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Question: Which of the following statements about the battle of midway is true!? 10 POINTS!!!?
A) The Japanese were successful in catching the US fleet by surprise!.

B) US forces launched a surprise attack against the Japanese navy!.

C) it was the first major US offensive in the war against Japan!.

D) It was the first time the US naval forces were equal in strength to the Japanese!.Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
C) After Midway Japan could no longer put to sea with any hope of matching US naval strength!. America was now free to pick off the Japanese occupied islands one by one!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A!. False It was the other way around!. The US fleet caught the Japanese by surprise!.

B and C!. True

B!. The Japanese assumed that the US Fleet was either in Pearl Harbor waters or the Aleutian Islands!. Three US carriers in the area was a shock to the Japanese Command!.

C!. C is debatable because US Carriers had taken it to the Japanese on a couple of occasions previous to Midway but Midway was the first truly decisive whipping of the Japanese at the hands of the US Navy in the war!.

D!. False

The US forces were outnumbered by the Japanese but through superior skill and a lot of luck, were able to defeat the Japanese!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well, these are screwy options!. I'll explain why as I critique each one!.

(A)!. Yes, the Japanese did catch the US fleet by surprise!. Dive bombers and torpedo planes from the Hiryu followed our planes back from their strike against the Japanese fleet and successfully hit the Midway!. We were surprised!. However, the Japanese attack wasn't successful in crippling the US fleet and it was a counter-punch following our attacks on their fleet because we spotted their fleet before they spotted our's!. So it's hard to actually say that they were "successful" in catching our fleet by surprise--they surprised us and crippled one carrier!.

(B) I suspect this is what your teacher will say is the correct answer but it's wrong!. For starters, the dive bombers that caught the Japanese carriers were the last in a day-long series of attacks on the Japanese fleet!. B-17's, attack planes from Midway, torpedo bombers from our carriers--all tried before the diver bombers hit!. The Japanese weren't surprised to be attacked!. We knew where their fleet was had had tried all day with a series of varied and uncoordinated attacks!. In fact, part of the reason the final attack was so successful was that the Japanese were in the midst of shifting armaments of their planes!. Rather than try a second attack at Midway to "finish" the defenses, they'd spotted our fleet and were taking high explosive ordinance off planes and putting on armor piercing bombs and torpedoes!. And the earlier attacks (especially the low-flying torpedo planes) had sucked the fighter coverage down to the deck!. So when our dive bombers arrived, they faced no fighters and hit decks crammed with ordinance, planes and aviation fuel--an explosive combination!. Our success was due less to surprise rather than a combination of (a) law of averages (send enough varied attacks and eventually some bombs will hit home), (b) inept fighter coverage and (c) indecisiveness by Adm!. Nagumo (who vaciliated about going after Midway or our carriers) and (d) a bit of luck (our dive bombers broke the clouds and the carriers were right there--rather than see cruisers or troop ships and go after those)!.

(C) Wrong!. The Japanese launched two offensives simultaneously--against Midway (to try and draw our fleet out so they could destroy it) and the Aleutian Islands!. It was a Japanese offensive!. Furthermore, Halsey had launched a series of attacks south (which eventually led to the battle of the Coral Sea) to build competence and perfect carrier warfare techniques (this was also where the Thach Weave was developed)!.

(D) Wrong!. The Japanese forces (in number of aircraft, experience of the pilots, number of carriers, number of surface ships) greatly outnumbered the US!.

But it is absolutely true that after Midway (and the loss of 4 strong carriers with hundreds of veteran pilots) plus several top-notch cruisers, the Japanese Navy as an effective offensive force was gone!. From this point on, Japan would effectively be on the defensive and attempts at attack (Phillippines, sending the Yamato out) were desperate efforts doomed to fail!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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