It’s early morning of the 11th of December 1941. Aboard the light cruiser Yubari rear admiral Sadamichi Kajioka holds a final briefing before a planned invasion as his task force steams towards the Wake Atoll, a US military outpost in the western Pacific Ocean. The war has just started and the powerful Imperial Japanese Navy already inflicted several serious blows, crippling American influence in the region. The upcoming assault of US fortifications on the atoll was to be another striking success for the Japanese armed forces. The struggle for Wake Island is about to begin. This video is sponsored by War Thunder! If you enjoy vehicle combat set in the latter half of the 20th century, then be sure to check out War Thunder. Free to play on PC, Xbox One and PS4 with cross platform support, War Thunder lets you take to the land, sea and air in a myriad of combat vehicles. With over 1200 vehicles to choose from and more than 80 theatres of war (such as Wake Island featured in today’s video), you really can pick your battles! With amazing graphics and authentic physics you will be immersed in conflict. Join over 20 million players from around the world, in a game that is constantly being updated with new content and multiple game-modes to engage. Support our channel by clicking the link in the description below, register online for free and enjoy premium access for three days along with a premium vehicle to pilot your way to glory! It’s late September of the year 1941. Pursuing an aggressive expansionist policy, the Empire of Japan prepares to launch an invasion on the lucrative Dutch East Indies and British Malaya in an attempt to overcome the oil embargo imposed by Western Powers and, and, more importantly, gain much coveted economic independence. Yet such a bold plan unsurprisingly came with some uncertainties. Being aware of the close ties between the United Kingdom and the United States, Japanese planners expected the latter to react to any aggression in Southeast Asia and join the war on the Allied side. In order to remedy this potential problem, the Imperial Japanese Navy was tasked with incapacitating the United States Pacific Fleet with a pre-emptive strike to ease Japan’s expansion into the south and subsequent establishment of good defensive positions. Whilst Japan applied the last polishes to its ambitious plan, the US government didn’t dawdle, pulling all diplomatic strings to prevent Japanese expansion. Moreover the primary base of the US Pacific Fleet was moved to an „advanced” station at Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaiian territory, in the hope of dissuading Japanese expansion plans. On top of that, military bases were built in the central Pacific territories under American control to strengthen their presence in the region. One such remote defensive outpost was located on the Wake Atoll, roughly 2,000 miles west of Hawaii and just 600 miles north of the Marshall Islands, being under Japanese control. Construction of military facilities began in early 1941 and by the beginning of December of the same year more than 1,100 civil construction staff were working on the atoll. But being a military base, almost 450 U.S. Marines along with several dozen navy and army personnel were also garrisoned on the island. Apart from machine guns and small arms they were equipped with six coastal artillery pieces, twelve antiaircraft guns and last but not least twelve F4F Wildcat fighter planes. One could imagine that nearly a half thousand hardware-reinforced marines were sufficient to properly defend a tiny speck of land on the vast Pacific Ocean. Yet Navy Commander Winfield Cunningham, who flew to the island late November to assume overall command knew that the garrison on the Wake Atoll should be at least four times bigger to pose a serious deterrent to the powerful Japanese navy. Nevertheless, Cunningham got straight to work, giving top priority to finishing the airstrip and defensive fortifications as soon as possible. But in spite of the earnest efforts of the Wake Island’s personnel, the war in the Pacific broke out well before they had a chance to complete their duties. Early in the morning of the 8th of December 1941, a radio technician on Wake Island opened daily communications with Hickam Field at Pearl Harbor on the other side of the international date line. Yet the initial transmission was distorted and barely intelligible. Something was not right. Soon, renewed attempts to establish communication made it abundantly clear Pearl Harbor was suffering a relentless assault from carrier-based Japanese warplanes. The United States was at war. Within the next hour Commander Cunningham and Major Devereux of the United States Marine Corps made hasty preparations for an impending attack. Soldiers scrambled, manning defensive positions and readying antiaircraft guns. As the Wake Island outpost still lacked proper radar equipment, four Wildcats took to the skies and despite poor visibility, attempted to patrol the area. Several hours had passed as the island’s defenders, feeling the tension and fear mount, looked across the sky for any sign of enemy aircraft. Eventually, almost precisely at noon the roar of 36 Japanese twin engined medium bombers filled the air as they approached through a rain squall. Antiaircraft gunners struggled to match their range, as Japanese bombs pulverized the station’s facilities and destroyed all eight Wildcats that remained on the ground. 23 men were killed, mainly air personnel. From December 8, Wake Island was subjected to almost daily air raids, though not as severe as the first. The four remaining Wildcats, assisted by antiaircraft fire managed to shoot down two unescorted Japanese Mitsubishi G3M bombers the very next day, but this small victory only served to maintain the dwindling morale of the American soldiers as the attacks continued unabated. After three days of air bombardments, early on the 11th of December, a Japanese invasion fleet under rear admiral Kajioka was spotted on the horizon by the island lookouts. It would seem that the struggle for the Wake Atoll was about to enter its decisive phase. Three light cruisers, six destroyers and two troop transports arrived off Wake Island and closed the distance to the beaches, with purpose. Japanese artillery boomed as the task force steamed along the coast, but the island’s defences remained silent. Admiral Kajioka, probably being encouraged by the bomber crews’ optimistic reports ordered his ships to close the distance further and continue the artillery barrage. The Japanese distance to the beach steadily decreased as Kajioka’s ships shelled the shoreline, destroying some civilian buildings, but inflicting no damage to the island’s defensive encampments. Major Devereux, commanding the Marine Corps patiently waited. He was aware of the shortcomings of his 5 inch coastal guns and ordered to hold fire until the Japanese ships drew closer, virtually into point-blank range. At last, the American batteries answered and an initial salvo scored first hits on the Yubari, much to Kajioka’s surprise. The Japanese admiral realized he had been lured into a trap and was forced to immediately retreat to a safer range, hoping to avoid serious losses. But accurate fire from the coastal guns soon yielded significant results. Some of the American shells struck the aft torpedo mounts on one of the destroyers, causing a large explosion on board, tearing the ship in two. Within the next few minutes the Hayate was enveloped by the waves along with her crew of 168 men. Yet the bad news did not end for Admiral Kajioka. In that time, the four Wildcats took off from the airstrip and joined the fray, pouncing on the retreating Japanese vessels. Initially the American aircraft dealt minimal damage to the cruisers, but soon, one of their bombs exploded on the Kisaragi, another destroyer, by chance, igniting her depth charges. The chain of explosions that followed ripped the Japanese ship apart, and just like Hayate minutes earlier, Kisaragi went under. A further 157 sailors were killed. At the loss of two Wildcats, the US defenders managed to repel the invasion, sinking two destroyers and damaging several other ships. It was the first tactical defeat of the Japanese navy in World War II, giving hope to all Americans after the disastrous attack on Pearl Harbor. But for the defenders on Wake Island it was but the first round. Japanese air raids continued for the next twelve days. A constant state of vigilance drew a significant toll on the marines, as they had to remain at their gun positions around the clock. With little respite between Japanese bombardments, Wake Island was not left entirely to its own fate, as a relief force dispatched from Hawaii was already on the move. Yet by 22 December it was still far away from the atoll, all the while the situation on Wake grew increasingly dire. The two last Wildcat fighters were lost in dogfights with a new threat - Japanese carrier-based Zero’s which complemented the waves of bombers. This could only mean that another invasion was but hours away. Indeed, early in the morning of the very next day Admiral Kajioka’s task force returned. But this time, he was reinforced by two fleet carriers and several other heavier warships. Two old destroyers were ran aground to allow the almost 2,000 strong Japanese unit to land on the beach. Soon a desperate battle was fought across the island, as the weary defenders struggled to hold their ground against the numerically superior enemy. After hours of desperate infantry combat, shrinking the defence lines to a couple of strongpoints, Commander Cunningham, seeing that further resistance was futile, ordered his men to lay down their weapons. After fifteen days of air raids and two invasions later, the Imperial Japanese Navy finally captured the US outpost on Wake Island, but at a high cost. They had to sacrifice four warships, more than twenty bombers and just short of a thousand soldiers to overcome the fierce island’s defenders, who lost just over 100 American and Guamanian men. The survivors became prisoners of war, 98 of whom were to be used on the island as forced labour, the rest were evacuated to camps in Japan and China. The gallant stand of the Wake Island defenders, though ultimately forced to yield, was one of the sparse bright points for the United States during the first gloomy weeks of the war. Their unbending will served as a rare morale-boost to all American soldiers scattered on the Pacific Ocean theater in the dark, bitter days of early 1942. Once again a big thank you to War Thunder for sponsoring this video. Remember, to hit the link in the description, to claim you three days premium access along with premium vehicle, and you will be supporting us to creat more content.
The Battle of Wake Island was pretty woke.
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Another great vid from BazBattles!
Thank you for sharing, I have found a new channel! Love this art style and very informative!