- 2 days ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:07Midway is one of those honest events where we do not know the result ahead of time.
00:15These pilots all say to themselves, we're going to do it.
00:19We are going to risk a lonely death out on the ocean, and all they can do is shake hands
00:23and tear up.
00:25There's a lot of drama until the very last moment.
00:28Things are really on a knife set.
00:35Rarely in history does one naval force annihilate the other naval force.
00:40And almost never do you find the tipping of history itself turned more swiftly and more completely than the Battle
00:50of Midway.
00:51The Battle of Midway is one of the most dramatic events of World War II.
00:57Now, rare footage from around the world, expertly restored in full color, tells the story as you've never seen it
01:06before.
01:10December 1941.
01:14Japan's devastating surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor has brought the United States into the
01:21war against the Axis powers.
01:26Caught cold and unprepared, the American military is reeling.
01:33Eight Pacific Fleet battleships have been critically damaged or sunk.
01:41I think the Americans were stunned to figure out how efficient the Japanese were.
01:45The characteristic stereotypes that Americans had of Japanese as being little tiny people with butt teeth who were not very
01:52clever was washed away pretty quickly after Pearl Harbor.
01:57So the Japanese had superiority when the war began, both in terms of numbers and in terms of quality.
02:04The U.S. was not a big military powerhouse in the years prior to World War II.
02:10It had the 17th largest army in the world when World War II broke out.
02:14And there was even kind of a great question as to whether a navy was kind of even a practical
02:18weapon of war.
02:19So for the United States, they were kind of starting in the hole, as it were.
02:26After the humiliation of the Pearl Harbor attack, a new man has been put in charge of what remains of
02:33the Pacific Fleet.
02:35His name is Chester W. Nimitz.
02:40Nimitz comes out to take command of the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor.
02:44And he sees this smoking harbor. He's in hip boots, wading around in these damaged ships, trying to get them
02:50repaired.
02:51And the Americans are barely hanging on.
02:54Everybody just felt kind of bad. We should have been ready. We should have expected it. We should have fought
02:58back better. This is awful.
03:00And then Nimitz comes, and there was something about his ability to inspire, not in a pound-the-podium way,
03:07but in a quiet, I'm-on-your-side, we're-a-team kind of way, at the same time.
03:14He was a risk-taker by instinct and a hard-charging, hard-driving warrior.
03:21Fleet Admiral Nimitz has an incredibly difficult task in front of him.
03:28The Japanese are currently roaming the Pacific unchecked, taking territory almost at will.
03:39And Nimitz currently has only four effective ships to try and stop them.
03:45The aircraft carriers Lexington, Hornet, Enterprise, and Yorktown.
03:53Nimitz's big issue is that he can't let the Japanese run wild anymore.
03:57So he's got to keep the Japanese at bay, but also protect the assets that he has.
04:02He can't afford to lose warships, or he certainly can't afford to lose warships unless he extracts a higher toll
04:09from the Japanese.
04:10So this is the sort of balancing game that he has to play.
04:14But Nimitz's bosses in Washington have little sympathy for his predicament.
04:22President Franklin D. Roosevelt wants a headline-grabbing operation as soon as possible.
04:29Franklin Roosevelt is a domestic politician.
04:31He has been commander-in-chief when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
04:35The last thing he can do is say, therefore, we cannot reply.
04:38He does not want the U.S. armed forces to look to be hiding.
04:40He doesn't want them to look to be passive.
04:44Supposedly, Roosevelt said, tell Nimitz to get the hell out to Pearl Harbor and don't come back till the war
04:49is won.
04:51The plan cooked up in Washington is a bombing raid on Japan's capital, Tokyo, led by Colonel James Doolittle.
05:02But Doolittle's planes can only be launched inside Japanese waters from one of Admiral Nimitz's few remaining aircraft carriers.
05:16Nimitz knows the raid is purely symbolic and risky.
05:23Doolittle's heavy bombers are not even designed for carrier runways.
05:28Nimitz, I think, was directed to send this operation forward.
05:32Whether he liked it or not, I guess a betting person might have wondered whether or not it could even
05:37have been attempted.
05:38It will be a one-way mission for these crewmen.
05:42They are going to basically fly off a carrier deck, bomb Tokyo, and then land in safe airfields in China.
05:49That's the plan.
05:51And so it is an extremely bold operation.
05:58When Colonel Doolittle's first bomber heads off the flight deck,
06:02there's this moment where it just dips below the bow,
06:05and it looks like it's about to plunge into the ocean too heavy with its own bomb load.
06:13It just barely gets aloft and then rises up above the horizon.
06:25Nimitz is relieved to hear that Colonel Doolittle has launched
06:29and the carriers have turned back safely towards Hawaii.
06:35What he doesn't realize is the raid will make his carriers a priority target for the enemy.
06:44When the bombers unleash a small shock raid on Tokyo,
06:49they score a publicity victory for the American people.
06:55But the attack enrages Japan.
07:01Several of the bombs land in the grounds of the emperor's palace.
07:09This is unbelievable.
07:11This is something that every right-thinking Japanese is appalled by.
07:15Emperors are divine.
07:17They're not like presidents.
07:18You can just sort of get another one.
07:20He's divine.
07:21So, if through your oversight, as a military man, the emperor is killed,
07:25the mass suicide of the entire Japanese high command would have followed instantly.
07:31Doolittle raid was a great shock to the Japanese populace
07:34because this was at the time still an early stage of the war
07:38that they were told that Japan was winning,
07:42assaulting the imperial palace.
07:43There was a lot of outrage.
07:46But one senior Japanese military man sees the outrage as an opportunity.
07:54Ever since Pearl Harbor,
07:57the commander-in-chief of the combined fleet,
07:59Admiral Isoroko Yamamoto,
08:02has argued that the American carrier fleet needs to be attacked again
08:06and completely finished off.
08:12Yamamoto is fighting a battle,
08:13a bureaucratic institutional resource battle,
08:16to continue the offensive naval war,
08:18to finish off the American fleet.
08:21Now he's got the evidence.
08:23The Americans have proved his point.
08:27The fact that the Doolittle raids were launched from the aircraft carriers
08:32off the coast of Japan,
08:33that really fortified Yamamoto's argument
08:37that the American Pacific fleet
08:39has to be completely destroyed
08:41for Japan to be safe.
08:44We have to remember that men like Yamamoto
08:46are from the first generation of post-samurai Japan.
08:50So they're related to the warrior leaders of a medieval country.
08:55He's not somebody who thinks that just beating them is enough.
08:59He wants to wipe them out.
09:00He wants to make sure they cannot do anything else.
09:04The entire Japanese military
09:07is now galvanized behind Admiral Yamamoto.
09:13His plan is to lure the American aircraft carriers
09:17out of their base in Pearl Harbor
09:19for a decisive naval battle
09:22that will finish off Nimitz's Pacific fleet completely.
09:28And to entice them into battle,
09:30he decides to invade a tiny U.S.-held atoll island
09:34halfway across the Pacific.
09:39Midway is a valuable forward airfield
09:41and refueling base for the Americans.
09:46The Japanese see their attack on Midway as bait.
09:50They will bait the Americans
09:52into sending the carriers from Pearl Harbor.
09:55So when the Americans steam in to defend Midway,
09:59they'll be caught by surprise
10:00by this much bigger Japanese fleet.
10:02So at Midway, they are laying a trap.
10:05And it's a very potent trap.
10:11But before Yamamoto can even initiate his Midway plan,
10:16an unexpected opportunity comes his way.
10:22Two of his carriers are supporting an assault
10:25on Port Morris Bay in Allied-held Guinea
10:30when they encounter the USS Lexington and Yorktown.
10:36Out of nowhere, Yamamoto has an early shot
10:40at destroying half of Nimitz's carrier fleet.
10:46And for the first time in history,
10:49two fleets fight without ever seeing each other.
10:54While a battleship is limited by its speed
10:57and the reach of its guns,
10:59a carrier's dive and torpedo bombers
11:02can strike across hundreds of miles.
11:06Now we're beyond visible range, over the horizon.
11:09Radar technology, very primitive.
11:11Long-range reconnaissance, quite spotty.
11:14The ability to then coordinate reconnaissance
11:16with the guys on the flight deck.
11:18So you're groping around in the dark,
11:20looking for an enemy that you can't always find.
11:24Amid the mayhem in the Coral Sea,
11:26the Japanese are confident they've scored a key victory.
11:30Two of their carriers are damaged,
11:33but the U.S. Lexington is ripped apart
11:37by explosions and sinks.
11:41And the U.S. Yorktown is a smoldering wreck
11:45and surely doomed.
11:48Two of the United States' four carriers are down
11:51before the Midway assault has even begun.
11:56The Japanese start the war thinking,
11:58I'm not sure we can do this.
11:59By Midway, they think they can.
12:01And there's a degree of contempt creeping in.
12:04They know the Americans, they're big and strong,
12:06but they're not very clever.
12:10An increasingly confident Admiral Yamamoto
12:13calls his senior commanders together on a battleship
12:17to run through the top secret details
12:20of his surprise attack on Midway.
12:24Yamamoto has devised a carefully choreographed ambush.
12:29Timing will be critical.
12:32The Japanese had a love of intricate battle plans
12:36with multiple forces that are all moving and clockwork,
12:40and then they all come together at exactly the right place
12:43and exactly the right time.
12:46First, the powerful Japanese carrier fleet
12:49will launch a surprise attack on Midway.
12:52Its aeroplanes will decimate the island's defences
12:56and clear the way for the grand invasion.
13:00The attack will trigger the American fleet
13:03to scramble from Pearl Harbor
13:05and sail over 1,000 miles into a trap.
13:12Admiral Yamamoto himself
13:13will hold a large battleship fleet
13:16away from the island in reserve.
13:19By the time the American carriers arrive,
13:22the Japanese will have secured Midway's airfields
13:26and control of the skies.
13:29The Japanese carrier fleet
13:31will then be in a powerful position
13:33to overwhelm and destroy the Americans.
13:38The man in charge of this vital carrier force
13:42is Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo.
13:49Nagumo should have a good three or four days
13:52before he's going to be faced with those American carriers,
13:55and that's going to give him time
13:57to put Midway out of business, invade Midway,
14:00turn it into an advance base for the Japanese,
14:03and then he will turn and face the next threat that is coming,
14:06which should be the American Navy.
14:08But the interesting thing here
14:10is that Yamamoto and Nagumo really don't like each other.
14:13These two guys don't get along at all.
14:15And yet, by the reasons of seniority,
14:18he ends up getting placed in command
14:20of the world's foremost carrier force,
14:23and he really didn't have a good feel
14:25for this weapon system.
14:26He didn't really know how to operate it.
14:29Admiral Nagumo is a classic surface warfare
14:32procedure-based officer.
14:34He does exactly what the doctrine says,
14:36he does what he's been told to do,
14:38and he does it according to the manual.
14:40And Nagumo is not the man
14:43to be left with a great deal of initiative.
14:48But if the Japanese battle plan relies on secrecy and surprise,
14:53it's already under threat.
14:56In Hawaii, a United States cryptography unit called HIPO
15:01is trying to decipher encoded Japanese radio traffic.
15:06Leading the team at HIPO
15:08is the eccentric Captain Joseph Rochefort.
15:13Rochefort is someone who's viewed with extreme suspicion
15:16by conventional naval officers
15:18who see him as way too much of an irreverent egghead.
15:21He works in this workshop
15:23where he sets up these massive tables
15:26with sawhorses and planks,
15:27and he spreads out the Japanese codes,
15:29and he shuffles around them
15:30wearing a smoking jacket and carpet slippers.
15:35He was a bit of a fellow
15:36who worked off the reservation.
15:38He had spent time in Japan
15:41and therefore had learned
15:42not just the Japanese language,
15:44but a lot about Japanese culture.
15:45And therefore, they looked at code messages
15:48not just for what they said in terms of language,
15:50but for what they implied in terms of meaning.
15:54But even so, the cryptanalysts at HIPO
15:57could really only crack about 20% of the Japanese code.
16:01The rest of it had to be kind of determined through guesswork.
16:06That May, Rochefort starts to pick up
16:09on numerous Japanese communiques about operations
16:13against a target codenamed AF.
16:18Spinning back through his photographic memory,
16:22Rochefort thinks he knows what AF stands for.
16:26And he remembered an intercept from March of 1942
16:30of a Japanese patrol plane
16:33saying that it was passing by a target
16:35that it designated AF.
16:37And the only American possession
16:39that it could possibly have been passing
16:42was Midway Island.
16:45Rochefort is convinced
16:47an attack on Midway
16:48is little more than a week away.
16:50So he quickly files a report
16:52with his superiors in Washington.
16:56But his report is dismissed.
16:59In Washington, the chief of naval intelligence,
17:02he would say,
17:02well, gee, I'm not really sure.
17:03How do you know this?
17:04He says, well, I can tell.
17:05Well, no, you can't tell.
17:07It could be anything.
17:08That could be Seattle, for all you know,
17:10or San Francisco.
17:12How do you know AF is Midway?
17:15Chain of command was skeptical.
17:23Daybreak, the 4th of June.
17:25The Japanese carrier fleet
17:27has moved to within 250 miles of Midway.
17:31Its commander, Admiral Nagumo,
17:34is now in position
17:36to initiate the attack on the island.
17:40If you were looking
17:41at this encroaching Japanese fleet
17:43at Midway Island,
17:44you'd have to say
17:45that they have the upper hand.
17:46They've got four carriers
17:48loaded with advanced aircraft.
17:50The air crews are highly trained.
17:52They've been in action
17:53at Pearl Harbor on the Coral Sea.
17:55And this is going to be
17:56a very formidable opponent
17:58for the U.S. to come up against.
18:01All four Japanese carriers
18:04coordinate the mass launch
18:06of attack planes.
18:11And at 6.20,
18:13the Japanese squadrons
18:15appear as a swarm
18:16over Midway.
18:20The renowned film director
18:22John Ford
18:23is stationed on the island
18:25and manages to capture the attack.
18:29This is the only footage
18:31that will survive
18:32the Battle of Midway.
18:37For the Americans
18:38who are on Midway,
18:40on the ground,
18:41it is a fearsome scene.
18:42It's like Pearl Harbor come again.
18:44Because they're being attacked
18:45from above
18:46and they have very little
18:47to defend themselves
18:48while they're on the ground.
18:49Just a few scattered
18:51anti-aircraft guns.
18:55But as the Japanese aeroplanes
18:57light up an inferno
18:58beneath them,
19:00they notice something unusual.
19:03One of their key targets,
19:05the island's bomber planes,
19:07are nowhere to be seen
19:09on the airfields below.
19:12There's almost no airplanes there.
19:16They're not on the airfield
19:17and the Japanese
19:18are curious about that.
19:20Why has that happened?
19:21American airplanes
19:22must be in the air somewhere.
19:27earlier that morning,
19:28John Ford's cameras
19:30captured the moment
19:31the American bombers
19:32scrambled.
19:35And now they appear
19:37directly over
19:38the Japanese carrier fleet.
19:41Nagumo's plan
19:43for total surprise
19:44seems to have been compromised.
19:47That must have been
19:48quite a sight
19:49and that is a problem
19:51for Nagumo.
19:53Midway doesn't seem
19:54to be as quiet an area
19:56as he might have supposed.
20:00Amongst the counteroffensive,
20:02a high-altitude B-17 bombers,
20:06untested in naval warfare.
20:09The Japanese skippers
20:11realized that it takes
20:12a long time
20:13for the bomb
20:14to make it from
20:1520,000 feet down
20:16to where your ship is.
20:17And so what they would do
20:18is they would watch
20:19the aircraft
20:20and as soon as the bombs
20:21were dropped,
20:21they would then
20:22put the ship
20:23into a hard turn.
20:26The results
20:27in the photographs
20:27are quite traumatic
20:28that all around
20:30these Japanese ships
20:31are, you know,
20:32huge columns of water
20:33from sticks
20:34of eight or ten bombs
20:35landing in the drink.
20:40The Japanese fleet
20:42launches dozens
20:42of fighter planes
20:44called Zeros
20:45to defend
20:46against the attack.
20:50If one group
20:51of fighters
20:51sees an enemy strike
20:53coming in,
20:54all of the fighters
20:56will sort of follow them,
20:57almost like white blood cells
20:58will just follow them
20:59into this attack vector.
21:03The Japanese use
21:05this incredible fighter
21:06called Zero.
21:09And it is incredible
21:11in terms of its speed,
21:12maneuverability,
21:13and its climb.
21:15And the hands
21:17of a veteran aviator
21:18can be
21:19a death-dealing weapon
21:20of war.
21:22The veteran Zero pilots
21:24are soon on top
21:25of the rookie flyers
21:26from Midway.
21:29As I went flying
21:30over my head,
21:31it seemed to me
21:31I could reach up
21:32and touch him,
21:32and before I knew it,
21:33he was back on my tail.
21:36The most maneuverable
21:37airplane I think
21:38I've ever seen.
21:40The island's
21:41counter-strike,
21:42over 50 aircraft strong,
21:44fails to land
21:45a single blow
21:46on the Japanese carriers.
21:51But one attack
21:52very nearly
21:53kills Admiral Nagumo.
21:57Towards the end,
21:58a B-17 gets shot down,
22:00and as it comes
22:00diving down,
22:01the pilot seems
22:01to have set a cause
22:03to crash into the flagship
22:04and comes within
22:05a pretty short compass
22:06of running straight
22:07into him
22:08and his command team.
22:11Nagumo had probably
22:12not expected much
22:13in the way
22:13of American resistance
22:14at all.
22:15So for the Americans
22:16to be throwing
22:17basically the kitchen sink
22:19at him,
22:20his blood is up
22:21at this point.
22:22The adrenaline
22:22is pumping.
22:25Rattled,
22:26Nagumo wants
22:27to hit Midway again
22:28and destroy its defenses.
22:31But the remaining bombers
22:33he has on board
22:34are armed with torpedoes
22:36for attacking ships.
22:39So Nagumo orders them
22:41to switch
22:41to ground attack weapons.
22:43But he will have to wait
22:45some time
22:46before the attack
22:47can begin.
22:49This is not
22:50a spot sort of thing
22:52that just magically happens.
22:53It's going to be
22:5490 minutes
22:55to two hours
22:56worth of effort
22:56to make the switchover
22:58from naval attack weapons
23:00to land attack weapons.
23:01He's not going to have
23:03a strike force
23:04available to go
23:05for some hours.
23:06So once Nagumo
23:08gives that order,
23:09he's committed.
23:17But just under
23:1930 minutes later,
23:21a message crackles
23:23over the radio
23:23on the bridge
23:24of Nagumo's flagship.
23:26It's from one
23:27of his search planes.
23:29The news arrives back
23:30late
23:31and it's very bad news.
23:35U.S. Navy ships
23:37of unspecified type
23:39spotted near Midway.
23:42When that radio message
23:44comes in
23:44from his scout plane
23:46at 0740,
23:47there's got to be
23:48a real sinking feeling
23:50in Nagumo's stomach.
23:52The search was sent
23:53to confirm a negative.
23:54There are no Americans
23:55waiting to ambush me.
23:57And it confirms a positive,
23:58which is the very thing
23:59that he's not factored
24:01into all of his decisions
24:02because they're not
24:03meant to be there.
24:04He's already committed
24:06to hitting Midway again.
24:07His aircraft down
24:08in the hangars
24:09are halfway rearmed
24:12at this point,
24:12so he's totally
24:13wrong-footed.
24:15And there shouldn't be
24:17American ships
24:17out there at all.
24:20The plan says
24:21that the Americans
24:22aren't going to show up
24:23for another three
24:23or four days.
24:25Why are there
24:26American ships here?
24:29Sometimes in the history
24:30of war,
24:31intelligence is vastly
24:32overrated
24:32and we love making
24:33mountains out of molehills.
24:35This is not the case
24:36going into Midway.
24:39Turned away
24:40by his immediate superiors,
24:42cryptologist
24:43Joseph Rocheford
24:44was not deterred.
24:47He used a back channel
24:49to reach Admiral Nimitz.
24:54Rocheford lays out
24:55his hunch
24:56that the Japanese fleet
24:57are preparing
24:58to attack a place
25:00codenamed AF.
25:03Nimitz listens
25:04but needs confirmation
25:06that the target
25:07is Midway.
25:11Admiral Nimitz
25:12naturally wanted
25:12to know positively
25:13and beyond doubt
25:14what place AF represented.
25:17Since we had no proof,
25:19Joe and I agreed
25:20that we should entice
25:21the enemy
25:21by radio deception
25:22to furnish such proof
25:24if possible.
25:27Midway Island
25:28sends a false
25:29emergency message
25:30saying that their
25:32water system
25:32is broken.
25:36Later that same day,
25:38American intelligence
25:39intercepts a Japanese
25:41message saying
25:42that AF
25:43is low on water.
25:48Rocheford had proof
25:49that AF
25:50was Midway.
25:53and it's like,
25:55Eureka,
25:56we've got it.
25:57Now they can
25:57bait their own trap
25:58for the Japanese
25:59at Midway.
26:00You can imagine
26:01Admiral Nimitz's delight
26:02when I showed him
26:03the above decrypted
26:04translated message
26:05and allowed him
26:06to prepare his
26:07warm reception
26:08for those visitors
26:09in early June.
26:11You can almost see him
26:13metaphorically
26:14stroking his chin
26:15and saying,
26:15I'm game.
26:16Let's go.
26:21The morning of the attack,
26:23Nimitz's fleet
26:24is laying in wait
26:25near Midway,
26:26ready to ambush
26:28the Japanese.
26:30The tables
26:31have been turned
26:34and the Americans
26:35have not two carriers,
26:38but three.
26:41The USS Yorktown,
26:43the ship
26:43the Japanese
26:44were convinced
26:45was destroyed
26:45in the Coral Sea,
26:47is steaming
26:48through the ocean.
26:50Against all odds,
26:52the burning Hulk
26:53had made it back
26:54to Pearl Harbor
26:55for repairs.
26:57The naval architects
26:58say it's going to take
26:59three to six months
27:00to get this in shape,
27:01just ready to go to sea.
27:03And Nimitz looks at him
27:04coolly
27:05and says,
27:07you can have three days.
27:08I've got to have it
27:09battle ready
27:10in three days.
27:11And by golly,
27:12it was.
27:14Nimitz now
27:15has three carriers
27:16and the island itself,
27:18an unsinkable carrier,
27:20to take on the Japanese.
27:23And the advantage
27:24of surprise
27:25means he'll be able
27:27to strike first.
27:30Every time he had
27:31steak and eggs
27:32on the aircraft carrier,
27:33you knew that was going
27:34to be a rough,
27:35rough day.
27:36And that morning
27:37they gave us
27:38steak and eggs.
27:43At 7 a.m.
27:44that morning,
27:45under the command
27:46of Rear Admiral
27:47Raymond Spruance,
27:50two of U.S.
27:51Navy's three carriers,
27:52Enterprise and Hornet,
27:54launched their strike
27:55on the Japanese fleet.
28:02Squadrons of torpedo bombers
28:04and then dive bombers
28:05take to the air.
28:12Meanwhile,
28:13Admiral Nagumo
28:14is still grappling
28:16with the news
28:16that an American fleet
28:18is already at midway.
28:22Now the question is,
28:23what do you do?
28:24The plan may not be going
28:26according to plan anymore.
28:28Remember,
28:29the primary objective
28:30of the entire campaign
28:31is to sink
28:32the American carriers.
28:33Midway is the bait.
28:34Carriers are the target.
28:35So now he's got to rethink
28:36his entire plan.
28:37Wait a minute,
28:38maybe instead of a second
28:39strike on Midway,
28:39I should use those planes
28:41to attack the carrier.
28:44Despite his previous order
28:46to attack Midway Island,
28:48there are still
28:48some planes on board,
28:50armed to strike ships.
28:53But according
28:54to Japanese doctrine,
28:56you should only attack
28:57with a fully coordinated
28:59group of planes.
29:01And Nagumo
29:02is a strictly
29:03by-the-book commander.
29:06So instead of sending
29:08what he has,
29:09he decides to wait
29:11until all his planes
29:13have switched from bombs
29:15back to torpedoes.
29:18It'll be at least
29:19another two hours
29:20before they're ready
29:22to launch an attack.
29:24He has to do something
29:25outside the parameters
29:27of the rule book,
29:28and he's not prepared
29:29to do that.
29:30So he's made a mistake,
29:32and now he's insisting
29:34on unmaking that mistake
29:35in a position where
29:37he has not got the time
29:38to do that.
29:41Down in the hangar decks,
29:43chaos reigned.
29:45Because the order
29:46comes down from Nagumo
29:48that we have to rearm
29:49these planes again.
29:53And in the helter-skelter
29:55hubbub of the hangars now,
29:57we have a situation
29:59where there's no time
30:00to stow those land attack
30:02weapons properly.
30:04They're just shoved up
30:05against the bulkheads.
30:07You've got ordnance
30:08scattered all over the place.
30:10These planes are also
30:10being fueled,
30:11meaning that the hangars
30:13now are a tinderbox.
30:17Nagumo's carrier fleet
30:18is still rearming
30:20when, at 9.20 a.m.,
30:23planes from Nimitz's carriers
30:25appear in the sky.
30:29But as the squadron
30:30draws close,
30:32it's clearly alone
30:33and unprotected
30:35by fighter planes.
30:38The United States
30:39may have had the advantage
30:41of surprise,
30:42but they've squandered it.
30:45The problem for the Americans
30:47at this stage of the war
30:48is that they're not
30:49nearly as good
30:50as the Japanese are
30:52at coordinating the activities
30:54of multiple flight decks.
30:56Enterprise and Hornets launches
30:58are just miserable affairs,
30:59and they end up
31:01with multiple squadrons
31:02in the air
31:03that are flying
31:04in different directions,
31:05completely unsupported,
31:06and none of them know
31:08where each other even is.
31:14The first squadron
31:16to arrive
31:16are torpedo bombers.
31:19These torpedo planes
31:21are slow,
31:21they are underarmed,
31:22and they're up against
31:23zeroes that in many cases
31:25have an advantage
31:26in speed
31:26of over 200 miles an hour.
31:28It's like they were
31:29hanging on a string
31:30and just having these
31:32fighters go past them
31:33and take runs.
31:34This is one of the most
31:35horrific portions
31:36of the battle
31:37for the Americans.
31:39Worse still,
31:41the lumbering planes
31:42are armed
31:43with a faulty weapon.
31:45The problem
31:46that they have
31:47with this plane
31:47is it has a highly
31:49dysfunctional torpedo,
31:50and this torpedo
31:52generally fails
31:53to detonate
31:5490% of the time.
31:56They had tested it
31:57in pre-war gunnery tests,
31:59and it only went off
32:0010% of the time.
32:02The American admirals
32:04decided to chance it anyway
32:05and send these three
32:06torpedo squadrons
32:07into the fray.
32:12They were all over us.
32:14It was pretty terrifying.
32:16I was hit by
32:17a piece of shrapnel.
32:18I had blood all over the place.
32:20I didn't know how badly
32:21I was hit.
32:22My train got up.
32:23I had it for a while,
32:24and then he stopped firing,
32:25and I guess he'd just been killed.
32:29The torpedo pilots,
32:30I think,
32:30are some of the bravest
32:31individuals at this battle
32:33because they sort of go
32:34into the fight
32:35knowing that really
32:36all they are going
32:37to be used for
32:38is as fodder,
32:40on the off chance
32:41that maybe one of the torpedoes
32:43might go off
32:43and do some damage.
32:45The morning of the battle,
32:47dive bomber pilot
32:48told the story
32:49that his best friend
32:50was a torpedo bomber pilot,
32:51and they basically
32:53have a final farewell,
32:55and they know
32:56at that point
32:57that chances of coming back
32:59are not good
33:01because they can't say goodbye.
33:04They can't say,
33:05sorry, this has happened to you.
33:07All they can do
33:07is shake hands
33:08and tear up.
33:13These deaths
33:14are not easy things
33:15because, you know,
33:16when these planes are hit,
33:17they explode
33:18in these enormous balls of fire.
33:21Aviation gas spreads over,
33:23so it is not a pleasant way
33:25to go out.
33:27To have courage like that
33:28to face death,
33:29knowing that, you know,
33:30you have little chance
33:31of success
33:32is just a human quality
33:34that is just difficult
33:34to imagine.
33:40From the first torpedo squadron,
33:43only one man survives.
33:47And the next two squadrons
33:48are massacred as well.
33:52in the end,
33:54just four planes
33:56make it back.
34:03America's hopes
34:05now rest solely
34:06on their dive bombers.
34:08But so far,
34:10they've been nowhere
34:11to be seen.
34:13Sent off
34:14in the wrong direction,
34:15they are hopelessly lost
34:17and running low on fuel.
34:21We get to where
34:22they're supposed to be.
34:23They're not there.
34:25Nothing.
34:26I mean,
34:27just the ocean
34:27as far as you can see.
34:29And at this point in time,
34:31we were just about
34:31as far as we should be
34:33if we wanted
34:34to get back
34:35to the carrier.
34:38They've got a compass,
34:39they've got a pencil,
34:40and that's how
34:41they're going to navigate
34:42over three or four hundred
34:44miles of open ocean.
34:46There is no GPS.
34:47There is no
34:48satellite communications.
34:50We're completely blind
34:51and you're flying
34:53over this
34:53completely featureless
34:55seascape.
34:56They're pretty much
34:57on their own
34:58out there,
34:59middle of the ocean,
35:00just trying to figure out
35:02where,
35:03if they were
35:04the Japanese fleet,
35:05you would go,
35:06which direction
35:07you'd head in,
35:08and hoping
35:08that you can find
35:09something
35:10to lead you
35:11to those ships.
35:14Admiral Nagumo
35:15sees the battle
35:16swing dramatically
35:17back in his favor.
35:21Critically for Nagumo,
35:23the torpedo threat,
35:24the one that really
35:24would have spoiled
35:25his morning,
35:26has gone away.
35:26They've been massacred.
35:28Now they can get on
35:29with the job in hand.
35:30They can finish
35:30getting that strike ready
35:31and finish off
35:33the Americans.
35:34Brilliant.
35:34The Americans have failed.
35:37Nagumo's strike planes
35:38will shortly
35:39all be armed
35:40with torpedoes
35:41and all four carriers
35:43can launch
35:44a concentrated attack
35:45on the Americans.
35:48Having wasted
35:50its advantage,
35:51the Nimitz's
35:52Pacific carrier fleet
35:53is facing
35:55total destruction.
35:56This is the U.S. Navy.
35:58There is no reserve.
35:59If you lose it midway,
36:01this is really
36:02America's last shot.
36:04to kind of
36:05check the Japanese
36:06and prevent them
36:07from making
36:08their position
36:08indomitable.
36:12But there will be
36:13a final twist
36:14in the battle
36:15of Midway.
36:18At 10.25 in the morning
36:21on June 4th, 1942,
36:22the Japanese
36:23were winning
36:23the Pacific War.
36:25And five minutes later,
36:27the pendulum
36:27had shifted
36:28completely
36:28to the other side.
36:30Almost never
36:31in history
36:32do you find
36:33the tipping
36:34of history itself
36:35so swift
36:37and so decisive
36:38in such a tiny moment.
36:40The battle turns
36:42on an incredible
36:43slice of luck.
36:46Far out at sea,
36:48the leader
36:49of a lost American
36:50dive bomber squadron
36:51spots something
36:53unusual
36:54in the distance.
36:56On the horizon,
36:58the American pilots
36:59see a giant rainbow
37:00coursing through the air.
37:02And what it is,
37:03it is a spectrum
37:04of color
37:05coming through
37:06the water spout
37:07of a lone Japanese
37:08destroyer,
37:09the Arashi.
37:10The Japanese destroyer
37:12is on its own
37:13with no carriers
37:15in sight.
37:16But despite being
37:17dangerously low
37:18on fuel,
37:19the squadron leader
37:20decides to go
37:22with his gut
37:22and follow
37:24the ship's wake.
37:25When your
37:26skipper,
37:27McCluskey,
37:28turns the plane
37:29and extends
37:29the search,
37:30you know
37:31what he's asking
37:31of you.
37:32He's asking you
37:33to keep flying
37:34with him,
37:35to risk not
37:36coming back at all
37:37and landing out
37:37on the ocean,
37:38all on the off chance
37:39you're going to find
37:40the Japanese fleet
37:41and do something
37:42important.
37:44Then,
37:4510 minutes later,
37:47at 10.05 a.m.,
37:50a miracle.
37:52The U.S. dive bombers
37:54find the entire
37:56Japanese carrier fleet.
37:59It must have been
38:01an incredible sight
38:01to be 15,000 feet up
38:04and you've got
38:04these carriers
38:05spread out
38:06underneath you
38:08and you've got
38:09one pilot who survived
38:10who lived into his 90s
38:11said that when he
38:12could close his eyes
38:13and the one thing
38:14he could remember,
38:15vivid,
38:16clear as day,
38:17was the sight
38:18of the Japanese fleet
38:19out on the horizon.
38:20The Japanese have
38:21just recently painted
38:25huge Hinomaru,
38:26a big red meatball,
38:28if you will,
38:29on the front of
38:30every one of their
38:31flight decks
38:31and, of course,
38:32the American dive bomber
38:33pilots are looking at this
38:34like, well,
38:35that's a perfect
38:35aiming point.
38:40incredibly,
38:41a squadron of dive bombers
38:43from the resurrected
38:44USS Yorktown
38:46comes across the Japanese
38:48at the same time.
38:52By sheer luck,
38:54we're now going to have
38:55a situation
38:56where we have
38:56four squadrons
38:58of attack planes
38:59attacking the Japanese
39:00from two different directions
39:02and from multiple altitudes.
39:04Japanese fighters
39:05have scattered
39:07because they're chasing away
39:08the final torpedo squadron.
39:11And so,
39:12though the American
39:13torpedo bomber attacks
39:14were something
39:15of a horrible waste
39:17of life,
39:17when the dive bombers
39:18show up,
39:19there is nothing
39:20there to stop them.
39:21The higher altitudes
39:23are virtually fighter-less.
39:26Now, the Japanese
39:27do not have radar
39:28and it's a lookout
39:29on the Japanese flagship
39:31who's looking up
39:32and all of a sudden
39:33sees the American
39:34dive bombers
39:35and he yells out,
39:37Koryaku!
39:38Dive bombers!
39:41A witness said
39:42it looked like
39:42this silver cascade
39:44coming down
39:44over the top.
39:45They roll into their dives
39:47and go down
39:48towards their targets.
39:49And dive bombing
39:50is a death-defying tactic.
39:53And they plunge downward
39:54at about an 80-degree angle
39:56towards the Earth
39:57with the hood open,
39:59which means the wind
40:00is roaring into the cockpit.
40:02The whole thing
40:02is jarring.
40:04Anti-aircraft bursts
40:05are puffing around you.
40:07And then pull out
40:09as low as you can go.
40:11That gives you
40:11the best chance
40:12of finding a hit.
40:14So it's almost like
40:15playing Russian roulette
40:16with the surface of the sea.
40:19Pilots have trained for
40:21a year before
40:23the Battle of Midway
40:24so that they can prove
40:25what their dive bombers
40:27are capable of,
40:28that they can sink
40:29these Japanese ships.
40:31And that's not about luck.
40:33That's about training.
40:35The veteran U.S. dive bombers
40:37are incredibly accurate.
40:44In just five minutes,
40:46they land direct hits
40:48on three Japanese carriers.
40:53Soryu is hit by three bombs.
40:55Kaga is hit by so many bombs
40:57that the Japanese lose track
40:59of how many bombs hit her.
41:01They simply can't count.
41:03Akagi, on the other hand,
41:05is only hit by one bomb
41:06and is put in just
41:07absolutely the perfect position
41:09to do maximal damage
41:11to the flagship.
41:12To make matters worse,
41:14Admiral Nagumo's squadrons
41:16are trapped below decks,
41:19switching between bombs
41:20and torpedoes.
41:22Just consider for a moment.
41:25It's a metal box
41:26that is full of fueled aircraft.
41:28There are bombs lying
41:30all around the perimeter
41:31of this box.
41:32And now 1,000 pounds
41:34of high explosive
41:35comes slicing through
41:36a wooden flight deck
41:38and detonates.
41:39It must have been like
41:40the sun exploding.
41:43Japanese deck crewmen
41:45scythed down by the dozens.
41:47Immediately, those decks
41:49are covered with burning fuel.
41:52It's an absolute holocaust.
41:55Three of the four Japanese carriers,
41:58the powerhouse
41:59of the Imperial Navy,
42:02are ripped apart
42:03by fire and explosions.
42:07Even when I got
42:0810 or 20 miles away,
42:09I could see items of the ship
42:11blowing up in the air
42:121,000 feet high.
42:14They were like a haystack on fire.
42:19In a matter of minutes,
42:21the Battle of Midway
42:22has been utterly
42:23turned on its head.
42:27The stunned Admiral Nagumo
42:29is forced to abandon
42:30his burning carrier flagship.
42:34And zero fighters
42:36are forced to ditch
42:37in the sea.
42:40But despite the destruction,
42:42the Japanese do not give up.
42:43They have a final throw
42:45at the dice.
42:48Their only remaining carrier,
42:50the Hiryu,
42:51launches an attack.
42:53The strike leader
42:54taking off from Hiryu
42:55knows that his plane
42:56is damaged
42:56and he doesn't have
42:58enough fuel on board
42:58to hit the Americans
43:00and get back.
43:02But he takes off anyway.
43:07Two separate waves
43:09of Japanese planes
43:10attack the USS Yorktown,
43:13crippling the ship.
43:16But this hardy vessel
43:17known as the Fighting Lady
43:19still has the final say
43:22in the battle.
43:24Its dive bombers
43:25hunt down
43:26and devastate
43:28the last remaining
43:28Japanese carrier,
43:30the Hiryu.
43:33Stranded over 300 miles away
43:35in a slow battleship,
43:38powerless to influence
43:39the battle,
43:41Admiral Yamamoto
43:42eventually hears
43:43of the American ambush.
43:47And ultimately,
43:49that all four
43:50of his carriers
43:52have been hit.
43:54his plan
43:55has horribly
43:56backfired.
43:58The vital heart
43:59of the Japanese Navy
44:01is destroyed.
44:04This must have been
44:05an absolutely devastating
44:07personal blow
44:08because he
44:09is the guy
44:11who led
44:12to the creation
44:13of this carrier force.
44:14He understands
44:15its value
44:16to the nation.
44:17And so to have,
44:19you know,
44:19half of that force
44:21being ripped to pieces
44:22within a space
44:24of just a few hours,
44:25he understands
44:26what a horrendous blow
44:29this is
44:30to Japan's chances
44:31in this war.
44:33These ships
44:34are now on fire,
44:35stem to stern.
44:36They've been burning
44:37for hours.
44:38And yet,
44:40you as an engine crewman
44:41have to stay
44:42at your post.
44:43So these guys
44:45are trapped
44:46below decks
44:47and eventually
44:48the decks
44:49turn red
44:49above them
44:50as the fires
44:51inexorably
44:52work their way
44:52down through the ship
44:53and many of these men
44:55are roasted alive.
44:56There's no way
44:57out of these spaces.
45:04As the two navies
45:05retire from
45:06the monumental
45:07battle of Midway,
45:09the true enormity
45:10and human cost
45:12of the battle
45:12starts to become clear.
45:15More than 3,000
45:17Japanese
45:17and American
45:18servicemen
45:19have been killed
45:20in the space
45:21of one day.
45:24It all began
45:25to sink in
45:26to the members
45:27of the other squadrons
45:28that have to
45:29look at the empty
45:30ready rooms
45:30where their buddies
45:31had once been
45:32to see all
45:33their friends' clothing
45:35just hanging quietly
45:36on hooks.
45:36That's kind of
45:37the real kicker
45:38that exists
45:39in the squadron
45:40ready rooms
45:40after this fight
45:42is over.
45:43For the rival
45:44American
45:45and Japanese
45:46admirals,
45:47there is much
45:48soul-searching
45:49to be done.
45:51Nimitz understood
45:52had it not been
45:53for a fortuitous
45:54series of events
45:55more than halfway
45:57through the battle,
45:58he could have been
45:59running back
45:59to Pearl Harbor
46:00with his tail
46:01between his legs.
46:02Nagumo
46:03and his staff
46:04officers
46:05as they're making
46:05their way
46:06practically as refugees
46:09back towards Tokyo.
46:12Obviously,
46:12there's going to be
46:13a little explaining
46:14that has to be done.
46:15How did you lose
46:16four carriers
46:17in one day?
46:19The Japanese
46:20begin spreading
46:22disinformation
46:23about this battle.
46:24They don't tell
46:25the Japanese public
46:26that they've lost
46:28this battle.
46:29There's a huge cover-up
46:30that goes on.
46:31And so,
46:32in that context,
46:33you've got a guy
46:35like Yamamoto
46:35who's really
46:36the naval equivalent
46:37of a rock star.
46:39You can't get rid of him
46:40without people noticing.
46:42This is a guy
46:43that spends a lot
46:44of his time
46:44answering letters
46:46from schoolchildren.
46:47So,
46:49just because you've
46:50lost the battle
46:51doesn't mean
46:51that you can get rid
46:52of Yamamoto.
46:53He's kept in place.
46:55And in fact,
46:56a lot of the officers
46:56that are responsible
46:57for this disaster
46:58are kept in place.
47:00And it's all part
47:01of the cover-up
47:01to the Japanese people.
47:04On the other hand,
47:06the American victory
47:06at Midway
47:07was great news
47:08in the United States.
47:09Banner headlines.
47:11The euphoria
47:12that followed
47:13that victory
47:13was important
47:14because America
47:15got up off the mat.
47:17All the news
47:18had been bad
47:18from December 1941
47:20all the way
47:21through May.
47:22As for Nimitz,
47:23I think this was
47:24definitely proof enough
47:26that he was
47:27the man capable
47:28of leading
47:29the United States
47:30the rest of the way
47:30across the Pacific.
47:32He came in,
47:33he listened
47:33to the people
47:34who were telling
47:35him the right thing
47:36and ultimately
47:37to win the victory
47:38that the United States
47:39needed.
47:41But just two months
47:43later,
47:44Nimitz's Marines
47:45are involved
47:46in brutal ground combat,
47:48trying to retake
47:49Guadalcanal
47:50in the Solomon Islands
47:51from the Japanese.
47:54Staring the Americans
47:56in the face
47:56after Midway
47:57is all these
47:58fortified island chains,
48:00the Gilberts,
48:00the Carolines,
48:01the Marshalls,
48:01the Marianas.
48:02So Nimitz looks
48:03at the strategic predicament
48:05after Midway
48:06and it's every bit
48:07as thorny
48:07as it was
48:08after Pearl Harbor.
48:09Somehow,
48:10you're going to have
48:10to get to Japan
48:11and impose
48:12America's will
48:13on Japan
48:13and yet,
48:14how to do this?
48:17America pours
48:18its huge industrial resources
48:20into the war effort.
48:23By 1943,
48:25the United States
48:26is producing
48:27a new state-of-the-art
48:29aircraft carrier
48:30every month,
48:32creating a fleet
48:34of over 90.
48:35Their military might
48:37is overwhelming.
48:41Admiral Yamamoto
48:43is hunted down
48:44and killed
48:44by American fighter planes.
48:47and Vice Admiral
48:49Nagumo
48:49oversees
48:51another defeat,
48:52this time
48:53in Saipan.
48:54He kills himself
48:56in shame.
48:58But the bloodiest battles
49:00in the Pacific War
49:01are still to come
49:05and a new terror
49:07will be unleashed.
49:09Man planes
49:11boring in
49:11through a wall
49:12of anti-aircraft fire.
49:14Bomb and gasoline,
49:16the most terrible weapon,
49:18a kamikaze.
49:19music.
49:22music.
49:27music.
49:33music.
Comments