Midway: The Pacific War’s Most Famous Battle

Comments · 208

• TI

  @timbrown1481 · 1 year ago (edited)

  One of the many things I like about your shows Woody, is that none of your presenters paint the American forces as “Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolets”! (An old TV commercial). They had their fair share of problems but, they applied the lessons they learned along the way into very successful outcomes.

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• RU

  @russpaulus9171 · 2 months ago

  Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

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• TO

  @TomGoff-b4k · 4 months ago

  I've long known about Admiral Nimitz's well-fought battle. When my brother was earning his masters degree in library science from Berkeley, he was assigned to help Sister Aquinas (Mary Manson Nimitz), an administrator at Dominican College (now Dominican University), sort and catalogue various Nimitz papers. Our dad also served as an ART, 2nd class, on the escort carrier Sangamon during the Pacific War.

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• TI

  @timbrown1481 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Thank you Mr. Stille for giving kudos the Midway Atoll. &nbsp;For me I’ve always seen Midway as a carrier battle. @ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mnEBPHxCiI&amp;t=1568">26:08</a> &nbsp;you’ve reminded me that the Atoll played a large part in the overall battle as well. &nbsp;Thank you Woody for bringing in another great speaker with a well researched topic. <br>A great educational experience for me. &nbsp;Your shows have helped me pass on the truth behind more of WW2 to my oldest daughter. &nbsp;I thank you for this.

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• TI

  @timbrown1481 · 1 year ago

  There’s that forever haunting phrase “Victory Fever”. &nbsp;Pure hubris on the part of the IJN. &nbsp;Comes back to bite them in the butt time and time again. &nbsp;The IJN definitely awoke the “sleeping giant”! &nbsp; Mark, your predation is superb!

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• GE

  @georgecooksey8216 · 1 year ago

  Terrific presentation and discussion. Thank you Paul and Mark.

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• TO

  @TomGoff-b4k · 4 months ago

  Mark Stille&apos;s book--excellent!

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• CO

  @colinellis5243 · 1 year ago

  Another good episode, I share Mark&apos;s observation that Frank Fletcher NEVER gets the credit he so richly deserves.

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• DE

  @dennisweidner288 · 1 year ago

  I think &apos;Shattered Sword&apos; answered why Nagumo &apos;waited&apos; to strike the American carriers. &nbsp;First he had to recover the Midway strike force. &nbsp;Second, he had to rearm the squadrons armed with torpedoes in case American carriers appeared with bombs for the second strike on Midway. &nbsp;Third, a series of American air strikes from Midway and then the carrier torpedo squadrons necessitated high speed maneuver. &nbsp;This significantly impacted the rearming process because the carriers had to swing back and forth. &nbsp;In short Nagumo did not have &nbsp;a time in which he was able to launch a coordinated strike.

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• F1

  @f12mnb · 1 year ago

  I enjoyed his book and his other recent work on Leyte Gulf - I hope he&apos;ll tackle the Guadalcanal and Solomons Campaign.

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• TH

  @therealuncleowen2588 · 1 year ago (edited)

  Great presentation! As a 50ish year old American, I&apos;m always up for a discussion of Midway.<br>I&apos;m sure it wasn&apos;t intended, but Mark glossed over the biggest contribution of Nataulis, causing Arashi to break away from the main Japanese carrier group to force Nataulis to keep her head down. It was that destroyer&apos;s wake as she rushed back to rejoin the carriers that McCluskey spotted, pointing like the finger of the Almighty towards the Japanese carriers. Without Nautalis, the Enterprise dive bombers probably don&apos;t find the Japanese carriers. <br>Midway is the embodiment of Shakespeare&apos;s phrase, for want of a nail. Midway&apos;s aircraft, the submarines, and three fleet carriers were brought to bear at Midway and all were critical to the victory. What did it take for the Americans to win at Midway? Absolutely everything they had available, and even then there were low level commanders such as McCluskey and Best who made decisions on the spot that snatched the victory.<br>One final comment, there was a question about McCluskey being Native American. To my knowledge McCluskey was not, but the commander of VT-8, John C Waldron, was a Native American. I always get dust in my eyes when I think of Waldron, unable to contain himself as he followed the flight to nowhere, breaking radio silence, &quot;I know where the Japanese fleet is. Go to hell.&quot; Then he made the fateful decision to turn towards that bearing, leading his squadron towards their ultimate destiny, accurately finding the Japanese fleet and dying in the attack. Had he been wrong he might have lost his career, and being right cost him and his men their lives. All gave some and some gave all.<br>I&apos;ll raise a glass to all the Americans who made the victory at Midway possible and also say, Thanks Guys to all those brave men.

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• CA

  @CarnageDogg · 1 year ago

  I love it 2 mins in when i know my next 2 hours of life are going to be happy and interesting.

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