BBfanboy
Posts: 18046
Joined: 8/4/2010 From: Winnipeg, MB Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: geofflambert The "Midway Invasion" is halfway an example of Napoleon's dictum from Austerlitz. "Do not interrupt your enemy when they are destroying themselves." Napoleon was observing the Austro-Russian army in parade doing the opposite of what they should have been doing and was calming his staff. 'Just watch, then strike'. I say 'halfway' because Nimitz et al weren't watching a parade. They were still trying to figure out exactly what the Japanese were doing. They didn't know the KB would make pointless airstrikes on a target not worth the bother and by that action itself exposing themselves to destruction. Cannae, Alesia, Agincourt, Austerlitz and Midway. Attacking a land target (Midway) that isn't worth attacking at all cedes any advantage you might have thought you had. Your enemy has no land targets to attack, even if they were worth attacking. If you know or suppose you might be headed into a carrier battle, do what is appropriate for a carrier battle, and nothing else. Be fair now. The Japanese wanted Midway so they could extend their naval search to prevent another Doolittle raid on their home islands. Yamamoto did not want this operation but it was forced on him. He wanted to wait for Shokaku and Zuikaku before striking anywhere. And the Japanese thought that Yorktown had been sunk at Coral Sea so they thought the chances of US carriers opposing them were slim. It seems clear from the other posts here that the Japanese had poor intel on what they would be facing at Midway. But they did have a lot of battleship power trailing their carriers which could have been brought up to bombard.
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No matter how bad a situation is, you can always make it worse. - Chris Hadfield : An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth
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