Ken Burns' -THE WAR on PBS

[seafarer]

Originally Posted by tater

Two, the only reason to invade Midway was to lure out the US fleet. Period.

1. Midway was untenable to maintain, it was a lot farther from the japanese bases than Wake, and Wake withered at the vine from early on.

I thought Yamamoto's own writings indicate that he clearly intended to hold Midway as a defensive position for the empire. He was in part motivated by the Doolittle raid, and a determination to maintain a forward defense. All of that was explicit in his plan MI.

Yamamoto also mentioned that he thought by destroying the US fleet at Midway, combined with the invasion of the Aleutians (about which he'd had no say), might push US casualities high enough that the US might be willing to negotiate a peace. Japan being much more willing to accept high casualities as a tool to a means.