Compass Points - Midway & Marines
Signs of delusion wrapped in denial.
Compass Points - Midway & Marines
Signs of delusion wrapped in denial.
June 4, 2024
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Today is the 82nd anniversary of one of the most critical battles not just in World War II history but in all of US warfare. Could there be lessons for the Marine Corps today hiding in a decades old Naval battle?
On the morning of June 4, 1942, aircraft from four Japanese carriers attacked the US base at Midway. What the Japanese Naval leaders did not know was the Americans had broken the Japanese communications code and suspected the Japanese fleet was headed toward Midway. The American fleet, still battered from the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was waiting just east of Midway.
When the Japanese planes finished their bombing run on Midway and headed back to their carriers, American planes followed and attacked the Japanese carriers.
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TBD Devastator torpedo-bombers and SBD Dauntless dive-bombers from the USS Enterprise, USS Hornet, and USS Yorktown attacked the Japanese fleet. The Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned. Hiryu, the only surviving Japanese carrier, responded with two waves of attacks—both times bombing the USS Yorktown, leaving it severely damaged but still afloat. (A Japanese submarine later sank the Yorktown on June 7.) On the afternoon of June 4, a USS Yorktown scout plane located the Hiryu, and the Enterprise sent dive-bombers to attack. That attack left the Hiryu burning and without the ability to launch aircraft before it finally sank.
Over the next two days, the US troops at sea and on Midway continued their attacks, forcing the Japanese to abandon the battle and retreat. The Japanese lost approximately 3,057 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 362 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and 144 aircraft. This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles.
-- National WWII Museum
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Jonathan Parshall, in his article "Ignoring the Lessons of Defeat" for Naval History Magazine details how the Japanese reaction to its defeat at Midway showed, "signs of delusion wrapped in denial." Not only were the Japanese facing an adversary with vastly greater manufacturing capability, but the Japanese military leadership refused to look clearly at the military situation in front of them.
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. . . Japan’s reaction to the Battle of Midway was marked by delusion and deceit. Indeed, the loss of Midway marked the inception of a persistent campaign by the Japanese Navy, and the nation’s leadership as a whole, to hide or disguise bad news.
. . . Even before Yamamoto’s defeated fleet made port at Hashirajima on 14 June, the navy, in concert with Emperor Hirohito, was concocting ways to cover up the entire affair.6 To the public, the navy announced that Midway had been another smashing victory, with two American carriers sunk. Only later was it added, almost as an aside, that two Japanese carriers—the Kaga and Soryu—had also been sunk. The navy abetted this subterfuge by officially keeping the sunken Akagi and Hiryu on the navy’s roster, but listing them as “unmanned.” To support this illusion, wounded sailors from the battle were kept in separate hospitals and denied visits with families.
. . . Within the upper ranks of the navy itself, where the evidence of the disaster could not be so easily erased, there was similarly little effort to divine the true meaning of Midway. It is striking that in the immediate aftermath of such a calamitous battle, no heads rolled among the top brass of the navy. Neither Admirals Yamamoto nor Nagumo was replaced.
-- Jonathan Parshall, Naval History Magazine
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The Marine Corps cannot afford to spend any more time in its own "delusion wrapped in denial." There are three things Marine Corps senior leaders must do now.
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1. Marines leaders must encourage rapid expansion of the US industrial manufacturing base. Obviously, the Marine Corps is not in charge of the US industrial and manufacturing base, but Marine senior leaders can encourage expansion by being clear and insistent on what the Marine Corps needs. The Marine Corps should no longer make funding and acquisition requests based on what is "affordable." The Nation cannot afford a Marine Corps that is ill-equipped. Marine leaders must speak frankly about what the Marine Corps needs to serve as the Nation's global crisis response force 24/7/365. When General Neller was CMC, he testified to Congress that to fulfill the worldwide demand from the Combatant Commanders, the Marine Corps needed "upwards of 50" amphibious ships. Today there are even more global challenges for the US.
2. To prepare to face a peer competitor like China with its enormous land, air, and naval forces, the Marine Corps needs to bulk up, not divest down. The Marine Corps must stop saying there are only limited places and limited ways that Marine forces can be used. Instead, the Marine Corps must train and equip itself for "anywhere and anytime" global crisis response.
3. Finally, Marine senior leaders today must not follow the example of Japanese senior leaders after the Battle of Midway who retreated into "delusion wrapped in denial." Leaders today must face facts honestly and openly. Campaigns of denial and deception must cease. Clear eyed discussion, debate, and discourse must be encouraged once again.
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For example, the Marine Corps needs to take a hard look at the depletion of Marine artillery. Beginning with the Commandant's Planning Guidance of 2019, the Marine Corps began to drastically cut its cannon artillery. The years have gone by now and the wars of the future are being fought in Ukraine and Gaza. In both conflicts cannon artillery has a crucial role. The Army is building a new factory for artillery rounds and still cannot keep up with demand.
On the morning of June 4, 1942, aircraft from four Japanese carriers attacked the US base at Midway. The strategy of the Japanese in World War II was to drive the United States out of the Pacific. The successful attack on Pearl Harbor almost knocked the US out of the Pacific with one punch. But with tenacity and luck the US held on. After Midway the Marine combined armed forces destroyed the Japanese step by step.
The winning approach in the Pacific in World War II was not the side with small, isolated units on remote Pacific islands. The winning side was US Marine Corps big battalion ground forces, covered by artillery and air and naval gunfire and supported by the Pacific fleet. The Japanese had no answer for the combined might of the US Navy and Marines. Today it is China that wants to drive the United States out of the Pacific. Who will oppose them? Small units on remote islands? Or the combined might of the US Navy and Marines? No more "delusion wrapped in denial." Time to rebuild the Navy and Marine team.
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National WWII Museum
The Battle of Midway
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/battle-midway
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Naval History Magazine - Volume 21, Number 3
Ignoring the Lessons of Defeat
For the Imperial Japanese Navy, there were countless lessons to be learned from the Battle of Midway. And while the service made some changes as a result of the catastrophic defeat, at a fundamental level its reaction to Midway showed signs of delusion wrapped in denial.
By Jonathan Parshall
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2007/june/ignoring-lessons-defeat
Today’s Marine Corps is the poster child for senior leader “delusion wrapped in denial.” Force Design is a flawed concept. It is a recipe for disaster. It has already destroyed the combined arms and global response capabilities of the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps obviously knows it. The senior leaders have had five years to see the damage done to the operating forces and to the national defense. Yet, the Commandant doubled down on denial in his recent FRAGO 01-2024 where he vowed to “remain firmly committed to our current path.”
This denial has boxed the Marine Corps into a corner, which is evident by the absence of the Commandant’s Planning Guidance. In my humble opinion, the way out of this box could not be more clear - - scrub Force Design and replace it with an operating concept that restores global response in the age of precision weapons. The foundation for this concept have been clearly laid out by General Charles Krulak and General Tony Zinni in Vision 2035: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/vision-2035-global-response-age-precision-munitions-205995.
The damage done the Marine Corps can only be fixed “whole cloth.” Capabilities and equipment cannot be piecemealed back. The Marine Corps needs a new, better operating concept to confront the diverse threats in an increasingly dangerous world. The genius is to get the operating concept right, for from it can be derived the force structure, equipment, doctrine, training and education, and facilities and support needed to defeat these threats. Thanks to General Krulak and General Zinni, the blueprint for the concept is already on the table.
While on active duty the quickest way for a senior flag officer to lose my respect was to state: “That is not politically possible” to explain a lack of candor based on truth. I would think to myself: “Why not give your best possible military advice and let politicians tell us what is not possible?” Why paint false pictures, create mirages and pander? That can become a habit of deception that carries over into war. Integrity matters in battle, on recruiting short falls, in force generation, RD&A, budget submissions, weapon performance and every other aspect of national defense. Directly tied to this charade is accountability. Military leaders must be accountable for what they supported, what they tolerated and policies they embraced. Medals when it turns out well and relief for failure. The more we have decorated our senior leaders to look like S American desk bound dictators the fewer we have held accountable for innumerable failures. Then they publish books to explain why the dead and maimed were not their fault.