The Man Who Won World War 2 ..

[mat200]

Very interesting question .. what would have happened had the USA not won at Midway ??


The Man Who Won World War 2

Anodyne Press
May 14, 2022

The Battle of Midway is arguably the most influential naval battle of World War II. Japan intended that the invasion of Midway would draw out what remained of the US Navy after Pearl Harbor and force it to counterattack. If the US Navy had blindly counterattacked, they would have run into the entire Japanese Combined Fleet which was waiting for them just over the horizon. In one decisive battle, Japan intended to win the war in the Pacific. And they very nearly did.

But an obscure codebreaker in a windowless basement in Hawaii was able to decipher the Japanese battle plans in time to allow the US Navy to prepare a surprise of its own. His breakthrough allowed Admiral Nimitz to ambush Japan's carrier force and destroy it. The resulting Battle of Midway was a catastrophe for Japan and a huge victory for America.

The Battle of Midway obviously changed the course of the war in the Pacific, but it also impacted the war in Europe and in the Atlantic as well. It would be difficult to find any other WWII battle that impacted all three theaters to this degree. Even the position of the Red Army on VE-Day was affected by what happened in the Pacific at Midway three years earlier.

If the US had lost at Midway, the "Germany First" policy would have been lost with it. Lend-Lease aid to the Soviets would almost certainly have ended. The Manhattan Project might have been suspended, and even D-Day would likely have been delayed, probably for several years. Even if the Soviets had defeated Hitler on their own, without D-Day, the Russians wouldn't have halted on the Elbe, and the Cold War that followed WWII would have been much colder.

This is the story of how the incredible victory at Midway came about and the man who made it possible. Because without him, WWII would have had a very different ending...

 

[Perimeter]

I'd say the men who won WW2 were Oppenheimer/Groves/... No matter which course the war would have taken, it would have been won in the Fall of 1945. It is kind of cool to be the only nuclear power on a planet.

 

[mat200]

I'd say the men who won WW2 were Oppenheimer/Groves/... No matter which course the war would have taken, it would have been won in the Fall of 1945. It is kind of cool to be the only nuclear power on a planet.

Hi @Perimeter

Yes .. note, the theory mentioned that had Japan won in Midway the USA would not have had enough resources to allocate also to the Manhattan project ( which used 10% of the electricity available in the USA ) and respond to the Midway attack .. ( by building out even more airforce and navy .. )

 

[tigerwillow1]

The original Midway movie is right at the top of my greatest movies list.

 

[Perimeter]

Hi @Perimeter

Yes .. note, the theory mentioned that had Japan won in Midway the USA would not have had enough resources to allocate also to the Manhattan project ( which used 10% of the electricity available in the USA ) and respond to the Midway attack .. ( by building out even more airforce and navy .. )

If Japan had actually succeeded at Midway, then what? Despite winning Midway, the US cranked out an "all you can build" ship program. That would have stomped Japan in any case.

IMHO, "Germany first" had two simple reasons, both would not have been diminished in the least by a US defeat at midway.
Reason number 1: Germany had all the stuff needed to build an atomic bomb. For the US, this was the most serious strategic threat and the reason why they spend like crazy on their project.
Reason number 2: All their allies wanted germany first (well, perhaps not australia), and no one wanted Russia to defeat Germany and gulp up Europe (aside from uncle joe).