Hi,
I found this online course from the WW2 National USA museum.
It starts with Sagita, the Japanese intelligence officer who worried about the USA putting bombers in the USSR. After one of the Doolittle raiders landed in Vladivostok this is VERY logical thinking.
Also he thought that no US offensive would take place until 1943. That makes sense as well because the US landing in Gualdalcanal was a haphazard operation and they were hanging on their fingernails at some point.
It took the Japanese too much time to see the threat but as we know Gualdalcanal was to become the Japanese Stalingrad were the crack 2nd division was annihilated and were they had their first night battle.
What I like about this book/video that it sees the standpoints from both sides and puts it in a greater context. @finn This video is part of the 75th anniversary,might interest you as you have been there.
PS interestingly Gualdalcanal wasn’t even mentioned.
{75th Anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal Online Learning Series Pt. 1 - YouTube](75th Anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal Online Learning Series Pt. 1 - YouTube)
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There is a part 2 pertaining to the cruisers and the concept of “Calculated risk and keeping sea control, even if it is only by day”.
It also has the great horrible sea battle in November with the US cruisers had to tangle with Japanese Battleships. Yaiks!
75th Anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal Online Learning Series Pt. 2 - YouTube
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It was a very enjoyable video. Stressing the casualties is such a small part of the battle. Both sides learned so much about how to fight each other. Thing is that Americans tended to pass on the learning and Japanese died.
An awful affair for the Marines on the ground but bloody as hell for the Navy. 2 Pearl Harbors worth.
But for the Survivors they got all new toys in 1943 and the start of an enormous improvement in logistics.
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Yeah, I never realised how the (temporarily)loss of the battleships impacted the November. The US Navy had to go in a close nightly knive fight with cruisers against battleships.
I think Hornfisher did a great job on the problems of the Navy who carried bunks and mess facilities but could be killed any moment by subs and did not have any foxholes to dive into. Also the Navy lost 3times the men and simply would have lost had they been out day and night. This would have resulted in the Marines being destroyed.
But I guess naval ops are too difficult for movies as they take a bit more analyses to understand.
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Yes he did a great job portraying the sacrifices. The other number that stood out was the loss of Japanese aircrew. They could not be replaced.
I think I want another source to cover how hard the ground fight was. The conditions were bad and even though as many Marines didn’t die as Navy did, it sure wasn’t for lack of trying as the 25,000 Japanese dead can attest too. It sure set the ground rules for the next year with hard fight after hard fight. I think in 44 and 45 it got even more intense. Tough war to be a rifleman.
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Regarding the loss of battleships, the US had more battleships by this point. I believe that in Shattered sword the US had 5 battleships on the West coast but they were too slow and used too much fuel to take with the carriers.
We know they had Washington, South Dakota and North Carolina. I don’t know which others were free for service but even if ready they only chose to use those 3 and 2 of them went back to the shop for damages. Maybe the older ones just didn’t have the range to be very useful. If they used too much fuel and we didn’t have a lot of at fuel refueling ships yet that’s a good reason to leave them, behind. I think the logistics ships were just as important as the fighting ships.
Interesting that Iowa was launched in August 42, 6 months early.
Near the end of 1942 the cupboard was pretty empty. 1 modern battleship and 2 carriers quite bruised. But things changed so fast as the Essex’s began to roll out, and more ships got repaired (thinking North Carolina and South Dakota but others as well. ). We had escort carriers as well but they didn’t seem to be deployed out here yet. We ended up with 71 of them but not sure where they were.
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