Quote:
Originally Posted by August
I do agree that it would have been difficult to support this base. Certainly easier though if the US carriers were sitting at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
|
One of the many objections the Japanese General Naval Staff raised to Yamamoto's 1942 plan to capture the atoll were logistical. The Japanese merchant marine was already overtaxed. Given that there were no resources on Midway even vaguely worth transporting home, those merchant ships supplying Midway would have to return home empty in ballast. Every mile traveled in ballast, of course, lowers the overall efficiency of Japan's merchant fleet further. Even if US carriers were sunk and gone, US submarines will still be present, so such a long supply line would require escort as well.
Another objection raised was the island's vulnerability to US 4-engined bombers operating out of Hawaii. Midway was so small that dispersing aircraft on the ground would be difficult and Zeros later in the war found the up-gunned B-17s a tough nut to crack in the air. This raised the specter of suffering outsized aircraft losses on the ground in the event of US bombing.
In short, I think Midway would have had some propaganda value for a time had the Japanese captured it. But then so did the Aleutians for a short while, until the Japanese gave up the venture there.