The Battle of Midway: Hiryu's Counterstrike (2/3)

inside hiro's ready room was lieutenant tomo naga joishi he was the airstrike leader that had just battered midway he and his fellow airmen were resting when suddenly a pilot walked in and shouted the akagi is damaged the sodium and kaga are burning we're the only ship that hasn't been hit tomonaga and the men made their way to the decks to see what was going on and one can only imagine the shock and horror on the pilot's faces as they saw their fellow sister ships burning fiercely on the horizon revenge had to be taken some sort of retribution had to be delivered rear admiral yamaguchi now found himself in command of the only operational carrier left in the ketobutai despite the tragedy that had just befallen them and the grim odds stacked against them only one viable option remained in the eyes of the japanese to strike back this is the battle of midway part 2 hiro's counter-strike yamaguchi wasted no time setting the retaliatory strike led by lieutenant michio kobayashi the strike consisted of a complete squadron of 18 dive bombers with six fighters as escorts they took off at 10 54. much was expected from this group as they were all piloted by seasoned veterans and considered by many to be an elite unit lifting the fog of war we can now see that the americans had three carriers with them operating in two separate task forces rear admiral frank jack fletcher was an overall command he was a cautious yet prudent commander who had a wealth of combat experience he had previously fought the japanese a month earlier at coral sea task force 17 was under fletcher's direct command and it was centered on his flagship the uss yorktown sole survivor of coral sea the damage yorktown had been quickly patched up and made battle worthy in just two days so that she could participate in the battle it had been heard die bombers that has shattered the solu fletcher also had operational command of task 416 which was led by rear admiral raymond's bruins task 416 contained the hornet and the enterprise and they have been enterprises die bombers that had taken out the kaga and the akagi currently all three carriers were waiting anxiously for the return of their strike groups and unfortunately for the yorktown she would be receiving some unwanted visitors as well kobayashi was heading her way contrary to belief nagumo was not a broken man after the disaster at 10 30. his reaction was quite defiant after shifting his flag from the akagi to the light cruiser nagara he ordered the kirubutai towards the enemy who were now believed to be only 90 miles away he optimistically believed he could engage the americans in a daylight surface action however this fanciful notion was shattered when at 12 40 reports showed the american forces were heading east and opening the distance he subsequently changed course as well and began to head northeast at 10 50 admiral yamamoto commander of the combined fleet and chief architect of the whole operation was notified of the current situation of nagumo's mobile force one can envision his sorrow and dismay upon hearing the news that three of his carriers were on fire just like nagumo he too was hopeful that a surface engagement could be forced upon the americans at 12 20 he issued a series of orders to retrieve the situation he ordered a concentration of his main warships to come to nagumo's aid in terms of air support yamamoto ordered the carriers juno and rujo operating in the illusion campaign to head south to join the hero there was just a problem though all friendly forces were hundreds of miles away both yamamoto with his main body of battleships and admiral condo with his two fast battleships could arrive no sooner than the following morning and the two carriers forget about it they were over two days away but ultimately this effort didn't really matter because the americans had no intention whatsoever of participating in a surface battle they were heading east away from the japanese so it was up to the hero with her meager air power alone to take on the enemy in route to the reported location the japanese air group encountered a group of stragglers returning to their carriers the six heroes apparently couldn't resist such a tempting target and eager for revenge broke ranks to attack them this turned out to be a foolish move the aircraft were spd dauntless dive bombers who now without their bombs proved to be very agile and maneuverable a sharp clash ensued and although no planes were lost on either side two zeroes were severely damaged that they had to return to their carriers the vile dive bombers now had only four escorting fighters and they were miles behind this unnecessary skirmish would prove to be a fatal mistake at 11 52 radar detected the japanese strike 32 miles out yorktown had eight fighters in the air and the majority went in to intercept a strike formation with their fighter escort still too far behind to intervene the attack proved devastating for the vulnerable dive bombers the dive bombing formation was completely shattered and disorganized seven vowels were shot out of the sky before the zeros finally made an appearance but even then they only managed to shoot down one wildcat before losing three of their own during this engagement two additional vowels were destroyed and another two had to jettison their bombs which meant it was now up to only seven dive bombers to eliminate a carrier the bombers decided to split into two divisions to attack the yorktown the first would attack directly from the west while the other four would attack from the southwest so that they could approach with the sun to their backs kobayashi's unit was reputated to be the best dive bombing squadron in the fleet and they would soon confirm their elite status [Music] the attack began at 12 10. the first plane was shot down but his aim was true striking the yorktown abaft the number two elevator the second got a near miss starting a minor fire on the fan tail the third and fourth missed their mark as a yorktown was turning to port to throw off their aim but the fifth bomber landed the most damaging blow it exploded deep inside her hull damaging the stack uptakes and snuffing out all but one of her boilers thick smoke began to gush out and yorktown's speed dropped then another heavy hit was scored knocking out her forward elevator and starting several fires deep in her hole the attack concluded with the final plane scoring a near-miss four minutes after the attack the yorktown came to a halt and was dead in the water with heavy fires on board the carrier was out of operation this picture shows the dive bombing attack in the initial stages notice the damaged dive bomber about to crash into the water its tail has been completely shut off the dives conducted by kobayashi's unit were nearly vertical and were held steady despite the intense anti-aircraft fire the americans had put up hitting a moving target cruising at 30 knots was no small feat and the result speaks for itself three hits and two damage near-misses from seven aircraft it had been a spectacular performance one that even the americans begrudgingly acknowledged kobayashi was not amongst the survivors but he would have been proud of his unit for this impressive achievement however the attack had suffered intolerable losses only 5 of the 18 vowels made it back that's a 72 loss rate and of the remaining escorts only one of the four zeros made it home if the japanese continued like this they wouldn't have any more attack aircraft left by the evening in return for all this damage the americans had lost only one wildcat the survivors enthusiastically reported to yamaguchi that they had left a carrier dead in the water and burning fiercely by this point the japanese knew they were facing three carriers and according to their scorecard if one had been taken out it meant that it was now one versus two the battle could still be won although a considerable amount of luck would be needed the second strike prepared for their launch unfortunately for yamaguchi hiru's carrier attack unit had been the one that had suffered the most losses on the midway strike so instead of the regular complement of 18 torpedo planes only 10 kates were available for the attack the strike was to be led by lieutenant tomonaga earlier his plane had suffered a hit and although it had been patched up it kept leaking fuel meaning he might not have enough fuel to return other pilots pleaded to switch planes with him but tomonaga refused with a touch of humor he told him that the yankees were only 90 miles away and that he could make it there and back on a single tank of gas at 1331 the strike took off along with its escort of six fighters before their departure yamaguchi had reminded his pilots there's two undamaged carriers left your mission is to take out one of them it was imperative that this strike destroy at least one of the two undamaged carriers this would then even the odds and make it one versus one and with that result the prospect of a japanese victory wouldn't be so farfetched in route to the target location the air group sighted a carrier task force 30 miles away at 14 30. the carrier was not on fire nor showed any indication that it was damaged so clearly this had to be one of the undamaged ones accordingly tomonaga settled on attacking this untouched force however unbeknownst to the japanese this was not a new carrier it was the yorktown again american damage control had been superb and following the dive bombing attack the yorktown's crew had been able to put out the fires and had restored enough of her boilers to bring her up to 19 knots thus hiru's second attack was about to be spent on an injured carrier tomonaga approached from the carrier's port quarter he decided on executing a standard split attack radar had detected the incoming strike 45 miles out but only six fighters were available all six were sent to intercept but only two found the enemy shooting down a single torpedo bomber by this point the yorktown had begun an evasive turn to starboard giving tomonaga a poor attack angle in response he divided his small force once again to conduct yet another annaville attack the four planes were about to pass the outer ring of escorts when this picture was taken from the uss pensacola note the heavy anti-aircraft fire that tomonaga and his pilots had to fight through the americans would have to throw everything they could at this attack to save their carrier fortunately they had one of their own best pilots on scene lieutenant commander jimmy thatch having just taken off from the yorktown he was determined to repel this assault coming in at 200 feet and flying at 200 knots lieutenant thomannaga steadied his aircraft to make his torpedo run to his right a wildcat came roaring towards him it was none other than jimmy thatch and he delivered a devastating pass at tomonaga's plane the aircraft was badly damaged and set on fire nevertheless with nerves of steel tomonaga pushed on and with impressive skills still managed to launch his torpedo his plane crashed shortly afterwards killing him and his crew unfortunately for tomonaga his torpedo did not hit his wingman also missed and was later shot down and the other two of the group were also brought down with none of their torpedoes hitting their mark however their sacrifice was not in vain for it had lined up the yorktown for the second division's attack these five swooped in and scored two devastating hits on yorktown's port side in summary tomonaka's attack had cost the japanese five torpedo bombers and two zeroes the americans had lost four fighters a photograph captured the moment the torpedo struck it was this attack that had dealt tremendous and decisive damage to the yorktown she lost all power three of her boilers were knocked out her rudder was jammed and with water gushing in a severe list developed it seemed apparent that the carrier would capsize at any moment which would have caused a heavy loss of life so the captain ordered abandoned ship at 1500 the yorktown was now definitely out of the fight by 1545 hitu surviving planes had landed at this point the hero was exhausted mind you they have been in constant action for the last 10 hours just 10 minutes after they landed nagumo received a report from his scout planes it revealed the truth of tomonaga's attack the strike had hit the same carrier as before so it was still one versus two with the odds still stacked against them the japanese finally decided it was time to retreat and open the range with the americans yamaguchi looked at what remained of his strength and it was pitiful only four vowels and five kates remained incredibly the admiral was still determined to attack the americans he would send a dusk attack with these nine planes and then call it a day but first his exhausted men needed a respite from all the action the men went in to eat and rest before launching their last counter-strike however the airmen would never get that chance at this point there's a distressing issue that has to be discussed it's the controversial decision of nagumo to close the range with the americans once they have been discovered after the 10 30 disaster nagumo had been left with a single carrier the hiru the importance of this carrier cannot be overstated nogumo was in possession of an expensive military hardware that japan could ill afford to lose the japanese had to fight intelligently from this point onwards early reports had indicated that the americans were closing the gap and only 90 miles away so fair enough hopes for a surface engagement was justified therefore nagumo's decision to charge northeast to close the distance was reasonable but there is something wrong with this picture it's this the hero tagging behind nagumo's surface force a carrier has no business in a surface engagement not only that but closing the distance keeps you within the enemy's strike range and this was absurd so why are they doing this why is the hero still closing the distance with the americans well we don't really know maybe nagumo believed the americans were also seeking a surface engagement but by 1240 this was shown to be highly unlikely based on the americans changing course to the east away from him so what it seems like is that after 10 30 the japanese became short-sighted and got this type of tunnel vision where they were just focused on one thing destroying the enemy for both nagumo yamaguchi this fight had become personal they were so determined to exact revenge and so caught up in the heat of the moment that they forgot to employ their assets carefully also cultural and societal norms may have begun to cloud their thinking japanese society places a lot of value on honor and fulfilling one's duty and we can see this occurring throughout world war ii with many soldiers ending their own lives rather than being taken prisoner which was seen as a shameful act there's a popular japanese phrase that says please continue trying to do your best in other words at this moment winning was optional but trying your hardest was not even if the situation was hopeless and doomed they had to show that they were at least trying to win but by doing so they lost sight of the bigger picture saving this last precious carrier could have so well aided the japanese in future operations both are to blame for this imprudent decision it seems as if both were more concerned with preserving their personal honor instead of focusing on preserving this invaluable and irreplaceable carrier of their nation admittedly striking back at the enemy had made good sense but exposing your carrier to american air attack had not so what they should have done is that they should have let the surface units close the gap but not the carrier they could have detached the helio with an escort to the west and opened the range even before tomonaga's force had taken off at 13 30. her aircraft still had the range to strike to yorktown and make it back home but instead tahiri spent all afternoon closing the gap with the enemy only at 15 50 when reports confirmed that the hero was still facing two operational carriers did she head northwest but by this point it was too little too late the consequence for the reckless decision had already caught up to them the americans had lost contact with the enemy after the 10 30 attack they didn't know where the hero was so at 11 33 the yorktown began sending out search planes to regain contact with the enemy one of these planes had already reached the search limit but the pilot decided to push just a little further at 14 30 his perseverance paid off when on his return leg he came across the hiru it was only 130 miles away from task 416 well within strike range if the kidobutai had turned northwest immediately after launching tomonaga strike at 13 30 the helio would have been 35 miles further west at 14 30 and chances are she would have never been spotted so much for saving your last precious carrier [Music] once the americans received the sighting report a strike was immediately sent the first wave was a mixed bag of enterprise dive bombers with yorktown survivors followed by the hornet who launched her own strike 30 minutes later at 1645 the first group sighted the hiro the dive bombers swung around to the southwest so that they could approach with the sun to their backs the two squadrons decided to concentrate on a ship apiece the yorktown bombers much to their resentment were selected to go for a battleship while the 10 enterprise dive bombers got the main prize of taking out the carrier 13 fighters were on combat air patrol these pilots were no doubt fatigued at this point and the clever tactic of approaching out of the sun must have worked because for the second time this day the japanese were caught by surprise they didn't spot the americans until they were practically on top of them and this perhaps highlights the japanese's greatest weakness in carrier warfare their lack of radar the enterprise dive bombers began their attack at 1705. the carrier made a hard turn to port this threw off their aim and resulted in the first few bombs missing their mark thankfully for the americans the planes from the yorktown saw this and diverted hideo's time had come dive bombers were able to land a devastating total of four hits all on the forward part of the hiro the powerful explosions ripped the forward deck apart although the hiryu hadn't been as packed with filled up and armed aircraft like her three sisters four bombs were enough to shatter this lightly armed carrier flight operations were out of order for the hiro the remaining dauntlesses went for the battleship but missed 15 minutes later came hornet's group they ignored the hero seeing that she was doomed and went for the cruisers but to no avail no hits were scored in total the americans lost only three aircraft in the attack all four carriers were now out of operation incredibly yamamoto still believed he could grasp victory from the jaws of defeat he still entertained the prospect that midway could be taken and that the american force could be destroyed in a surface battle at 1915 admiral karita and his cruiser squadron were ordered to bombard and neutralize midway the only hope left now for a victory was for a night action between yamamoto's battleships and heavy cruisers and the american force of carriers and cruisers nagumo who had been viewed as being too passive was relieved of his command an animal condo was left in charge for the upcoming night battle however by 2330 no contact had been made and it was obvious that no surface engagement was forthcoming if he continued east he would place his ships in a vulnerable situation the following morning against american air attack so reality finally began to sink in and shortly after midnight he cancelled the bombardment of midway and ordered karita to change course to the northwest and join up with the main body soon orders for a general retirement of all his forces were sent and at 0-255 yamamoto officially canceled the midway operation back to the scene of devastation the japanese carriers had been caught in the most vulnerable state possible with fueled up and armed aircraft on board as mentioned each bomb hit was made worse by the secondary explosions that took part inside the hangars the fires were fed and nourished by the filled up strike planes the bombs and torpedoes that hadn't been stored away safely the fuel in the fuel lines and other flammable materials found throughout the ship and efforts to fight the fire successfully were hampered by many reasons one was the poor design of the japanese carriers which made them ill-prepared to absorb damage and continue fighting second fire holes and phone spraying systems were installed but the water mains were damaged during the attack rendering the systems inoperable and also japanese fire control abilities were simply subpar so the fire steadily prevailed and despite their best efforts japanese damage control equipment and training were simply not up to the task the fires could not be extinguished and this sealed the fate of the carriers sodium and kaga were burning wrecks after much deliberation the decision was made to scuttle them the soryu sank at 1913 and lost 711 men the kaga sank in 1925 she lost the most personnel of all the carriers losing 811 officers and men there is a lot of hesitation with the akagi being that she was the flagship of the kidobutai but eventually she too was ordered to be scuttled she sank the following morning taking 267 souls with her the hiru suffered the same fate fires had spread and could not be contained and it was soon apparent that she was doomed admiral yamaguchi sticking true to the naval tradition decided to go down with the ship after a sentimental goodbye yamaguchi and a selective few stayed behind while the rest of the crew transferred to a nearby destroyer at 0510 on june 5th she was also scuttled struck by a single torpedo but incredibly she didn't go down until hours later in the morning it was just enough time for a japanese biplane to take this astonishing photo apparent is the gaping hole at the front of the ship a portion of the elevator has been blown against the forward end of the island here's another classic shot of her where we can see that the ship is still on fire amidships the heroes sank some two hours after these photographs were taken at around 0 9 15. 392 men were lost the decisive phase of the battle was over yet clashes continued for the next two days which led to the sinking of the japanese cruiser makuma and the yorktown that's right the stubborn carrier still hadn't sunk at this point i'll begin with the cruiser action if we recall admiral karita in command of cruiser squadron 7 had been tasked with bombarding midway yamamoto ordered this mission to be cancelled 20 minutes past midnight on june 5th however the order was delayed by almost two hours before it got to karita at 0-2-30 by this time he was only 50 miles away from midway regardless he commenced his retreat by changing course to the northwest but during this a submarine was spotted evasive maneuvers were ordered and during the confusion the cruiser mogami collided with her sister ship makuma mogami had her bow smashed and was left behind since she had to limp back home at a slow speed the makuma faithfully stayed alongside her as an escort the rest of the day they escaped air attacks by midway-based bombers but the next day on june 6 they were bombed repeatedly but this time from carrier-based aircraft of task 416 five hits landed on mogami five on kuma and one on a destroyer despite her collision damage and the hits mogami managed to escape while ironically it was the makuma that succumbed to her wounds american pilots took pictures of the mortally wounded ship the destruction of the makuma is clear the ship sank at 1930 with a heavy loss of life with as many as 700 of her crew unaccounted for retribution was obtained against the americans on june 4th the yorktown was abandoned but despite appearing that she was about to capsize she was found still afloat on the fifth with the battle practically won and the japanese in retreat the idea of getting back to her and towing her to port seemed like a real possibility so the next day on june 6 the destroyer hammond brought on board a savage team the destroyer remained moored next to the yorktown to provide power the team began to have progress power was restored the list was corrected and soon the yorktown was being towed at three knots but lurking in the waters was submarine i-168 she had been dispatched by yamamoto to finish off the yorktown the submarine skillfully approached unnoticed and patiently waited for the perfect shot although five destroyers were on patrol no one spotted the submarine she closed in and at 1500 meters released four torpedoes the first hit the hammond which split the ship in half and the second and third hit the yorktown the carrier was done for and the salvage team evacuated the ship the following pictures tell the story the hammond is shown sinking here after breaking in half as she was going under her death charges exploded killing more of her survivors nearby in the water 84 of her crew went down with her even with four torpedo wounds the yorktown still took a while to sink and before she did she rode on her back revealing the gaping torpedo wounds from the submarine attack on june 7th the distinguished ship the ship that had played such a pivotal role in coral sea and midway finally slipped beneath the waters at 0-500 57 men were lost so now we can go to the final losses of the battle japan lost four fleet carriers one cruiser and 250 aircraft but they didn't have a heavy loss in pilots only 121 airmen were lost that day what they truly lost were the four irreplaceable carriers and the experienced and highly skilled aircraft mechanics and technicians on board them these men were difficult to replace by best estimates japan lost 3057 men for the americans the costs had been relatively small for what they had accomplished they had lost one carrier one destroyer and 144 planes total losses in men 362. there was no question about it the battle of midway had been a decisive american victory [Music] [Music] you

Channel: undefined

Views: 714,956

Rating: 4.953979 out of 5

Keywords: Midway, Animated battle map, Pacific war, U.S. Navy

Id: BXjydKPcX60

Length: 31min 36sec (1896 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/vampyire]

I've been waiting for part 2 since about a week after part 1 came out.. He does great work.. Just not super fast

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/BUMMSMACKER]

Part 3 - is up also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHO6xrSF7Sw

[u/OffsidesLikeWorf]

YAY! There's just something about this guy's videos that's super compelling!

[u/Tickle_Me_H0M0]

Finally :)

[u/FailureToReport]

Holy shit its finally out???

[u/lmflex]

Wow! This looks great and after reading some comments, I know what I'm doing tonight! I have read shattered sword and lots of other literature, but I love the diagrams for the order of battle. This looks even better than the old "Battlefields" history channel program.

[u/csp0811]

Amazing documentary series, can’t recommend it enough

[u/i_bet_youre_not_fat]

pie lit

What is this guy's accent? Nothing wrong with it, but I'm just trying to place it...is it latino of some kind?