Midway Inquest Why the Japanese Lost the Battle of Midway [Hardcover]

Midway, the most famous naval battle in American history, has been the subject of many excellent books. However, none satisfactorily explain why the Japanese lost that battle, given their overwhelming advantage in firepower. While no book may ever silence debate on the subject, Midway Inquest answers the central mystery of the battle. Why could the Japanese not get a bomber strike launched against the American carrier force before being attacked and destroyed by American dive bombers from the Enterprise and Yorktown? Although it is well known that the Japanese were unable to launch an immediate attack because their aircraft were in the process of changing armament, why wasnt the rearming operation reversed and an attack launched before the American planes arrived? Based on extensive research in Japanese primary records, Japanese literature on the battle, and interviews with over two dozen Japanese veterans from the carrier air groups, this book solves the mystery at last.

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Chapter One - Why This Inquest
Chapter Two - Prelude
Chapter Three - The Run-up to Midway
Chapter Four - The Fatal Decision
Chapter Five - Gamble Lost
Chapter Six - To Launch or Not to Launch
Chapter Seven - Ironies
Chapter Eight - Denouement
Chapter Nine - Aftermath
Chapter Ten - Post-mortem
Appendixes
Appendix A - Nagumo's Official Report (excerpts)
Appendix B - SRMN-012, Traffic Intelligence Summaries, pp. 499-505
Appendix C - Reconstruction of Japanese CAP activity
Appendix D - War Game Exercise
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

Even Nelson's victory at Trafalgar and Togo's at Tsushima Straitwhere outnumbered naval forces also won spectacular victoriespale in comparison with the most striking aspect of the Battle of Midway: the lethal damage that determined the outcome was done during a two minute period when three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers were set ablaze by American dive bomber . . . lC%