10 Facts about the Battle of Midway everyone should know 

I am from Poland. I spent about two years to explore and understand the subject of the war in the Pacific. I've seen everything possible on RU-vid and read a lot of books. It was worth it. Whenever I hear about new threats and the growing power of other nations, I remember what wonderful and sometimes unbelievable things the Americans did at Midway and throughout the entire war. It reassures me then that, however it may be, in the end things will take the same turn again and all the efforts of the little dwarfs will fail.

Interesting stuff. I knew Yorktown was turned around super quick by repair workcrews at Pearl Harbor so that she could join the other carriers at Midway. I did not know that the engineers had blueprints in hand for her & were crafting replacement parts while she was steaming in to port. Kind of explains how they managed it in three days.

Rochfort’s treatment is an example of a good deed not going unpunished. He was smarter than is bosses.

I really appreciate this Guest. His view of the war in particular is fantastic. Someone who looks at the the full scope of the war and battles. But also looks at the vast tentacles…where ever it may lead. Amazing effort.

Another enlightening presentation. Mahan understood the value of international trade and ports for a successful battle fleet. Japan is very complex. After 350 years of internal strife they realized they had to work something out. From the late 16th into the 17th the warfare gradually centralized power until the Tokugawa clan gained ascendancy. Throughout Japan’s history they had accepted Chinese artisans and philosophers frequently fleeing from invasion or internal wars. The Portuguese landed there in the 16th century the Dutch a trading station by the early 18th century at least. The Japanese had tried to redirect the enumerable fighting men left after unification to take Korea which failed and also moved into the Philippines for awhile. All this to say every major clan had access to international activities and resident experts. Though an extreme exclusionary policy was adopted, higher circles remained informed. Perry was there about whalers who had been killed or mistreated American military capacity prompting Japan to enter contemporary history. Japan was supported by Theodore Roosevelt considering them modern compared to Russia and who helped end that war before Russia could muster all its might. All this to say Japanese decision makers had known always far more than we assume about the rest of the world. It’s modern growth was awesome but did not exist in a vacuum . Again thank you so much for this presentaion

at 38:38 , those three IJN CVs were burning for longer than six hours and once dusk was reached, those three were either scuttled or torpedo'd by their own IJN DDs when the surviving crews were rescued and likewise the Hiyru also suffer the same fate hours later

Its not unusual in the military for the wrong people to get credit for the actions or accomplishments of their subordinates.

Got to be up there as the biggest military intelligence success of all time .

Despite all the bigger picture issues . It was a handful of Dauntless dive bomber crews ; using their skill and initative that decided the battle . Dick Best in particular got 2 bombs on target during the 2 missions that day . Only a few bombs did all that damage , to the four Japanese carriers . You always need a bit of luck .

What an insight into Midway etc, so much I didn’t know. An excellent talk by Henry. Thank you both, bring Henry back again, as an ETO guy, this has opened my mind to the Pacific theatre. Thank you

A most detailed and informative briefing on the background leading up to the Midway Battle, well done!

Excellent Paul. Another great guest in Henry. So informative and interesting. It's great People like Rochefort eventually got the recognition they deserve. Like Turing, and all the rest....belated, but now more remembered than many of the brass who denied them what they deserved more than anyone really.

Hello folks. Tremendous telling of the Midway story with great insights. One of the best, don’t miss it.

Great show Gentlemen, I'd love to see a show on Lend-Lease.

Very interesting discussion on the broader impact of Midway, even on the European Theater.

One of the best episodes on one of the best channels, what a eye opener, really interesting perspective beyond the battle!

I’ve never before heard General Leslie Grove as “subtle”. Grove stepped on so many people making the Manhattan Project after the war he was dressed down by General of the Army Eisenhower. Essentially told to put in his retirement papers.

Thank you for this video. I always believed Rochfort never got the credit he deserved but, I didn’t understand why

More Pacific theater shows please, Paul. This one was terrific. 👍

Great presentation by Henry. Thought provoking and fascinating. Great, in depth research. Look forward to Henry's return

Admiral Nimitz was responsible for the war in the entire Pacific basin. The largest battlefield in earth.

Great episode, thoroughly enjoyed it as a companion to the Shattered Sword episode. Thanks.

Wow, great stuff! My Dad was a merchant seaman aboard Esso oil tankers going back and forth between the Americas and Europe. In 1943, is made some very scary trips to Europe dodging U-boats. I am proud of his service. At the end of the war, my uncle, who was in the Army, got the GI government

Another great lecture and discussion.

Every time I think I've watched almost every episode in the WW2TV back catalogue, more pop up. All such good episodes.

Thank you Paul. Superb piece. Just when you think Midway....I have read a ton on it! Surprise! Excellent show.....

Very interesting point from Henry here. Adds another layer/dimension to this action.

When people say what would have happened if the US Navy had lost the battle, I always want to ask them right away is what is the definition of lost to you. I don't even think if we has lost all three carriers at Midway that Hawaii was in danger of being invaded. Attacked by air again yes, but not invaded. Japan did not have the sealift capabilities to bring a large enough invasion force.

Midway used every Yorktown-class carrier (CV-5, CV-6 and CV-8), the most modern in the US Navy until USS Essex/CV-9 made it into service.

Great Episode, really made me think about how much WW2 could have changed if the outcome of Midway was different.

I just got to this and it is one of the best Midway videos I've seen!

Glad to meet you on my RU-vid!!😎👍🏾🔥💪🏽

The plane from the Tome, that spotted the American carriers, spotted them on its return leg. Because it left late it cut its outbound leg short, and, as a result, spotted the carriers earlier than it would have if it had left on time. The attack on the Aleutians was intended to occur on the same day as the attack on Midway, but the departure for Midway was delayed a day.

Another great presentation on this channel. Wonderful job, Woody!

Adding Henry's book to my summer reading list. Thanks for the great presentation!!

Excellent, thank you!

Great show. Lots of solid info

When I was young I used to read Roskill's books on the War at sea, and I always wondered how Admiral Cunningham turned up at the right place to sink half the Italian navy. And it was due to Ultra of course, which they could not write about till much later.

Really interesting point: a loss at Midway could have changed the Germany First policy, in which case the US support for Britain would have decreased, even to the degree that D-Day could have been delayed or even never happened, in which case the Soviets (probably) would have defeated Nazi Germany on their own, and, as Mr. James says, they wouldn’t have stopped until they got their feet wet on the beach in France-and what a different post-war world that would have been!

That political fall out for Germany First is something NEW I learned. Thanks! ^^

There was a second prong to the attack that included the Doolittle Raid, this was scrubbed with a squadron of B-24’s that were going to operate from China simultaneously. When the mission was scrubbed and the squadron remained in India some of the staff officers were sent on the way to support Chennault in preparation to include into the USAAF. Robert Scott (God is my Copilot), Meriam Cooper and others became staff to Chennault that quickened the process of including the Flying Tigers into our armed forces.

Well done Ive been saturated with the Midway videos and watch most in the capacity of reruns. This was a fresh perspective for sure and filled in the broad strokes for me. A book mentioned about the detail being that of Yamamoto"s candle color in his washroom sounds even better. If there is a video where you are in control and not affected by audience requests please let me know. I have the exact same sentiments as you I do believe Cmdr Rochford was the Hugh Dowding of Midway. If you have any suggestions on Battle of Britain lectures please let me know. PS. you were going to discus's broad strokes of the King Cabal, I am ignorant on that topic

The "War and Remembrance" Midway episode was better than both Midway movies.

Excellent overview of the battle and inner view to the political effects before and after and fun counterfactuals. Speaking as an Australian and not in defence of Admiral King, but arrogant pommy bastards are very hard to get along with. I think King felt the same, but was quite happy to work with the few poms who were more interested in winning the war than in displaying their innate superiority. Maybe King just got along with people who were good at what they did and had no time for the bulk of both service hierarchies who were more interested in their careers than winning the war. Very good points on Lend-Lease too.

So much to think about. I knew what had happened but I didn't know why, who, and how it came about. Thank you. Very interesting.

Admiral Nimitz did visit the Commanding Officer at Midway island in early April to assess situation

Japanese Navy strategic planning officer: "Here is the provisional plans for the AF operation". Japanese Command: "Not complicated enough. Take this back, make it more complicated and come back next week". There are a couple of important points that your guest omitted. First, the second IJN attack on Pearl Harbor using the Emily flying boats: Operation K- led the the USN correctly deduce that the flying boats had been refueled at French Frigate Shoal and dispatched the USS Thornton and USS Preble- two Clemson Class AVD's to the Shoals which denied the IJN's use of French Frigate Shoal in any future reconaissance operations that would have been based there. Second: Japanese carrier air groups would not spare any of their aircraft for scouting- the entire air group would have been saved for the strike package. This was a false economy- the Japanese could have spared aircraft for scouting operations and the lack of those extra eyes in the sky left the IJN carriers effectively blind until Tone's scout plane made its report. The Japanese could have made better use of their resources.

That was great would like to hear more about Lend Lease (can't believe I'm saying that).

Three I didn't know, but a lot you don't know or understand completely. So I give you a half like.

Superb presentation, very thought provoking on a geo-political scale, thank you.

Thanks WW2TV

Just caught up... amazing seeing what looks like your viewing figures rise. 1,400 views in 12hours, good effort!

Good interview. I’m sorry you can’t get enjoyment from movies that are not historically accurate. Personally I grew up despising “In Harm’s Way”. Recently I appreciated that it was first entertainment, and secondly based only loosely on events of WW2. Midway 76 was supposed to be a sequel to “Tora Tora Tora” but like “The Big Red One” was hamstrung by budget and the studios. It did portray the best part of WW2 carrier operations with the importance of search, the fog of war, striking first and scraping the bottom of the barrel after just a couple of exchanges.

Great discussion.

I'm unconvinced about the consequences. He mentions twice that O'ahu would fall next, but only that: He mentions it. Why? The Japanese considered at least three times to invade O'ahu, twice before Operation Z and once before Operation MI. They considered it unfeasible even against unsuspecting defenders. Kido Butai was also exhausted even before Midway. Operational losses would climb rapidly if they pressed on against the main islands. I'm not even sure the war would've been longer, that would indeed depend on the Allies' focus. If Europe First is kept up and the Soviet Union is continued to be supplied, the Manchurian Operation would still happen in August 1945.

Excellent.

Enjoyed this. Now wonder what would have been the implications of Singapore holding out two weeks and attriting the Japanese army.

1. The IJN's plan depended on the USN doing what the IJN intended them to do. The possibility of the USN showing up before they should and where they should not be was excluded from the planning wargame. 2. Because the Americans were supposed to be unprepared, the bombers from Midway that didn't hit a ship in Kido Butai and shot down few planes (did "nothing") injected chaos that Nagumo was unprepared to work through. 3. The unplanned waves of attacks, from Midway and the torpedo squadrons, kept the Japanese flight decks occupied with servicing CAP fighters and got lookouts' and CAP pilots' focus low, so the US dive bombers were not spotted in time for the CAP to interfere.

The more I listen to these stories about WWII, what I realize is that what made America different is the "ground up" perspective of it's people, as opposed to those people who came from "top down", imperial, or dictatorial countries. Americans are by nature self starters. They do not blindly follow orders. It also explains why people like Roachefort, will violate the chain of command to make sure Nimitz gets the information he needs to get the job done. It also explains why the US weapons technology continuously improved during the war (despite the bad torpedoes - eventually the word got through). The world is changing, and other countries are also learning how innovate from the bottom up.

Great point at the one hundred and first minute about the political capital gained by the Europe first movement in the war effort of the United States. That makes me think that Operation Shoestring is the real prime mover for the Nazi Germany first because the American public was seeing in real time the prosecution of the Japan first movement starting in August 1942. Operation Torch wasn't till November 1942 and by that time the Guadalcanal/New Guinea Campaign had already delivered the poison dagger of attrition to the elite Imperial Japanese forces with the grinding victories of the Solomons and New Guinea Air, Land, and Sea campaigns of the United States and British Commonwealth.

Why did the US have to relocate the fleet to the West Coast if midway island was taken by the Japanese? Or if carriers were lost??

A question. Henry suggests that Nagumo got a message from Tamanagua explaining why a second strike was needed. [35:35] My understanding is that Tananagua's radio was damaged making it impossible for him to send a detailed report. And what Nagumo got was simply that a second strike was needed. In fact, the Midway air groups were not destroyed on Midway --they were not on Midway when the Japanese arrived. They were off Miday attacking Nagum's carriers. What Tanafagua was experiencing was massive anti-aircraft fire from Midway which he was unable to knock out. The result which Henry explains of all the material Nimitz crammed onto the island. Also, is it true that the first three carriers sank within 6 minutes? That is not my understanding. They took hours to sink. I think Henry is poorly informed about the U.S. Navy in the North Atlantic [48:00] Adm King was not fully onboard with the Europe First doctrine. The U.S. Navy did pull ships from the Atlantic. President Roosevelt after the Atlantic Charter meeting with Churchill (August 1941), launched an undeclared naval war with Germany in the North Atlantic. After Pearl Harbor, however. the U.S., Navy pulled back from convoy escorts and until late 1943 this was almost entirely conducted by Britain and Canada. American air assets were involved but very few U.S., Navy fleet asserts. If you look at the big convoy battles in 1942 and 43, American escorts are rarely involved--Tom Hanks 'Greyhound movie is misleading. Henry is dead right about American politics and this is a valuable addition to the Pacific War story. but some of the other comments are questionable. He is also correct about 'Yorktown' and how she was made ready. Something not often mentioned. And he is right about the Redmans. His comments about the Manhattan Project are thought-provoking. And absolutely correct about President Roosevelt. The matters he is wrong about are details, the thrust of his presentation on American politics he is right about and an important contribution. But I take strong issue with his suggestion that the Soviets paid in blood and the demeaning comment that the Americans paid in Spam. He is basically undervaluing the importance of War in the West which was vital to the defeat of NAZI Germany. Now it is true that it was the Soviet Red Army that tore the heart out of the Wehrmacht. But they were able to do that not just because of Lend Lease, but because over half of German industrial output was used to fight the War in the West. One of the reasons that the great bulk of the Ostheer moved east on foot with horse0-drawn carts. The diversion of resources to the West meant that the Ostheer was poorly equipped and supplied.

tyty very good discussion

The most important items supplied to the Russians was the machine tools that were shipped. There is an old joke that you could have walked the entire way to Russia on all of the Carba-tech lathes and Van Norman mills that ended up on the bottom of the Atlanic never mind the ones that got thru.

Yes, thats a good point, we never see Russian videos with American or British tanks etc

Losing the Battle of Midway would not have resulted in the loss of Hawaii. The IJN and IJA had already looked at it and determined they did not have the shipping to support possession of the islands. Hawaii was food dependent on the mainland even in 1941, and Imperial Japan went 8 million tons shipping-negative just by going to war. Similarly, the IJA vetoed invading Australia because they didn’t have the logistics capacity. Not to mention the IJA’s obsession with the USSR and their reluctance to support the Navy’s operations. Even attempting to sever Australia’s communications was going to stretch IJN logistics. A quick look at Pacific geography; the IJN’s limited fleet train that only barely supported the Pearl Harbor raid; and the staggering drain on the IJN’s oil supply (about the equivalent of 6 months normal ops IIRC; about 25% of their 2-year reserve) that mounting Operations MI and AL imposed; and the best the IJN will manage is limited raids to the east of Hawaii, and certainly not to the West Coast. It will cost too much fuel. By June 1942, Oahu is already too tough of a nut to crack…and Midway is insupportable as a forward base for the IJN. B-17s from Oahu are going to pound Midway continuously, neutralizing it…especially given that the IJN couldn’t keep it in supply in the first place. All losing the battle would do is enforce Plan Dog and the Germany first/defense of the Eastern Pacific strategy that King reversed courtesy of the win to implement Watchtower. Nothing happens to the Manhattan Project. The assets needed for the Pacific aren’t impinging on it, and they are impossible to build in less than two years anyway…a fact the USN knew from its Fleet Problems. So Saratoga, Ranger, and Wasp maintain communications with Oahu, and the US gets serious about the European theatre. Germany falls a little sooner and perhaps without Russian boots in Berlin. And if offensive operations in he Pacific were delayed two years to November 1945…Tarawa gets nuked. As does Wotje or Kwajalein…and probably Truk (with the fleet there) and Saipan. If the Japanese get sane, maybe they capitulate before Japanese cities burn.

From a history reader's (crazy's?) POV, it's frustrating to realize that books written a couple of decades or more ago are almost certainly incomplete. The role of intelligence being one such omission. "Shattered Sword" and Anthony Tully's "Battle of Surigao Strait" point out another, lack of research in the past into Japanese records and accounts.

Really looking forward to NZ at war week. I really hope Sqn Ldr Phil Lamason gets a mention. An absolute legend. Two of my Grandads crew were with him in Buchenwald.

This presentation is very stimulating in provoking out-of-the-proverbial-box thinking in what-ifs. I don't know that I agree with all the speculations but only because I'm in the phase of giving it thought. A pretty good show in which to glean significant details I think the immediate post Doolittle Raid where the IJN was looking for the carriers that launched the raid was an information bonus for the Pacific code breakers. . For what it's worth from the cheap seats, I would've never shared that much confidence in Admiral King for his slow start in the Atlantic against the U boat campaign. Granted there were supply problems with resources being split between two fronts., I don't think well of his ignoring intelligence from the British Admiralty, after they took the risk in providing it,, of being found out about that code breaking. It seems to me a bad sense of priorities in letting personal prejudices over-rule what it takes to run a war with Allies that have something substantial to contribute. I will second the requests to bring this guest on again at some time in the future.

Sadly this book seems to be out of print, and unavailable on ebay or abe books. If anyone has a copy, I'd love to buy it

Admiral Yamamoto knew he had to deal with the US fleet before Coral Sea. The debate between the combined fleet staff and Navy general staff was over where to do it. Fleet general staff wanted to move south from the Solomons which would be in keeping with Japanese being able to cut supply lines to Australia and would be something the US couldn't ignore. Yamamoto didn't see it that way he felt the threat to Midway and possible threat to Pearl Harbor would draw out the US fleet. Yamamoto won out but coral sea was allowed to go ahead support the the port Moresby operation.

my Dad had a front row seat at Coral sea and Midway as he was on anti aircraft guns and once said the japanese planes attacking the yorktown were sometimes close enough they could see the pilots eyes and at Midway the crew of the Yorktown got to go swimming in the pacific compliments of the japenese sinking their ship but before the yorktown was sunk the yorktown planes were in on the sinking of 4 japenese carriers even though it was not the beginning of the end of japenese conquest it was the end of the beginning of japenese conquest in the pacific and ended 8/6 -8/9 over japan complients of 2 B29's

We won midway but I believe that the pacific war turned to the US after taking Guadalcanal ..unlike what most history documentaries to midway being the turning point..

I have not found this book anywhere. Amazon doesn't have it. Neither does Barnes & Noble.

Great show Woody.

At about the 3:00 point in the video, the guest expert is explaining why the battle of Midway was in large part a political decision. He forgets that the Japanese Navy's actions were not affected by American politics. The Japanese wanted to use their possession of Midway Island to force out the American aircraft carriers and then destroy them as they tried to defend the island. In fact, the U.S. Navy HQ in Washington thought the attack would come elsewhere at one of several points. The Battle of Midway occurred because that's where the Japanese were, and not due to politics. Regarding the attack on Pearl Harbor (the 13:00 point in the video) it was remarked that the Alfred Mahan book (Effect of Sea Power on History) he advocates wiping out the adversary's fleet as soon as possible, and that's what the Japanese did to the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1905. It should have been obvious to the American Naval Planners that in view of the Mahan Book, which the Japanese followed religiously, combined with their sneak attack on the Russian Fleet, that the Japanese would very closely consider at attack on the American fleet as well. And their Pacific Fleet was as big as, or bigger than ours. It was only the unjustifiable arrogance of the American Naval planners that kept pooh-pooing that notion. Our planners didn't think they could pull it off. The problem was, the Japanese didn't seem to grasp that they couldn't pull it off, so they just went ahead and did it. They had 10 carriers to our 3 or 4. They had as many battleships as we had, as many cruisers and destroyers, not even counting that they'd built several tankers as well. Why did they need tankers other than for long distance missions.? Throw in the elements of surprise and our overconfidence and we should always have assumed it was possible.

Felt Winter Boots and almost every single truck in their logistical supply line

Thank you

Paul, it's almost criminal that you only have 42K subs. Other channels remind people to subscribe and to be sure to comment. Please try it, it can't hurt and might be a growth factor for your very deserving channel.

Don't say air assault when you mean air attack. Air assault is a landing of troops by parachute and glider in an enemy held area. Air attack is the releasing of ordnance by aircraft on enemy targets.

Is there an email or contact info for Henry? Great channel just discovered, looking to expand my solid understanding of major WW2 events

I think the most poorly understood aspect today of World War II is the importance of the War in the West. There are several reasons for this, but I want to focus here on the simple fact that the idea that the War in the West was a sideshow is not born out by any real assessment. Of course, it is true that something like 80 percent of the German casualties were sustained in the East. People who have not studied military history just assume that 80 percent of German war production went East with the Ostheer. But this is not what happened and the diversion West of the equipment and supplies was a major factor in the Red Army's victory. (I say a part because I do not mean to any way denigrated the monumental achievement of the Red Army.) But it is important to understand that while the Soviets were supplying the NAZIs with the oil they needed during the battle for France and the Battle of Britain, the Royal Navy was preventing the Germans from obtaining oil from the very beginning. And oil was just one small part of the pressure that forced the Germans to use more than half of their industrial output to fight the war in the West. The exact proportion is not clear to discern, but any assessment shows that it was substantially more than half.

Station Hypo/Richefort had proved itself a month earlier with the intelligence provided on the Coral Sea.

I remember reading a book by a Ladislas Farago about cryptology.....

Alt-History is not exactly my thing, but I doubt that Japan had the resources to make Midway enough of a thorn in the USN's side to drive the USN from Hawaii. Japanese-Midway's logistics tether was long, and getting planes, people, fuel, ordnance, food, and construction equipment/materials there in great enough scale just wasn't within Japan's capability. OTOH, post-PH attack, the USN and USA had rebuilt and fortified Hawaii into a fortress. Hawaii could defend itself. Also, while IJN submarine bases were far from Hawaii and the West Coast, USN submarines had their base in Hawaii, close to Midway. Midway-bound Japanese convoys would have been steadily whittled down till the Japanese base became starvation station. While a threat, Japanese I-boats would have been much less successful, and between escorts and patrol planes, their numbers would have dwindled. IOW, not unlike what did happen in the Aleutians, except without the crazy weather and with greater resources/effort by the USN. Midway probably would have become an albatross about the IJN's and Japanese merchant fleet's neck, and pretty quickly.

Midway is, in fact,, a lonely island out in the middle of the Pacific. The Japanese would’ve found it impossible to keep the islands supplied. Had they taken it? They did not have an aircraft that had the range to bomb the Hawaiian islands from midway… US k chose to fight there because they were aggressive, and had the intelligence information by code breaking..k

I want that book

I don’t think that the Japanese could have conquered the Hawaiian Islands. Oahu had far more aircraft and troops than Japan could have brought to such a fight. Jon Parshall has said the same thing.

I always wonder how many of those dock workers died when Yorktown was hit then hit again and sunk in their own way they were all heroes.

WW2 couldn't have occured before WW1. WW2 started in essence after the treaty of Versailles after WW1.

Ironically, just as HMS Dreadnought to some degree obsoleted the RN's own older battleships, the IJN success in the PH attack obsoleted in some degree not only USN battleships, but the IJN's own battleships.

The Dooolittle raid was done for News paper headlines but caused the japanese to kill 250,000 Chinese peasants and their villages where they crashed and or parachuted onto

There were a lot of good tidbits, but there were times where James went into counterfactual overdrive.

When the Japanese took delivery of the Mikasa, Battle of Tsushima flagship, from Britain, the sailors had to be bulked up with a special diet because the men were too small and not powerful enough to efficiently operate the ship's guns/equipment. Interesting how the Japanese were able to jump straight in and catch up with the western world, while certain other "civilizations" introduced to it...didn't.

This book is out of print? Can’t find on Amazon or other sellers. What gives?

Pity about the non combat Dockside Workers from pearl harbour who went down with the Yorktown. A sad story every one doesnt expand on .They all try to brush over it .

I read that the japanese never intended to go after Australia, contrary to what the host of this video claims

I suspect that the following question is 99% baloney but I'm going to ask it anyway. About 4 months ago, I watched a "documentary" about The Battle of Midway. During that piece of schlock, the "expert historian" (whose name I have forgotten) said in clear language that the Japanese Occupation Force had put Japanese infantry boots on the sand at Midway. Is this, as I suspect, a load of manure or is there anything in writing that says the Japanese had actually had troops on the islands of Midway? This guy also said that the USMC troops ran them off while inflicting serious damage to the Japaneses' ability to fight.

If we lose and FDR has to fight to get what he wants, what about his health.

There is a plentiful supply of soviet footage and still photography of lend lease equipment.