soc.history.war.world-war-ii

In article ,
"Branek" wrote:

> Assuming the Japanese sank all the US carriers present at Midway, wouldn't
> it have been relatively easy to eliminate Midway's air forces and acheive
> air
> superiority? I'd imagine this would clear the way for the battleships to
> shell Midway's
> defenses into submission.

First, the Japanese carriers were a strike force, not an invasion force.
They had no capability to hang around for an extended period.

Second, the Japanese had no real experience for staging an opposed
landing against a well-entrenched foe and no doctrine for naval fire
support. (Even with a plan, fire support proved less useful than
expected later in the war.)

Third, the landings were bring carried out by two different groups - the
Naval Infantry on one island, the Army on the the other. No way that
could be a good thing.

Fourth, at best the Japanese had a 1-to-1 ratio with the defenders.

Fifth, the Marines were quite ready to oppose the landing.

I don't see how the invasion could have succeeded.