(Subject to confirmation)
Introduction: The Myths of Midway
Midway is the most famous battle of the Pacific War, but it remains an event that is poorly understood. Mythology regarding the battle still abounds and will be dismantled in this book.
Chapter 1: The Road to Midway
The chapter outlines the course of the war up until June 1942. The primary focus will be on the Battle of the Coral Sea fought in May 1942 â" this battle had a dramatic effect on the Battle of Midway. Other focus areas are the operations of the Japanese carrier force for the first six months of the war and the early war operations of USN carriers. Early American and Japanese carrier operations are very illustrative for what happened at Midway.
Chapter 2: Yamamoto Plans His Battle
Understanding the Japanese plan for the battle is utterly essential to understanding the outcome of the battle. The plan will be dissected in great detail since it set the course for the battle to come. The focus of this chapter is the discussion of how bad this plan was. All of its flaws will be dissected.
Chapter 3: The American Plan an Ambush
This chapter traces the efforts of American naval intelligence to discover Japanese plans to attack Midway, Nimitzâs bold decision to use this intelligence, American efforts to marshal forces to defeat the attack, and the tactical plans to execute an ambush against the Japanese carrier force.
Chapter 4: The Imperial Japanese Navy in June 1942
This is a nuts and bolts chapter examining the IJN right before the battle. The obvious focus will be in the carrier force that actually fought the battle. The doctrine, tactics, weapons, aircraft, and principal leaders of the IJN (and the carrier force in particular) will be examined. Understanding the key command personalities is essential to understanding the battle, so this will be a focus area.
Chapter 5: The United States Navy in June 1942
The USN version of the preceding chapter.
Chapter 6: Midway â" the Opening Phases
This chapter outlines the first combat actions on 3-4 July. The focus of the chapter is the opening Japanese air strike on Midway and the initial American strikes on the Japanese carriers launched from Midway.
Chapter 7: Fletcherâs and Spruanceâs Decision
The heart of the American plan was to launch the air groups of two carriers to catch the Japanese carriers at a vulnerable moment. Timing was key to this plan. This chapter reviews the decision of the two principal American commanders to launch the strike when they did.
Chapter 8: Nagumoâs Decision
The pivotal point in the battle was how the Vice Admiral Nagumo handled the dynamic situation he found himself in between 0830 and 1030 on the morning of 4 June. He decided to adhere to prevailing doctrine and prepare to launch a full strike on the American carriers. This decision led to disaster. Could Nagumo have acted differently, and if so, how?
Chapter 9: The American Carriers Strike
In the most important chapter of the book, three Japanese carriers are hit by American dive-bombers and crippled. How did this happen? This chapter reviews these events in exacting details. Both the unsuccessful actions of the American torpedo bombers and the decisive attacks of the dive-bombers will be examined.
Chapter 10: The Japanese Strike Back
At the conclusion of the strike by American carrier aircraft, only a single Japanese carrier remained â" Hiryu. She launched two strikes on the American carriers. These succeeded in crippling carrier Yorktown. This will be a nuts and bolts review of these strikes.
Chapter 11: The Victory Complete
In this chapter, Hiryu is located and destroyed by the Americans.
Also, in the aftermath of Hiryu being crippled, Yamamoto makes plans to retrieve the battle. These revised plans will be outlined and examined. Did they have a chance of being successful, or was desperation at work?
Chapter 12: Final Actions
The battle was not over when the last of the four Japanese fleet carriers was crippled. In this chapter, the final actions of the battle will be examined. These include Japanese efforts to implement Yamamotoâs plan which resulted in the loss of a heavy cruiser, Spruanceâs justified caution not to get drawn too far to the west, and the sinking of Yorktown at the hands of a Japanese submarine.
Chapter 13: The Reckoning
This chapter analyzes the results of the battle. Losses to both sides will be outlined; this leads to the question of whether Midway was the decisive battle of the Pacific War as is popularly assumed. The performance of both sides will be dissected to answer the questions of how the Japanese lost and how the Americans prevailed.
The impact of Midway on the remainder of the war and its place in naval history will be examined.
Appendices
