Sweeney and Bock switched airplanes, with Sweeney flying Bockscar and Bock flying The Great Artiste…
Did you know that Okinawa was the deadliest battle of the Pacific in World War II? Have you ever wondered how this battle got so gruesome and what the intent could possibly be? Maybe you’ve wondered how this battle was significant to both sides of the war. In this paper we will discuss why the American’s had to defeat the Japanese to control the war. This piece will also cover some of the maneuver tactics used to try to enter and win the battle causing this catastrophic operation. The key points we are going to elaborate on are the naval and air forces, the land forces, casualties, and the aftermath of the battle.…
For Yamamoto’s plan to be successful, it would require the element of complete surprise. Yamamoto knew, and counted on the fact, that as soon as the attack on Midway commenced, the Americans would message Pearl Harbor for assistance. However, because of the distance from Pearl Harbor to Midway, the American Fleet would be unable to arrive in time to disrupt the attack. The Kido Butai could then shift its sights on targeting the American Fleet. (Symonds, Pivotal Moments in American History: Battle of Midway 102-103) In preparations for the attack, the Japanese fleet began a series of war gaming exercises. All messages and radio communications regarding the attack were encrypted, utilizing a highly classified Japanese Naval code, known as JN…
As written in Adrian R. Lewis’s Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory, the success of any victory can be accredited to all participants, but especially those who performed a role of leadership. World War II crafted many distinguished leaders who heavily assisted in the success…
The Japanese carrier fleet rampaged unchecked throughout the Pacific, destroying the U.S. battle line at Pearl Harbor and enabling Japan to seize the Philippines, capture Singapore, and overrun the Dutch East Indies. Since the opening attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had conducted a series of spectacular campaigns and smashing victories that seriously weakened American and Allied naval powers in the Pacific. The Japanese navy successfully attacked and damaged a huge portion of the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. To most people it seemed as if the Japanese navy was indestructible. Then came Midway,a battle in which its weakened American force/group won an Amazing victory that made the Japanese dull advance in the…
Walker 1“The Decisive Battle of Midway”Circumstances can change rapidly. These changes that occur rapidly may not be fullyunderstood until years later, if at all. The same can be said of the Battle of Midway. The Battle of Midway was June 4-7, 1942 and was a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II(Crisman). Momentum can change due to any set of factors.The Japanese objective of the Pacific Theater was to dominate the Pacific Ocean and theIndian Ocean (Crisman). If the Japanese were able to dominate the Pacific Ocean and IndianOcean, the Japanese clearly would have had much more territory in order to do what they saw fit.Clearly they could have moved men and goods across that water instead of having to move thesame things…
German Disposition at Omaha Beach - enemy beach defenses; deliberate defense. Terrain: HIgh cliffs with open beach front.…
On midnight on February 9th, 1904, Admiral Togo Heihachiro ordered an attack on the Russian “Arthur” squadron anchored in port.2 “At Port Arthur ten small Japanese destroyers, using a new weapon, the Whitehead torpedo, played havoc with the equally unprepared Russian fleet.”3 The Empire of Japan then declared formal war against Russia on February 10th. The first “Pearl Harbor” sneak attack was underway. History has a habit of repeating itself and thirty-seven years later another Japanese surprise attack occurred (ironically once again before a formal declaration of war was announced) but this time it was against the sleeping American armed forces stationed at Pearl Harbor. Surprise was the enabling factor once again but instead of naval gunfire from ships it occurred from naval aviators of the Rising Sun. “Commander Fuchida Mitsuo, who led the Japanese attack on the unready American fleet, was amazed to see the perfect target waiting below. “Had these Americans never heard of Port Arthur?”4 Declaring war against the United States and the British Empire on December 8, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Armed Forces (IAF) sought to duplicate their success against Russia in 1904. However, there were major differences in Japan’s planning and conduct of the War in the Pacific in 1941 as opposed to their war against Russia in 1904. Specifically, Japan’s land mass battle space was larger and more complex than its regional focus against Russia in 1904, Japan’s IAF were not superior to America’s war producing machine and carrier effectiveness, and Japan…
In the Battle of Midway, Japan attempted to seize the island of Midway, located over one thousand miles northwest of Honolulu. If Japan could secure the island, it would have a perfect base from which to launch devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor. In the Battle of Midway, the United States fought the Japanese by aircraft in June of 1942. After losing four important carriers and many planes,…
After their losses at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, Japan’s military had weakened greatly. In Doc D, a Japanese soldier even admits that the Japanese were on their way to defeat. The Japanese had lost a large portion of their air corps and navy. They were rendered powerless in the skies and the water. In Doc C, you can see the Japanese desperation as they attack U.S. ships…
They failed to damage any United States aircraft carriers, which by a stroke of luck had been absent from the harbor that day. They neglected to damage any shore side facilities at the Pearl Harbor Naval base, which played an important role in the allied victory in World War II. American technology skill raised and repaired all but three of the ships sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor during the first and second wave of the surprise attack. The USS Arizona was considered too badly damaged to be salvaged; the USS Oklahoma was raised but was considered too old and costly to be worth repairing, and the outdated USS Utah was considered not worth the effort. The attack on Pearl Harbor caused great damage, sinking several powerful battleships, but the top prize, America's Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers, were not in port at the time. Japan damaged the U.S. Navy, but did not cripple it. What they did do was make America extremely angry and thirsting for revenge and retribution on their new enemies. Thus began the four-year Pacific War portion of World War Two between the U.S. and…
The Battle of Midway is one of the most famous battles from World War II. It took place in the Pacific theater between 4 and 7 June 1942. This was only six months after the Japanese had devastatingly bombed Pearl Harbor propelling the United States to join the war. Despite the short time-frame for the U.S. being involved in the war, Midway would prove to be the turning point in the Pacific and if the U.S. had not managed to preserve that tiny atoll the Pacific Ocean could very well be dominated to this day by an Imperial Japanese Force. There is but one reason why the U.S. was successful over those three days, and that is the daring feats achieved by the naval aviators aboard the USS Yorktown, USS Hornet, and USS Enterprise. In other words, naval aviation won the war in the Pacific for the United States due to the skill and tactics…
The battle at Vimy Ridge was one of the most important and a major battle in world war one. It occurred along the path the Canadians took south to get from Belgium into northern part of France. It happened on April 9th, 1917, it has officially been one hundred years since this horrific battle. The Canadians, led by Sir. Arthur William Currie, attacked the German soldiers on a seven-kilometre grave yard (from another battle) on a ridge. The reason the Canadians and their allies wanted to capture Vimy was because there were to high peeks on Vimy ridge, that towered over an enemy occupied named Douai plain. The Canadian corps were all commanded to take over and destroy Vimy ridge together. It was the first ever time that all four Canadian…
By 1944, America and her allies in the Pacific War had the ascendancy. In the west, the Japanese were being turned back in Burma and island hopping had isolated Japanese forces in the eastern sector. Combined with the attacks on Iwo Jima, was America’s desire to finally destroy Japan’s merchant fleet so that the Japanese mainland could not be supplied from the food-rich sectors of South East Asia which Japan still had control over. Linked to this, was the destruction of Japan’s remaining industrial base by the bombing of it by the American airforce.…
Douglas Haig was 'brilliant to the top of his Army boots'. David Lloyd George's view sums up the attitude of many people towards Haig and other British generals of World War One. They were, supposedly, 'donkeys': moustachioed incompetents who sent the 'lions' of the Poor Bloody Infantry to their deaths in futile battles. Many popular books, films and television programmes echo this belief. The casualty list - one million British Empire dead - and the bloody stalemate of the Western Front seem to add credence to this version of events. But there is another interpretation.…