Luftwaffe: Birth, Life and Death of an Air Force

Within no time I finished reading A. J. Barker's book on Midway Campaign.However for reasons which will be explained later I was not happy reading it.To be fair ,author has given a good account of Japanese strategy prelude to attack on Midway.Further the book is lavishly illustrted and carries some stunningly good maps.

But certain factors which dictated the outcome of the campaign have not been properly documented.For instance ,US naval intelligence peneterated Japanese naval ciphers..Thus the full extent and scope of Japanese plan to invade Midway were known to War Department in Washington before Japanese fleet sailed from the inland sea. Barker mentions this fact but fleetingly. Author could have fleshed this out by adding more information for documentation to this effect is availaible in abundance.

Of particular interest is the role of' chance or hazard' which helped Americans truimph at Midway.What was that? After the battle opened admiral Nagumo's sudden change in position left the Americans baffled.Nagumo warned by scouting aircraft changed course at 9.05 am from north east to south east . When dive bombers from carrier Hornet arrived at indicated position they found the sea empty.Similiar scene greeted Hornet's torpedo bombers when they too reached the target area. However finding funnel smoke at the edge of the horizon ,torpedo bomber squadron turned around to investigate.

Meanwhile dive bomber squadron from carrier Enterprise was also searching for Nagumo's fleet .It's Cdr Clarence McClusky had a hunch and decided to extend search farther westward.He soon saw the wake of Japanese destroyer seeking to rejoin mother fleet. Cdr Mc Clusky then toook another decision which was to shadow the vessel.

Now this decision was fraught with risks for the fuel guage of his plane was running low . Had his decision been wrong,he would have fallen into the sea and perished.McClusky's bold act ,daring made American victory poossible.For the Japanese vessel unwittingly guided his squadron to Nagumo's fleet.

Here the question arises how did this come about? Fact goes that an American submarine cut across the path of Nagumo's fleet.Destroyer Arashi seeing this gave a chase . It dropped depth charges which submarine managed to evade. After a futile attack the Japanese vessel was quickly steaming into position of screening mother fleet.The wake it left astern was picked up by McClusky's dive bomber squadron.

The above events which had a crucial bearing on the campaign finds no mention in Barker's book.Disappointing,a serious lacuna, for I was hoping to read it. For the Japanese everything went wrong in Midway.Admiral Yamamoto was counting on surprise but it was his turn to be surprised.Japanese admirals thought Americans to react in a predictable manner.But sudden appearance of American fleet in Nagumo's flank derailed Japanese plans.Japnese thinking can be attributed to overconfidence.Bevy of easy victories ranging from Pearl Harbor to Indian Ocean result of which nation was gripped by'victory fever' conditioning it to underestimate her opponents. Defeat at Midway served as a retribution.