Bad news concerning the Battle of Midway

I rank the battle of Midway which was fought on the 4th - 7th June 1942 as one of the most crucial battles of WWII.  I have written about it here, many a time and oft'.  As a result of it, Japanese sea-borne air power was crippled and America now, in effect, 'ruled the Pacific waves' which allowed them to choose their eventual approach to Japan.  

I was distressed, therefore, reading an article at The American Thinker which describes one particular 'cock-up' by the USN which resulted in the loss of virtually an entire squadron of aircraft:

Perhaps the most consequential of the failures is alleged, by many who have studied the battle, to have been brought about by Commander Stanhope Ring, leader of the USS Hornet’s Air Group. Here are some of those allegations.

Ring rejected the advice of Lieutenant Commander John Waldron, the leader of Hornet’s torpedo-bomber Squadron 8. Waldron accurately predicted the location of the enemy fleet, and disobeying the orders of Ring, turned off course, and led his flight to it. The pilots who instead followed Ring, flew to the wrong location, found empty ocean, and therefore played no further role in the actions of that day. Two of them died when they ran out of fuel and ditched in the water. Waldron’s entire squadron, attacking alone, without support from Ring, was annihilated, but for one survivor. [My emphasis]

What can one say except possibly "O Iago, the pity of it, Iago!"?  Once again, all too human failings and weaknesses inflicted a disaster - thus is it ever in warfare.  Even so, the strategic result was an immense victory for America and the world and I for one salute the memory of those men.

 

 

 

Comments

[Richard]

And yet...
Unintentionally, the Devastators of Sqn 8 played their part in insuring that the Japanese CAP were in the wrong place to interfere with the Dauntless dive bombers that made those six minutes at Midway so remarkable.

[Glesga]

The fog of war always is confusing however the USA bounced back magnificently after Pearl Harbour.

[David Duff]

Entirely right, Richard.

Of course they did, Jimmy, but it was an extra-ordinary bit of luck that the carriers were not in port at the time. You might say, 'God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform'!

[Glesga]

David & Richard, we had Charlton Heston in the film.

[Hank]

The squadron launched knowing that even if things went well their planes could not carry enough fuel to return to the carrier.

I'm afraid we might need men like that again.

[Gavin Longmuir]

It is the nature of war that everyone has imperfect information and everyone makes mistakes. We should reserve our criticism for those like FDR, who campaigned for re-election on the basis of keeping the US out of the war while working assiduously behind the scenes to create a casus belli.

The recent movie "Midway" tried to put the battle in context, from both the Japanese and US perspectives. It is very hard to imagine today's populations, Japanese or American, producing people like the men who fought at Midway. And that movie is a giant signpost to what lies ahead for the West -- a movie about a key US victory in WWII was made only because Chinese interests agreed to provide the financial backing.