World War II: The Battle of Midway | Full Movie (Feature Documentary) 

My father, CDR Donald A. Christensen served on the Lexington. He survived the battle of the Coral Sea and several other battles during the war. He retired in 1969 with 30 years service. I've always been very proud that my father was part of the greatest generation.

Never get tired watching all these actual narratives , footage and clips / films of the war in the Pacific. Thank you ! May these heroes be remembered forever.

As a very proud Australian I'd like to say a huge thanks to our friends from across the Pacific. I'm so glad America is our friend and ally . We have stuck by each other for a hundred years and I hope it remains the same for another 100

This is the most comprehensive and thorough historical documentary I've found. Hoping to find any others in the same vein.

the heroes of Midway in my eyes are the Devistator pilots and rear gunners who basically went out in outdated slow planes and worthless faulty torpedoes to distract (and sacrifice themselves) the Zero's so the Dauntless planes could bomb the carriers without being swarmed. If they hadnt done this, this battle would have been COMPLETELY different. It was the bravest thing ever.

I like watching the real footage of all the soldiers who served in the various conflicts, so much honour and respect for the allied forces, rest in peace to the ones who passed away and wishing many more happy and joyful days to the surviving veterans, you will never be forgotten 👍

My Filipino grandpa, joined the US Navy after killing japanese in his island he helped American POW. And was recruited to join the Navy, he was then trained to operate the machinery of Enterprise. He was present in the battle of Midway and the Philippine sea. After the war he was one of the pioneering mechanical engineer in the shipping lines here in the Philippines. RIP OLD MAN

My late father fought at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. He was wounded twice and was awarded the Bronze Star for his bravery. He told of these stories about a treasure of gold belonging to the Japanese that was buried at the end of Henderson Field. He had a close friend, Bud Carson, and that both of them were going to return for the gold after the war. Neither returned but both came home with Malaria. My mother spoke of the fevers my father suffered from this disease and the suffering my father endured. Quinine was the only medication at the time. My father passed at the age of 98 years. They were married 73 years when he went home.

As an Englishman I have to say that Americas greatest advantage at Midway and so many other battles was the quality of their personnel.

I wish they would show some of these videos in our schools so the kids could appreciate the suffering and the blood that was shed so we could enjoy are blessed country.

Thank you for this precious, historic story!

In Herman Wouk's books "Winds of War" and War and Remembrance", he details all that happened during WWII...especially in the Pacific. The Battle of Midway is regarded as the "turning point" for the war in the Pacific. Unusual for an author, in the middle of "War and Remembrance", he stops and lists the air crews of the USS Yorktown, USS Enterprise, and the USS Hornet. Squadron "Torpedo Three" from the USS Yorktown (24 pilots & Radiomen-Gunners)...3 survived. USS Enterprise "Torpedo Six" squadron (28 members)....10 survived; USS Hornet "Torpedo Eight" Squadron....(30 members)....1 survived. The author also lists the home cities, towns, and states of every one of these brave men. These men KNEW....before they even took off the flight deck that their chances of returning alive were very slim if not non-existent....but they did their job anyway.....securing victory at the Battle of Midway by their sacrifices. 🇺🇸

18:50, What an amazing narration of an epic battle. The feats of the American heroism will never be forgotten (RIP Lieutenant John Powers)

The whole Pacific campaign took less time than the opening credits.

Old folks are true bad ass, hope this generation get 1/8 of their awesomeness and courage.

These young men that boarded these ships were of a metal that few have today. Way to many young brave men died defending our country from the determined japanese enemy! God Bless them !

I've seen many documentaries on this battle but none that had this many actual videos - very nicely done.

AWESOME accounting of this battle!

yorktown repairs were not completed in port. Many contractors and workers stayed on board and worked on the repairs as it steamed back towards Midway

These guys were BAD ASS. God bless them all

46:33 Important fact omitted here. Yorktown was hit by two different waves. The first thought they had sunk her, but the highly specialized and advanced damage control systems/crew put out the fires and restored Yorktown's power within an hour. She was able to recover and launch another strike! When Hiryu's next, much smaller wave (but a highly elite squadron) came in they mistook Yorktown for an undamaged carrier. This prevented them from attacking either of the other two carriers, thus preserving a major striking force of the US Pacific fleet.

The best 50 minute capsule of The Midway battle.

They left out the fact that the damage control on the Yorktown was so good that they put out the fires from the first attack and even though it was not capable of flight ops, the Japanese attacked it a second time thinking it was a different carrier, thus drawing attention away from the Big E and the Hornet.

My grandfather was a policeman turned militia in the Philippines and when he was captured, was about to be transferred to the Bataan Death March. Thank you to the brave soldiers who fought for freedom. My grandfather has passed, but his legacy leaves behind a doctor as his offspring and another from his offspring. If it were not for you, we wouldn't be saving lives today. Thank you.

Remarkable presentation made possible by remarkable men with the right stuff! Thanks for posting.

This is one of the best videos yet. Well done!

If you have not read it, and are serious about this battle, reading 'Shattered Sword' is worth every minute it takes. Most, if not all of the common misconceptions are explained and corrected.

The first audiobook I ever listened to was The Battle of Midway by Craig Symonds. I highly recommend it. I have since purchased or been gifted all his books. The war in the Pacific was horrible and deadly from June 7th 1942 through VJ Day but the worry of Hawaiian islands and Mainland invasion by Japanese Force's was gone. It was a crippling defeat for Japan.

This documentary is obvously very old, as it has lots of innacuracies. But its still worth a watch. The narrator is good. Some of the footage I had never seen before, even though it was not relative to the narration

1. The Dolittle Raid did not target just Tokyo, several other cities including Osaka were hit by a single bomber. 2. Yamamoto's original plan did not call for a diversionary attack in the Aleutian, that was added against his wishes splitting his force at Midway and making the plan ridiculously complex. 3. Yamamoto had spent time in America before the war and never believed Japan could beat America or force it to sue for peace, he said he could run wild for 6 months.

It was an amazing feat that Yorktown made it to midway after coral sea. The Yorktown was a huge part of the defeat the Japanese at midway

Do Not Ignore the Savagery that the 7th Infantry Division suffered in the Aleutian Campaign. I used to volunteer at Orlando VAMC Nursing Home with Willy Finnegan. He'd fought that Campaign.

It just blows my mind that the Japanese actually thought that by attacking us in Pearl Harbor they would crush our spirits and we would cower in fear...unwilling to fight back. Although we had much fear, we did not cower.We came together as a people.We took care of business on the home-front and we stuck by our Allies. We kicked ass. God bless America.

"McCluskey had a hunch and the gamble paid off!"

My Navy Chief father took me to an air show when I was in 7th grade. I had a broken ankle and was wearing a cast. Pappy Boyington and Mr. Gay both signed my cast that day. I went on to serve 20 years myself and retired as a Chief, like my father, in 2004. War is hell and there are no heroes. Just men put in harm’s way for greed. Sad but true.

The Doolittle Tokyo Raid was actually strategically brilliant, though at the time, it’s goal was more of a morale boosting mission. But what it did, in effect, was force Japan to keep more of its valuable resources for home defense instead of in offensive operations, as the Japanese realized after the Tokyo raid that they were not invulnerable to home attack.

Commander hero Chester Nimitz..... with great love and respect from Vietnam .

Incredible footage, thank you for posting it.

*Ominous Music keeps cropping up along with Suspenseful, Eerie and Loud Buzzing is my PC Safe or do I need to search & destroy a Virus ?*

Midway tidbit: Dusty Kleise and Dick Best each scored twice. 2 different ships their first flight, and the each hit the last one. God bless them.

God bless all the American service men of all the branches of the U.S military for their sacrifices and courage, we of the Pacific nations owe them all a debt that we can never repay and I guess the same thing applies to the people of Europe during the Second world war. Age shall not wary them nor time condemn them They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old In the going down of the sun and in the morning we shall remember them. Thank you from a grateful soul.

I've a history test Monday and it has nothing to do with the Battle of Midway. But time well spent.

Fair play, the 'free' world owes so much to the bravery and sacrifices of the American and allied forces in this epic struggle.

Dedicated and courageous men fighting under brilliant, decisive leadership, Midway surely was America at its finest hour.

All explained from start to the end. Thanks for sharing.

The greatest generation God bless them all

The American had crack the code of communication of the Japanese and this made all the differences.

Outnumbered pilots flying obsolete aircraft who took off from Midway had brass balls.

One more thing, often forgotten! Admiral Chester Nimitz..Who, as a naval tactician, and winner of battles against the odds, stands with Nelson and Agrippa as the best naval officers of all time!

I love this narrator! He doesn't shout, bark and talk nervously fast as many of the Americans do!

Some information they missed in this documentary is the sheer impact of the defeat at Midway. Sinking the bulk of the Kido Butai, Japan's premier fleet carriers wasn't really the most important part. When Akagi, Kaga, Soryuu and Hiryuu went down, when their air groups were cut to ribbons, they took with them, the entire cream of the crop of the Japanese naval aviation community, the best carrier officers, the best pilots, the best mechanics, and crews, the most promising trainees for all of those roles. Even if Japan could recover materially from the defeat at Midway (they couldn't) they'd never replace those loses, and it shows over the course of the war. Especially once the revenge for Pearl Harbor is completed and the last of the Kido Butai (Shoukaku and Zuikaku) are sunk later in the war.

Very little actual footage exists from the Battle of Midway. Most of what they show is spliced together from other battles, and even some from movies. Overall, it's a very good encapsulation of the battle.

I love the battle of Midway story. There is always that point where the sleeping giant shows up and just stomps on these assholes.

Thanks for keeping history alive!

Music was very well chosen. Takes us back to ww2 times. Bizarrely comforting

At the time of the midway battle there were more tonnage of us capital warships being built in various shipyards than existed in the entire Japanese imperial combined fleets

Enjoyed the video but the 3 minute intro is way too long.

I remember! Back in the day!!! The only TV was PlatLens or Victory At Sea.

What a thoroughly engrossing documentary. Very enjoyable.

Read about it 33 years ago.Seeing it is beyond words.

Real war, real battles, real bravery, real risk, and real heroes!

One thing you all need to realize about the Yorktown repairs made at Pearl before the Battle of Midway. When she got back after the Coral Sea she was heavily damaged with structural frames damaged below decks and massive damage to her boilers and other engineering works. She left Pearl 4 boilers short and with 1 fuel tank still flooded with seawater and unusable. The repairs they gave her in 72 hours not 48 hours where enough to get her back to 100% combat ready not to 100% shipshape. Nimitz and Fletcher both knew that they needed the Yorktown out there to help with the battle. They knew how much that 3rd carrier would mean in firepower. The Yorktown could only do 28 instead of 33 knots was missing about half of her arresting gear and was down on refueling capacity. However her flight deck for an Alpha strike was intact. The Commanders knew we more than likely would lose her in the battle however if she had survived and she was under tow back to Pearl when the I-16 sunk her she would have gotten the refit and full repairs needed and been in service during the Canal campaign.

I like how this documentary shows US Navy Hellcats in action. The only problem being that the aforementioned aircraft wasn’t introduced until 1943.

One of the very best documentaries on American response to Japanese aggression In early 1942 in that it is one of the very few that does not give short shrift to what happened in the Pacific before Midway, namely Doolittle's Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the intelligence gathered from code breaking. One of the subjects that has accrued to me, and apparently some others, is the qualitative and quantitative differences in naval damage control. The best explanation I've read is from Gheorge Rider published in 'Quara'. To paraphrase his conclusion, war ship design philosophy and cultural attitude Mr. Rider's comments are well worth finding.

Very nice video clips of the battle in this video. Many of which I've never seen before. Thank you for sharing this.

Wrong Plaines for this time In the war. F6F was being flight tested. SB2C wasn't in used till 1944.

I'm a WW2 enthusiast. Thank you for posting these great videos. My hats off to you for having a great selection to choose from. Paul from Orange, Ma. USA

Thanks !

39:43 Among McClusky's group was Norman Jack "Dusty" Kleiss, the only dive bomber pilot to get 3 direct hits during the Battle of Midway. He hit the carrier Kaga in the morning on June 4th, the carrier Hiryu right near the Rising Sun of the Japanese flag on its deck that afternoon & the cruiser Mikuma on the 6th. Such a beast of a pilot. Great vid 👍

My Dad, JB Acker, from Cooper Tx., born in 1921, joined the Navy, served on “The Fanshaw Bay” , #70, auxiliary Aircraft Carrier, in The Battle of “The Philippines Sea” , Dad stayed through Korea and into Vietnam until 1966, I joined The Army, but my son joined The Navy and got assigned to “The Carl Vinson “ #70, and is making it a career like his Grandfather, my Grandson is a Marine, something Dad warned me about when I joined up,😂, we have 4 generations now of fighting for our great nation, hope to keep it going!

I had the pleasure at age 11 of eating dinner with Ensign George Gay, a hero pilot during the Battle of Midway. He spent days in the water after his plane was hit and was wounded. He hid out from the Japanese and was eventually rescued. The movie had come out a fewvyears before. I also got to spend time with Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington of Black Sheep Squadron. He and I played machine guns, lol. He was a tough drinking guy but had a good heart.

Respect to soldiers on both sides. They fought fiercely and bravely. There was no room for coward and non-obedience.

Much of this footage was not from the Battle of Midway. For example, lots of footage of F6F Hellcats which were not yet operational at the time.

I would agree with Mr. Dykes comments on the extreme length of the opening overture. I really do love the music as I think it is well orchestrated. One idea. Why not start the documentary with the actual documentary and move the opening overture to the end of the film for those viewers wishing to pay further tribute to the wonderful content of the film itself?

Another milestone in history.thank you very much for all the informations i gathered.God bless you all

41:00 Photographic evidence would prove that the aircraft were in the hangars below decks.

I've been to Oahu and midway island and it was impressive to know so many had died there during the invasion. Many may not know but there are 3 Japanese soldiers who are buried on Midway still and a memorial is there

I baked a cake while the introduction played.

Not many give much credit to the staff on the flat tops to me they are top hero's and have my full respect!

Great documentary! Luck was definitely on our side, but being able to decipher encoded Japanese messages was probably what won the battle.

Congrats to Wade Mcclusky. 5 minutes of pure luck that changed the course of the war.

I appreciate the video, and the historical accuracy of the narration is commendable. But come on, there is plenty of stock film involving F4F's and SBD's available, so what was the purpose of using all the Hellcat and Helldiver film? None were available during the Midway action and so destroys even the illusion of the "You are there", aspect of a documentary. Sure, we know it's mostly stock film, but maintain the illusion anyway. I did notice that you used John Fords film of the actual attack by the Japanese on Midway as well, and a well done for that. Thank you.

41:48 50 dive bombers attack. Only 6 bombs struck the carriers. I was on the USS Midway retired in San Diego recently. Ship named after the island and this battle. Really is something to walk around the decks of one of those ships

The crew that repaired Yorktown would have been half dead after she left port. WOW.

I can't believe this is actual footage and so much of it actually exists..its mind blowing..how were they able to capture all this tho?

Many ww11 soldiers walking to their deaths, fully knowing that there was a good chance they wouldn't make it!~ The ultimate in Courage and dedication to sacrifices higher than just themselves? Those Boys knew the dangers to the world dictators provide, and just went forward despite the strong fears they had! unbelievable!!!

I know I’m going to get blasted from all directions, but I strongly feel that any video that reports history owes it to our predecessors who were actually there to ‘get it right’ on all accounts. So while the F-4U Corsair was - and is - a beautiful aircraft, putting them on the cover screen severely degrades all that follows, particularly as something listed as a ‘feature documentary’. The story of the Battle of Midway needs no embellishments - let’s let history tell the story. Thanks, and I look forward to your next installment.

You failed to acknowledge that they attacked the Yorktown for the 2nd time a few hours after they attacked it the first time. Japanese thought it was a completely different carrier believing they sunk it after the first attack. This is a testament to the Yorktown's crew and the safety protocol of the US navy while highlighting the shortcomings of the Japanese navy.

British Documentaries ..... They never have their facts straight. They play themselves up and everyone else down. This is the first and last time I will watch anymore of this series.

So much detail omitted in this doc

Well worth watching, we live and learn.

Interesting, most of the footage of aircraft was of planes that were not at Midway. They were Grumman F6F Hellcats and Curtis SB2C Helldivers, neither of which were introduced until much later in the war.

Not a bad documentary, straight to the point with accurate and little known facts. True that the stock footage is not all from the actual battle, but it is a negligible error since most actual footage was either lost during the battle or in the years since. Still, in my opinion, it was the most important battle and true turning point in WWII.

Excellent , brill. Commentator made this , calm and factual .

Congratulations! A great, great video!

28:15 - "scouring the skies(...) - I always thought, the enemy's fleet is down on the water?

Good, but see Midway From the Japanese Perspective, one of the finest videos around

Is there a full recording of “Day of Infamy?”

A very good and well explained documentary films of the second World War II. Thank You, All the best.

This documentary is so old it has almost half of the information is wrong. But the footage is outstanding at least.