The Battle of Midway

The Battle of Midway

Multiple Choice

In what year did Japan attack our naval base at Pearl Harbor?

• 1939

• 1941

• 1943

• 1945

Multiple Choice

Pearl Harbor is located where?

• Samoa

• The Philippines

• Hong Kong

• Hawaii

Poll

Imagine you were 20 years old back in 1942, what branch of the military would you have wanted to join

• The Army

• The Navy

• The Air-force

• The Marines

Open Ended

Explain why you made the choice you did?

Japan invades the Philippines

December 1941

The Invasion

• 200,000 Japanese soldiers invaded

• The Japanese destroyed our planes with a surprise attack.

• Our navy could not help

US Forces

• Were led by General Douglas MacArthur

• 35,000 US soldiers

• 90,000 Filipinos

• They held out for four months

FDR orders MacArthur to leave

• MacArthur was a 4 Star General

• We could not afford to lose him

• FDR ordered him to leave the Philippines

• The pictures show MacArthur with his wife and son Arthur

Poll

What do you think MacArthur should have done?

• Stay with his men, you can't abandon them

• obey the president and leave

The Bataan Death march

• The remaining US and Filipino forces surrendered in April 1942

• The prisoners had to march 60 miles.

• .What happened on the march can only be described as a nightmarish hell

Living a Nightmare

• American soldiers were shot, beaten to death, bayonetted and buried alive

• Anyone to sick to march was killed

• they remained prisoners for over two years.

• They suffered from torture, disease, and starvation.

Multiple Choice

How many US planes bombed Japan as part of Doolittle's Raid

• 5 planes

• 10 planes

• 16 planes

• 28 planes

Multiple Choice

The planes took off from what US aircraft carrier

• The USS Hornet

• The USS Yorktown

• The USS Saratoga

The Results of Doolittle's Raid

• Japan's military had promised the Japanese people they would never be bombed.

• Now, they had been exposed as liars.

• To avenge their lost honor, the Japanese navy decided to attack Hawaii.

• Their real target were the US aircraft carriers.

May 1940

• An enormous Japanese fleet left Japan

• Destination Midway Island

• The US knew they were coming

• How?

Believe it or not

A fresh water distiller was the key

A US codebreaker in Hawaii had an idea

• US codebreakers had broken the Japanese secret code.

• They knew the Japanese were planning to attack a place codenamed AF?

• But, what did AF stand for?

• One American thought he knew

• He came up with a crazy idea.

He sent a secret message to Midway

• He told a radio man to send him an uncoded message over an open channel

• The message was that a water distiller on Midway was broke and a new one was needed.

• The codebreaker wanted the Japanese to hear the message.

• He hoped they would take the bait.

• Did they?

A Japanese sub heard it and sent this message back to Japan

• "Water cooler broke on AF, US navy requesting replacement"

AF was the Japanese code word for Midway Island

US Admiral Chester Nimitz

knew the Japanese were planning to attack Midway Island. He set to work planning an ambush!

The Japanese Attack Force was HUGE!

• 10 battleships

• 8 carriers

• 500 planes

• 45 destroyers

• 20 cruisers

• 15 submarines

Multiple Select

What advantage did the US navy have over the Japanese? Check all that apply

• We knew where they were planning to attack

• We had a much larger navy than they did

• We could catch them by surprise

And we had another advantage

• At the Battle of Coral Sea, the US stopped an invasion of Australia

• We lost one carrier, but

• The Japanese thought they sunk two.

• They were wrong!

The Yorktown made it back to Hawaii

• Admiral Nimitz was told it would take 3 months to repair the Yorktown.

• He told repairmen they had 3 days

Plus, Midway Island was like another carrier

• It was a flat coral reef Island

• It has several runways

• and about 60 US planes

US Fleet left Hawaii just hours before Japanese subs arrived

3 US carriers sailed North of Midway Island

The Japanese had NO IDEA they were there

The US guessed the Japanese attack on Alaska was a diversion (trick). We were right!

Not as good as my special 3-D map, but I guess it will do.

June 4th 1942 6:00AM

The Battle of Midway Begins

The Day before

• US scout planes locate part of the Japanese Fleet

• Midway island is put on full alert

• The US will NOT be caught off guard

7:15Am Admiral Nagumo decides

He arms his planes with bombs to attack Midway Island.

Just 13 minutes later

• A Japanese scout plane spots 10 US ships including a US carrier - The USS Yorktown

• Nagumo is stunned

• There wasn't supposed to be ANY US carriers nearby.

• Nagumo can't do anything until his bombers return from Midway

7:25AM

US carriers launch their planes.

US planes from the Enterprise and the Hornet head towards the Japanese fleet

9:17AM

Nagumo's bombers finally return from Midway and begin landing on his four carriers to refuel and reload.

9:20AM

• 15 U.S. Devastator torpedo bombers from the USS Hornet arrive

• They dive down towards the Japanese fleet

• However, the slow moving bombers have no fighter planes escorting them

Multiple Choice

How many torpedos hit the Japanese carriers?

• None, the planes are all shot down. No Damage Done

• 1 bomb hit

• 3 bombs hit

• 5 bombs hit - Bullseye!

• The Japanese have a deadly array of defenses.

• Anti aircraft guns tear the US planes apart

• Japanese Zero fighters dive down from the clouds above and shoot down one US plane after another.

9:40AM

• two more waves of US planes arrive

• 26 US planes from two carriers attack

• Japanese Zero fighters pounce!

Multiple Choice

What happened next?

• These planes hit the Japanese carriers with bombs

• The planes miss the carriers or are shot down. No Damage Done!

Multiple Select

Out of 26 US planes, how many planes survived to return to their carriers?

• 0

• 6

• 10

• 18

9:50am 18 US torpedo bombers arrive

• 2 man plane

• Very slow

• No escort fighters to protect them

• Japanese Zeroes dive down on them

Multiple Choice

Out of 18 US torpedo planes, how many are shot down by the Japanese?

• 5

• 10

• 14

• all 18 - No Damage Done!

Multiple Choice

There are 36 airmen in the 18 planes, how many men survive?

• 0

• 1

• 12

• 23

US losses are staggering!

• Despite 4 waves of planes, not one US pilot hits a Japanese carrier with a bomb or torpedo.

• Over 60 US pilots are killed

• But their sacrifice is NOT in vain!

Admiral Nagumo makes a fateful MISTAKE!

• He knows all these US planes cannot be from Midway

• US carriers must be nearby

• He decides to arm his planes with torpedoes instead of bombs

• This will take time to make the switch

The Japanese carriers are filled with gasoline, planes, torpedoes and bombs!

The Next Five Minutes Changes History!

The Lost Squadron

• Commander Wade McCluskey leads 26 Dauntless Dive Bombers from the USS Enterprise

• They were the first to launch that morning

• They were sent to the wrong location

• Oops!

Suddenly McCluskey sees one Japanese ship steaming north

• Dangerously low on fuel, McCluskey has two choices

• Return empty-handed to the Enterprise

• Or, follow the Japanese ship North hoping it will take you to the rest of the Japanese fleet

Poll

What would you do if you were McCluskey?

• Return to the Enterprise before you run out of fuel

• Risk it, head north! You only live once baby!

McCluskey heads North

• His Dauntless Dive bombers arrive

• The Japanese carriers are loaded with planes, fuel, bombs and torpedoes

• There are no Japanese Zeroes flying in the clouds above.

• They Japanese think they are safe

10:22am - McCluskey's Dive bombers arrive

And so does another group of US planes from the USS Yorktown. (the carrier the Japanese thought they had sunk)

The Results

• The US sunk 4 Japanese carriers

• One carrier, the Akaga was able to launch planes before sinking later that day

• These planes attacked the USS Yorktown

• She would later sink

• However

The Americans clearly won the battle

• The Japanese fleet returned to Japan

• Midway and Hawaii were saved

• Over 300 hundred of Japan's best pilots died

• 4 carriers were sunk and they could not build anymore

• The Tide in the Pacific had now turned

From now on, the US would be doing the attacking in the Pacific