However, this conflicted relationship prevented a solidified military strategic vision, with both leaders working against each other to sway the Emperor. By the spring of 1942, Japan had attacked the US bases in Hawaii and in the Philippines, controlled the Dutch Indies, Wake Island, Guam, Thailand, and Burma. The Japanese intended to establish control over the Pacific region and were successful in the execution of their offensive through the late winter of 1942. During the operational pause in early 1942, there were several options the Japanese could have taken to avoid the defeats suffered over the remainder of the war. First, the Japan military should have transitioned to a defensive posture. Second, if the Japanese were to remain on the …show more content…
Admiral Yamamoto’s drive destroy the American carrier capability was so fierce, it dominated the operational planning. The Naval General Staff should have transitioned to a defensive posture to consolidate their gains made thus far in the war. If Japan had reinforced and built up key positions on their new territory, it would require the US to fight much further east against a bunkered in enemy. Clausewitz argued that there were advantages to taking the defense, depending on who had the initiative. Japan’s war aim was to acquire regional control over the Pacific. The US initiative was to stop Japan. Therefore, in this, it was more advantageous for Japan to fortify a stronghold from which to fight and expel US forces. While the US carrier fleet survived the Pearl Harbor attacks and the Air Force developed long rang bombers, if they US needed to commit forces in Southeast Asia, traveling through Japanese controlled expanses, it would arguably stress US logistics and manpower, especially as the US Pacific campaign was woefully under …show more content…
First, the Japanese Navy had suffered damage to the fleet and lost a number of trained personnel. Given the extremely limited military industrial complex of Japan, the Navy needed to take time to repair and rebuild what they could. Second, the Japanese logistic capacity was already limited and stretched thin, even by the winter of 1942. Conquered territory needed to be reinforced and resupplied. For every mile the Navy moved the front, it cost the logistic commands two miles to support the interior lines. Lastly, although this point is nearly impossible to prove, if the Navy had shown a willingness to limit the number of offensive operations, they might have gotten more support from the Japanese Army. General Showa was not against naval operations in the pacific, but constantly worried that they Navy would require too much ground support. If the Navy fortified already taken ground, it might have eased the tension and mistrust between the services and allowed for a more joint operation at the strategic
But fortunately for the United States, they were able to intercept and decipher the Japanese code. This gave the United States enough time to gather up forces to fight against the Japanese. The Japanese goal was to end the United States involvement in the Pacific. A couple months before the Battle of Midway the United States was able to launch a surprise Attack against the Japanese which they were launched from the island of Midway. The United States was able to successfully bomb the Japanese mainland.
Japan planned to invade Midway Island to get a base to attack Hawaii. The Battle of Midway destroyed the naval strength of Japan. The navy of Japan never recovered from its loss at Midway. After this battle Japan was on the defensive. Midway is one of WWII’s most significant
The Japanese were aware of this and using it to their advantage by examining the possibility of capturing Port Moresby, Tulagi, New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa (Navy & Straczek, 2015). The objective of this plan was to expand and improve the Japanese perimeter as well as cutting America and Australia’s lines of
A huge breakthrough came when a man named Joseph Rochefort broke the Japanese code and foretold of an attack on the two islands of midway that the Japanese were interested in. Japans goal in this was to lure out the rest of Americas pacific fleet and destroy them. Luckily for Americans they had no idea that we knew what they were going to do. The Pacific Fleet Including the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, USS Yorktown, and all of the supporting ships went to Midway and waited for the Japanese to get there. The battle began on June 4th, 1942 approximately 6 months after the devastation of Pearl
The Japanese anticipated to crush American morale, but instead they fueled American determination to fight on (Source B). The Americans were united in their determination to go to war, they stood behind their president (Roosevelt) and behind war (Source
The Japanese mindset was simple; it was time to get the “easy” countries in the Pacific before Germany ended the war altogether. Easy was meant to mean large countries that the Japanese thought they could take down. Japan was convinced on a naval war because they believed that they had more supplies, ships, planes, and more overall more advanced than the Americans. Overall, they believed that they were qualitatively better than the United States. This mindset led them into some trouble regarding the outcomes of the
Due to this location of the fleet, it would leave the US too exposed and vulnerable, being difficult to defend in behalf of placement closer to Japan, furthermore surrounded 360 degrees by ocean. Soon after, FDR reduces the supply of oil and materials to Japan and gains permission by Churchill to place US warships in Singapore near oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. As a result of the new adjustment to the fleet the Dutch also reduce their supply of oil to Japan under Roosevelt's pressure, and give permission to base US warships. As increasing amounts of American naval forces were being moved from local bases to the Pacific, twenty-four submarines were sent to the Orient along with cruisers and destroyers all the way to Japanese home waters. With FDR's “Lend-Lease Act” passed, money and other resources can now be given to the Chinese and British Governments to fight Japanese, doing away with America's war neutrality once and for
The U.S has worked Japan down to its last straw, pretty soon Japanese leaders are going to lose it and turn on the United States. Stated in Document C, In May 1940, President Roosevelt moves the U.S Pacific fleet from California, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Furthermore, in the following July, the Congress passes the Naval Expansion Act promising, to triple the size of the fleet by 1944 (Doc C). Japan, Already fearful that the Americans have more power over them, are aware of the expansion, in response Japanese leaders remark, “... When I think about the strengthening of the American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, … I see no end to the difficulties... “
This comment was made in a meeting of Japan’s top government and military leaders, “When I think about the strengthening of American defenses in the Southwest Pacific, the expansion of the American fleet, … I see no end to difficulties … I fear that we would become a third class nation after two or three years if we just sat tight” (Doc E). Japan felt that if America grew stronger, it would destroy their plan to establish a new order in the world. They were afraid that the strengthening and expansion of the American fleet would result in them having even less power and respect than they started
Also depleting air strength meant the remaining warplanes had to be hoarded to defend Japanese Home Islands. With no available means to defend Iwo Jima, Japan decided to rely on the established defensive equipment in the area and check U.S. by delaying tactics to gain time for defense of the mainland. Japanese Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was assigned the task of defending Iwo Jima. Knowing he couldn’t win the battle, he aimed at inflicting heavy casualties on American forces to force them to reconsider invasion of Mainland Japan. His strategy was radically different from Japan’s usual strategy of beach defense to face the landings directly.
Japan wanted complete control over the Pacific region and the US was considered the imminent threat. The Japanese planned to isolate the Pacific region; and aimed to destroy the battleships, block the ports and have complete domination of the region. The mission commissioned by the Japanese was partially successful but failed to achieve its major objective. The Japanese wanted to block the Pearl Harbor, primarily to prevent access for the ships and increase the turnaround time for the US Navy to be operational again. Luckily for the Americans, a total disaster was averted as the crew of the USS Nevada moved their battleship out of the harbor into the sea, preventing many additional lives from being lost, as well as providing the crucial time for the US Navy to regroup and
Their plan was a smart one, they knew Pearl Harbor was going to be hard to attack, it was far away and had shallow waters, easy for a torpedo to miss and do no damage at all. But Japan
This prevented them from attacking other countries due to allies that were formed between them and America. With America’s strong military forces, Japan decided that to keep America out of
During June 4th thru 7th of 1942, the Battle of Midway was one of the most decisive battles in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. The US Navy was able to defeat the superior Imperial Japanese Navy due to multiple assumptions made by the Japanese about the strength and capabilities of the US Navy. One assumption that Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy made is that he would be able to catch the US Navy by surprise. Another assumption he made was he would be able to destroy the US Navy Fleet in the Pacific. Using battle analysis this paper will examine what the Japanese could have done differently during the course of the Battle of Midway, and how the Japanese that could have changed the course of World War II in the Pacific
The Japanese Imperial Navy had managed to eliminate most of the obstacles in the Pacific Ocean. Tensions were becoming high in the Pacific and the only thing that stood between the Japanese Imperial Navy and the coast of the United States was the American Navy. Luckily the American Navy had a little help to decode the Japanese naval codes, which helped in the upsetting victory at the Battle of Midway. The goals were clear and precise in that the American forces were badly outnumbered and they had suffered major losses at Pearl Harbor. Although the mission was carried out completely at sea, there had been some major advantages on our side to help carry us into victory.