Naval task force hunting them down.
I think the Hiryu crew likely thought the mission to invade Midway was still achievable. They thought they had the more skilled flight crews, better aircraft and were facing only one remaining carrier. They saw that we had sent obsolete aircraft and poorly trained crews. It didn't look like we had planned for this attack. If they occupied Midway then it plus the light carriers with the main task force would be formidable defensively even without the destroyed carriers. The Japanese battle plan was to occupy and cause an even greater naval defeat than Pearl from rushed US attempts to retake Midway. Their plan wasn't to engage and destroy US carriers on the first day.
What the Japanese didn't realize is that Nimitz's objective was to destroy Japanese carriers and there was no serious effort to defend Midway if the US carriers were damaged and had to retreat. The carrier USS Saratoga was just a couple days from joining the task force and it would have been a trap if the Japanese carriers pursued retreating US carriers. It would have been harder for Japan to defend Midway that it would be for the US to attack it so there would not have been a hasty counterattack to retake Midway. Also, Nimitz was in a position to risk losing US carriers because six more Essex class fleet carriers were already under construction.
Overall, the Japanese attack on Midway had many failure points and the first one, establish air superiority over Midway, where their plan failed.
@sixstringpsycho OH, AND YOU FEEL THAT YOU MUST RUSH TO HIS DEFENSE BECAUSE YOU SEE YOURSELF AS HIS SAVIOR BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE THAT HE ALSO LACKS AGENCY AND IS INCAPABLE OF SPEAKING ON HIS OWN BEHALF.
I SEE.
THAT'S VERY ODD OF YOU.
SO, THE THE JAPANESE ARE TRAINED TO BE BACKSTABBERS AND THAT IS WHAT THEY CALL HONORABLE. HMM.
@DOOMJESUS Dude, chill. He was just explaining what the Japanese were trained and brought up from childhood to believe at that time. He never said it was _right._
I don’t think Japanese officers panicked. They may not have made the best decisions in the heat of battle but in the Japanese culture is was pure honor to die in the service of their emperor. It brought honor to their family. A completely different mindset than us Americans. It makes you wonder why we have just great warriors given our lack of history ( in hundreds of years instead of thousands like Asian cultures). The Japanese are born warriors, we have to make them .
This was the most informative documentary about midway I've seen. I especially liked the way it was from the Japanese perspective of the battle. You got my subscription. Kudos.
This was a very cool video! Nicely done!
My dad was a pearl harbor survivor and I knew midway was a turning part of the war. But to see this video puts that into my perspective. And what an opposition the Japanese were. Thank you! Rod age 67
I've got to say it was genius to include Ride of the Valkyries at the end. And deserved a bonus in their paycheck. And I'm completely serious about that.
This is by far the best view, great preparation and content delivery by Montemayor as always!
Excellent historical information with a neutral perspective! Wonderful !
I really like this. This step by step with fog of war. You're a talented presenter. Very enjoyable. Thanks!
Ditto that. Outstanding in every respect.
Perfectly stated!!!
Totally engrossing! I wish history in school could be taught this way
One of the best videos in INclips - very well done. Interesting, fun and informative!!
Great presentation! And yes, it was very good to see things from the Japanese perspective. It was the Americans that had the element of surprise as they knew the Japanese were going to attack Midway. Nothing the Japanese could do as it wave and waves of attack by US planes!
This is a great video, and a great perspective.
The one (obvious) thing I would mention is that while choices made by Nagumo were indeed in accord with dogma, the dogma itself was flawed. The main problem with Japan (not only in WW2, but throughout its history) was its dogged insistence to move forward. This caused huge errors in intelligence (taking an uncoded message at face value), as well as battlefield strategy.
Retreat was never viable in Japan. Every single piece of territory they gained (or thought they would gain) was defended to the death. Samuel Griffith recalls this in his excellent preamble to his (also excellent) translation of "The Art of War". If Japan had even a modicum of flexibility in their military thought, we might have seen a very different outcome in the Pacific.
wow!!! what a great way to present this history. I'm an avid reader and consumer of WWII history and this is probably the best job i've seen of showing just what happened. EXCELLENT JOB!! thumbs up on this one.
@sirgallium p moo
no such thing as gx or bx or ex or not, any s ok
@omi god Glenn is just a troll judging from his other posts. Ignore him.
@dosran Want to try that again in English?
Best depiction of the battle of Midway. Many thanks!
Closing the gap meant the Japanese planes could be recovered sooner, rearmed for another strike and sent out again. The B5N Kate was not terribly fast...
That's an incredibly told story, Bravo!!!
Excellent! Absolutely brilliant piece of work!
When I was a little kid in the 1980s I met Ensign George Gay at an airshow at a US Naval air station. He was signing books at the time. I was too young to understand the significance of the man in front of me; my dad told me he had gotten shot down and floated in the middle of the ensuing battle, but I didn't know until later that he had lost all of his air crew buddies that same day and was the only survivor. He was wounded and hid under his seat cushion to avoid being strafed by Zeroes, while witnessing the destruction of the Japanese carriers. He didn't inflate his life raft until later, and was damned lucky to be found and rescued.
no such thing as sigx or not
no such thing as signific xor have or not
that last name is unfortunate.
it was not unknown elsewhere for survivors from opposing sides to be mixed in in one flotsam field..
I just watched the 2019 movie Midway after watching your video. What a difference it made!!! The movie would have been average at best without having watched this video ahead of time. Amazing how something that you covered in great detail was only explained in one sentence in the movie! Well done!!!
@cr00ked gr1n Absolutely 💯
i enjoyed this documentary way more than that movie lol
super good video, with your advice i wonder if nagumo would have made a different choice... i was screaming at my monitor when you said there were 2 options though i just wanted them to recover and retreat. it was clear that the attack on the airstrips had failed and even if the naval force the recon had spotted was without a carrier it was still too dangerous to risk especially with only being able to have one operation on deck at a time. then when he turned the fleet into where the opposing force was i knew it was over
I used to watch dogfights as a kid and this is bringing back those amazing memories. Really good video!
Extremely well presented . Thank you.
Probably the best breakdown of a battle I have ever seen. "Fog of war" Fantastic !!! Angled flight deck ??? Absolutely brilliant.
Wow… EXTREMELY well done!!
My father passed away in 2016. He was a WWII historian and Midway was his favorite battle. Thank you for this amazing video.!
I’ve watched all the movies and docs on midway…and this is by far the best! Learned A LOT! Thank you and keep up the awesome work! Have you put your app into the History Channel yet? They could TOTALLY use you!!! 👍
Me before watching: Some random history buff makes a 41 minute video on Midway? Pass. But I'll watch the intro, just to see what it looks like.
Me 42 minutes later: What? Where's part 2? I need part 2!!!
Well done, Montemayor. Like/sub thoroughly earned.
Cool down Archie - the US lucked out and won.
Rick Schneider most definitely!
@mdmnmdllr Yes, Shattered Sword is a first rate effort. It is a good read, has the Japanese perspective, detail where it is important (eg spotting), debunks myths.
awesome presentation... but - without part 2 - it's only half hearted... like last minutes - from 32 dive bombers there was 4 hits... and that's it? so, for the previous 6 months there was no hit? and then, all of a sudden - just for hits destroy a major carrier? No fucking way!
same here ehh cant be much right? proved me wrong
Great explanation from a different perspective. Very informative. Well done.