Saving face at Midway

  The need to save face is a very interesting facet of the Japanese culture, and one that has led to a multitude of misunderstandings....and conflicts.  It was the agenda of the militarists to invade China and stay the course even though the situation rapidly deteriorated.  However, it was the need to save face that kept them there and would eventually result in the development of the plan to take the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies.  To the casual observer, it seems incredible that Japan would rather enter into an suicidal war with the United States rather than enter into negotiations and also extract itself from the quagmire that China had become, but the need to save face dictated otherwise.

 The same was true when Commander Mitsuo Fuchida presented his post-battle analysis of the Midway operation, which would eventually be incorporated into his book "Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan".  This work was used extensively by U.S. historians, movie makers, and documentarians over the next 40 years resulting in a very blurred and incorrect view of the events of June 4 1942.  Read almost any book or watch any movie/documentary produced between 1950 to 2006 and you will find our dive bombers hurdling out of the sky to hit Japanese Carriers whose decks were filled with planes being fueled and armed and moments away from launching a strike upon U.S. Carriers.  The resulting carnage saved the day and secured a incredible victory for the U.S. Navy.

  Fuchida began his report with a simple phrase that roughly translates to "it happened this way", and the story above is what followed.  However in recent years, historians reviewing the Japanese records have found that "what happened" was somewhat different.  Yes, the strike forces was being rearmed and refueled, but they were all below deck in the hanger bays of the AKAGI, KAGA, and SORYU.  Their flight decks were clear, save for a few Combat Air Patrol (CAP) fighters that were either preparing to launch or had just landed.  This may look like a small oversight, however Fuchida made it seem as though an a massive strike force was on deck and moments away from being launched.  The reality was that the carriers had been dodging attacks all morning long while simultaneously  arming/rearming planes to first re-attack Midway and then strike the recently discovered U.S. Carriers.  On top of all of that, they also had to keep the decks clear to recover the planes that had bombed Midway earlier that morning.

  The bottom line is that at no point during the morning of 4 June did the Japanese aircrews have the opportunity to fully fuel and rearm the planes, get them to the flight deck, spot them, and warm up their engines.  Therefore, there was no strike force ready on deck to attack the U.S. Carriers.  This begs the question of why would Fuchida say that they were ready to strike, when in fact, they were never even close?  The answer:  To Save Face.  Ask yourself which version makes a defeated Navy sound better?  Unorganized, struggling to respond to a fluid battle situation and then getting caught in the open by American bombers resulting in the loss of 4 Carriers.  Or a well honed naval strike force, surprised by the discovery of U.S. Carriers and valiantly fighting off attacks and being moments away from launching a victory assuring air assault when suddenly....the fickle Gods of war allow a small handful of American bombers to snatch it away at the last moment.   My choice, as well as Fuchidas' was the latter.