40, a new American heavy tank that weighed 46 tons and boasted a 90mm cannon. His crew awaited him in T-26E3, designated No. Had he been commanding the M4 Sherman medium tank that day, the task would have seemed almost impossible without support or reinforcement, but now the odds would be evened because of the new tank he would be taking into battle against the Germans. Mashlonik’s job that day was to knock it out. The Tiger I was a fearsome opponent for any Allied tank crew in World War II. The 57-ton steel monster sported a long 88mm cannon that extended from a massive turret atop the blocky, angular mass of its hull. After June 4, the Japanese really did not initiate any new offensives at all, and the Americans did.Sergeant Nicholas Mashlonik watched closely as the Panzerkampfwagen (PzKpfw) VI Tiger heavy tank rampaged through the village of Elsdorf in the Rhineland-Westphalia region of Germany on February 27, 1945. ![]() “The Japanese were essentially making the decisions about where battles would be fought and initiating them. “Up until June 4, 1942, all conflict was initiated by the Japanese,” Symonds says. A month later, the Allies would launch their first major offensive at Guadalcanal, taking the initiative in the Pacific War for the first time. At Midway, the Imperial Navy lost all four aircraft carriers involved in the assault, as well as more than 300 aircraft and as many as 3,000 men, including some of their most experienced pilots. Before the battle, Japan had proved virtually unstoppable in the Pacific. The Pacific War would continue for another three years, costing many more lives on both sides, but the Allied victory in the Battle of Midway marked a crucial turning point. But, he says, it does explain why “American decision-makers, and particularly Chester Nimitz, knew enough to take what at the time seemed to many to be a risky move-committing all three of his existing aircraft carriers, including the Yorktown, which was pretty beat up from the Battle of the Coral Sea, and sending them up north of Midway in an ambush position.” US Victory at Battle of Midway Marks Turning Point in WWIIĬode-breaking alone doesn’t explain the stunning Allied victory in the Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942), according to Symonds. aircraft carriers at a spot some 300 miles north of Midway, which they called “Point Luck.” This included the USS Yorktown, which had sustained serious damage during the Battle of the Coral Sea but was repaired in just two days in the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard. With this information, Nimitz was able to plot a strategy that would take the Japanese by surprise, assembling three U.S. Rochefort did it to help convince Washington that he knew what he was talking about.”īy the end of May, Navy cryptanalysts had figured out more details about Yamamoto’s plans, including almost the entire order of battle of the Imperial Navy. “That's not how we found out Midway was the target, it’s often interpreted that way,” Symonds clarifies. Two days later, a Japanese message was intercepted that reported “AF” was running out of fresh drinking water. Via submarine, they sent a message to the base on Midway instructing personnel there to radio Pearl Harbor that the salt-water evaporators on the base had broken down. West Coast.ĭetermined to dispel such doubts, Rochefort’s team famously devised a ruse. Rather than accept Midway as the target, Redman and others in Washington suspected the Japanese might be preparing another attack in the South Pacific, against Port Moseby, New Caledonia or Fiji, or even an attack on Hawaii or the U.S. Redman, director of OP-20-G, the Navy’s Code and Signals Section.Ĭodebreakers Set a Trap to Confirm Japanese Attack Officially, Rochefort reported to Captain John R. “Rochefort’s job was to gather information, raw data for the most part, and send to Washington,” says Craig Symonds, professor of maritime history at the Naval War College and author of The Battle of Midway. Back in March, a Japanese plane reporting weather conditions near the islands had also mentioned “AF,” suggesting strongly that the designator referred to Midway.īut not everyone was convinced the codebreakers were right. naval and air base on Midway Atoll, two tiny islands located in the central Pacific, around 1,200 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor. Station Hypo had little doubt as to what “AF” referred to: the U.S. ![]() The radio traffic they intercepted that May suggested that Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the mastermind behind the Pearl Harbor attack, was preparing a major invasion, involving four Japanese aircraft carriers along with many other ships, at a location designated with the initials “AF.” Navy's cryptologic and intelligence developments from 1925 to 1947. Captain Joseph John Rochefort was a major figure in the U.S.
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