The Fate of Empires

Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers of VS-8 from USS Hornet about to attack the burning Japanese cruiser Mikuma for the third time on 6 June 1942.

Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku said, "I shall run wild considerably for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second and third years."

Nearly six months to the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the four fleet carriers of the Kido Butai¹ (機動部隊) would go to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. This same force had spearheaded the attack on Pearl, now it was crippled and, truth be told, would be virtually toothless for the remainder of the war.

The Battle of Midway, which took place from the 4th to the 7th of June in 1942, was a critical turning point in the Pacific War. Much hard fighting lay ahead, thousands more would perish before the Japanese Emperor commanded his forces to stand down in the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Yet most people in the United States barely remember that battle, instead they remember (if they remember anything at all about our history, Lord knows it isn't taught very well anymore) the Normandy Invasion of June 1944, D-Day, the 6th of June.

Assault troops in a landing craft approach Omaha Beach on D-Day. Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

Midway turned the tide of the Pacific War, until then the war had been a string of Japanese victories, that string ended at Midway.

D-Day on the other hand was the first step in landing significant forces on the European mainland with a fairly clear path to the heartland of Nazi Germany.

Though Allied forces had been fighting on the continent since the Allied landings at Salerno in Italy on the 9th of September 1943, a cursory glance at a good map of Italy reveals that the defenders have many advantages.

Rugged terrain, a narrow peninsula, multiple river lines, getting to Germany via Italy can be categorized as an extremely bad idea. At the northern end of Italy there's also the Alps to get over. Sir Winston Churchill might have been a brilliant politician and an inspiring figure, but he was no strategist, Gallipoli and Salerno proved that.

If the truth be told, the British feared an invasion of France, their reserve of men of fighting age was weakened to the point that they had to be very mindful of casualties. They believed that the raid on Dieppe in August of 1942 proved that any landing on the coast of France might prove to be a complete disaster.

Dieppe's chert beach and cliff immediately following the raid on 19 August 1942. A Dingo Scout Car has been abandoned.

Events on Omaha Beach nearly proved them right, had it not been for the bravery of the men on the ground and various leaders taking the initiative² it could have been another Dieppe. Omar Bradley was at the point of recalling the landing force at one point.

Midway led to the United States Navy being the dominant force in the Pacific, not the Imperial Japanese Navy. Without seapower and the victory at Midway, the Pacific might have become a Japanese lake. A place we could cross only by their forbearance.

D-Day led to the Western Allies liberating all of Western Europe. A loss on the beaches of Normandy wouldn't necessarily have prevented the defeat of Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union might have continued on and the Red Army might have wound up on the English Channel. The agony of Eastern Europe would have been suffered in the west as well.

Like the aftermath of Midway, much hard fighting lay ahead for the Allies after D-Day. The events leading to the eventual capitulation of the Nazis on the 8th of May 1945 were kicked off as soon as the first paratroopers came down in Normandy.

Both events were important to the history of the world, both should be remembered. But most of all, the people who gave their lives to seal those victories must never be forgotten.

Midway sealed the doom of the Japanese Empire. Normandy hastened the fall of the Nazi Third Reich and prevented the Communist domination of all of Europe.

We forget the lessons of history at our peril.

¹ Literally the Mobile Unit or Force, not an official designation but one of convenience. It designated the six aircraft carriers which carried the 1st Air Fleet.

² Major General Norman Cota and Brigadier General Teddy Roosevelt Jr. immediately spring to mind.

Sarge Note: I would also like to mention that the 6th of June 1944 was my father's 16th birthday. He would have been 93 today. Miss you Dad.