(Midway Series, Part 1) Watch our video “We Were Speeding Toward Our Destination Midway ” and embark on an immersive journey through the riveting memoirs of two distinguished aviators who played pivotal roles in World War II. Join us as we delve into the captivating stories of individuals who shaped history, sharing firsthand accounts from the front lines. Witness the strategic brilliance and sacrifices of those who led the first air strike on Pearl Harbor, commanded carrier air groups, and soared through the skies as dive-bomber pilots. Our exclusive series provides a unique perspective on a poorly planned and executed operation (Battle of Midway from Japanese Perspective).
Link of Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGjbe3ikd0XHOEvJ_fiy9mB66QYTadhKc
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What happened to Capt. Hara after he was rescued and went to Sasebo?
Strangling oil supplies worked against Japan as well as it did against Germany.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Part 1 of memoirs of Two Japanese naval aviators who participated in the Midway Operation and provided an unsparing analysis of what caused Japan's staggering defeat in this Operation. The first aviator led the first air strike on Pearl Harbor, commanded the Akagi carrier air group and later made a study of the battle at the Japanese Naval War College . The second aviator was one of Japan's first dive-bomber pilots, was aboard the light carrier Ryujo and later served as a staff officer in a carrier division. They were both key figures in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War two. Armed with knowledge of top-secret documents destroyed by the Japanese and access to private papers, they show the Midway operation to be ill-conceived and poorly planned and executed, and fault their flag officers for lacking initiative, leadership, and clear thinking.
Here is the link of the playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGjbe3ikd0XHOEvJ_fiy9mB66QYTadhKc
I wonder if he was in favor of are power before the war or after the war cuz he got to wonder how many people decided oh yeah airplanes were the thing because that's what was the deciding factor
This commanding officer was right !? Admiral Yamamoto was more scared of the United States than his own government trying to assisnate him!
Is this Fuchida?
Why would Japan think America would be aggressive and attack them – unless they provoked it by attacking first.
I love these Japanese stories.
The Japanese made the mistake of thinking that the Americans were just like the Russians. They thought that with one defeat, the Americans would also turn turtle and immediately sue for peace. The Germans and Italians also thought the same. And, I suppose that now the Communist Chinese think this. Actually, Americans are among the most violent and fighting people on this earth. But, dictators of all kinds seem to always NOT understand this. 🙃
Another fascinating first hand account. I look forward to the next installment .
The Japs sound like children talking about war. Senseless.
And at the end of THAT social event.. The Hiryu,, the Kaga, the Soryu,, and the Akagi were speeding toward the bottom…The sneak attack at Pearl Harbor woke the dragon…and he got up mad…
36:34 – This decision ignores a predominant fact: "Owning" the oil where it is not needed makes it worthless.
41:06 – Genda was widely admired in the US naval aviation arm, but not a single mention of that 'name' has surfaced in any of the books on the shelves.
This not about speeding to Midway. Rather, it is about speeding to Hawaii.
I find Yamamoto’s worry, that the US would sortie in the event of a Japanese attack on the Pacific oilfields, and that Japan’s fleet would be very vulnerable hard to understand. Why would it be any more vulnerable than, say, in Japan’s original defensive scenario? Why wouldn’t it have plenty of time to set up its defense? It would take a couple of weeks for the US to get ready, set sail, and arrive on the scene at a minimum. In that time, Japan would have time to set up its own land-based airbases, as well.
This all strikes me as Yamamoto’s motivated reasoning, simply building a bridge to the conclusion he was after all along.
I like the war stories from the Pacific better than war stories from Europe. Thanks.
Please narrate more of the historic books AI bot ‘orator’ got the contract over the author requesting to
The locals knew the fleet was going to sail before the pending attack on Pearl Harbor just like they knew the fleet was about to sail before the attack on Midway. And yet we are expected to believe these were all very very secret.
The initial part of your narrative could have provided the actual historical context
in which Mitsui Fuchida,
commander of the first wave of air attacks the US naval fleet based at Pearl Harbor,
joked at the opening scene of the 1972 movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,
transferred as Vice Navy Minister to C-in-C of the IJN Combined Fleet,
now had the whole fleet to protect him out at sea.
Protected him from potential assassins among hot-headed pro-war factions within IJA
who accused him of being a traitor for sounding pro-American
when he opposed Japan's Tripartite pact with Germany and Italy
when he advocated that IJA pull out its forces from an unwinnable war in China
when he advocated that Japan should maintain friendly relations with a far larger industrial colossus USA and Great Britain.
Yamamoto had also pushed for a more aggressive fleet-air arm as an offensive navy
rather than reducing IJN to playing second fiddle to IJA in supporting its amphibious operations.
Independently, IJA's Tomoyuki Yamashita, also later became known as the "Tiger of Malaya"
also advocated for Japanese armed forces to extricate from China and maintain friendly relations with USA and Great Britain.
Unfortunately, both men's clear-headed foresight and advice were overridden by PM Hideki Tojo
and the more hot-headed, ultra-nationalistic and pro-war middle-echelon of IJA and IJN officers,
who through prior assassinations of two PMs in 1930 and 1932,
created an atmosphere in which their top military commanders and decision makers
found it unconducive to advocate a clear, bold, pro-peace and anti war stance in group consensus decision making in 1941.
What can we learn from WWII?
Watch out for and arrest the domestic dynamics of unlimited ambition, lust for more power and nationalistic pride
that hiding behind historical grievances
form a combustible mix that spiral nations downwards in an action-reaction cycle
into a narrowing funnel that narrows decision makers' options
to avoid or delay another regional, hemispheric or global war.
TY
At 49:22 the narrator pronounces "lead" incorrectly: "I flew in the lead plane" is pronounced "I flew in the led plane". This also happens in the Destroyer Captain's Memoirs where also I noticed that POWs is pronounced "pows" (one word) instead of P-O-Ws. I'm beginning to wonder if the narration was AI generated.
Interesting listening to the theoretical discussions and then drawing parallels with current developments in naval and air weapon systems. Politicians and public attention has been upon the super weapons i.e. carrier battle groups, aircraft and main battle tanks. In a real conflict e.g. Ukraine we are seeing the development and success of both air and sea drones. Next step is the application/release autonomous weapon systems.
A very interesting and informative series , given the Japanese point of view . Something we had not had before .
Talk about a cliff hanger. Lol
The narrator thought security was lax about the Midway operation- but that’s not why the U.S. was able to ambush them.
Uh Oh. After listening to this a bit I realized this one is from Mitsuo Fuchida. The head of Akagi's Torpedo Squadrons. And one of History's most bald faced liars. Do take note, if these are Fuchida's accounts they are without doubt pure bullshit. Practically every myth that American's have regarding Pearl Harbor and Midway comes from this self aggrandizing asshole. Postwar he was fluent in English and established himself as a the English Language Expert on the Japanese side of the war. The actual Japanese outed him as a professional bullshit artist pretty quickly. But Hollywood just ate him up, and the results color history to this day. To put it bluntly, as you listen to this, Believe Nothing that this man says. Even if it is regarding the weather or the color of the sky. It is all bullshit.
Cutting off Japan's supply of American oil was like having your favorite gas station go out of business. There is always another station up the street where you can get your gas. If Japan had not attacked American territories or joined the Axis Triad, the war in the Pacific might have been avoided, at least for some time.
FYI, in Japan 1930s, "Six days after the elections, there was a wave of political assassinations in Japan. Among the victims were Admiral Saito, Viscount Takahashi, General Jōtarō Watanabe. Prime Minister Okada was saved when one of the assassins confused him for another person. The Emperor was alarmed at the magnitude of these actions."