Comments by "William Cox" (@WildBillCox13) on "Midway: Was a Japanese Invasion Possible?" video.

  1. An interesting situational analysis. However, the Japanese bombardment of Henderson Field on the night of 12 Oct 1942 suggests a specific level of Naval competence in Shore Support and Land Bombardment/Interdiction that in turn implies that Battleship Bombardment was not out of Kido Butai's comfort zone. From everyone's favorite argument mill, Wikipedia: "Kongō and her sisters engaged American naval forces in the Battle of Guadalcanal. During this engagement Kongō and Haruna bombarded Henderson Field with 430 14-inch and 33 6-inch shells on 13 October 1942." Now, from what I've read, the damage was extensive and, had the IJN been able to do it again, it might've spelt the end of Henderson field as a strategic resource. Further, I respect your intelligence and willingness to research and I understand that WW2 saw the conversion of the Capital Ship into a Carrier Escort and Amphibious Support Platform, but it seems to have been "for want of a nail" that lost Japan its naval war in the Pacific. That nail was AntiAircraft Artillery and Coordination. IJN Rifles made lousy AA guns, the heavier calibers being slow to fire, despite adequate or even superior ballistic performance when compared to USN rifles. In Addition, the IJN also vastly underestimated the strength of AA defense needed to protect carrier battlegroups and individual cruisers or destroyers on detached missions. For close AA Defense they had an old Hotchkiss Autocannon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25_mm_Hotchkiss_anti-aircraft_gun) with terrible elevating and traverse mechanisms, especially in the multiple gun mounts. Since this weapon was roughly comparable to our 20mm Oerlikon (and 1.1" Chicago Pianos), it is safe to say that it is a point defense weapon, not a true AA Gun. We didn't even bother to use fire directors on ours; they were just point and shoot. The place where the IJN suffered was the medium AA Category (37mm-55mm) and that is the weapon that shoots down enemy planes. You guys already know this, because of the Bofors 4cm M29 and the frenzied struggle to produce a similar weapon for the Luftwaffe and Heeres (even though the Bofors was being produced for the Kriegsmarine), leading to the DoppelFlaK43 (3.7cmFlaK(z)43/L65), 5cm mFlaK41 (which might've served well as a directed fire naval weapon, where flash and vibration on the mount mean a lot less), and 5cmFlaK weapons based on the PaK, through the many iterations of the 5.5cmFlaK45 & etc. I admit to a small comprehension of the doctrinal failings of the "Great Battle" mindset (primary among them the blindered concept that the enemy must behave as you plan him to, despite his free will, or the whole plan turns into a "Death Ride to Compensate for Small Planning Penis at the Command Level". Which is exactly what occurred, by the way*. *If there is one lesson that the combination of events making up World Wars One and Two can teach us it is the following: Always ally yourself with South Africa. Naturally, this means after the British mucked up the free states, but some of the heroes of the old Boer resistance were still in the Chain of Command in WW1, and in the command structure in WW2. Plus we should keep in mind South Africa's extremely profitable trade with Israel, one that elevated both nations to the rank of Nuclear Cabal Member without permission from the big boys. Always ally yourself with those tricky Boers . . .
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