On 17 May, Centre Director Brendan Simms co-published a book to mark the eightieth anniversary of the battle of Midway. It was immediately hailed by the Sunday Telegraph as ‘the best account yet’ of the encounter. Midway was an iconic battle. The Japanese had run riot across the Pacific after Pearl Harbor in early December 1941, capturing Hong Kong, Malaya, Dutch East Indies and were about to complete the capture of the Philippines. Then on 4 June 1942, off Midway Island, the US Navy ambushed the Japanese striking force, Kido Butai, and sunk all four of its carriers. The Japanese advance stalled and her Navy never really recovered. This dramatic and unexpected reversal has often been attributed to mere luck, and even divine intervention.
In their new book, The Silver Waterfall. How America won the war in the Pacific at Midway Brendan Simms and Steve McGregor push back against this view. They stress the importance of skill and training, showing how the pre-war US Navy developed a deadly dive-bomber weapon which came into its own in five legendary minutes. They embed their account in a much wider story about American innovation, and a related sub-plot about migration. Particular attention is paid to Ed Heinemann, the designer of the battle-winning weapon, the Douglas Dauntless Dive-Bomber; Chester Nimitz, who drew up the American plan at Midway; and Dusty Kleiss, one the most accurate pilots that day. All three were German Americans.
They make a broader point about Midway’s importance in World War II. This is usually seen as a case of initial professional incompetence, redeemed by mass mobilisation and amateur genius. What is striking about our story is that the battle was won by the peacetime Navy. Every carrier that served at Midway was commissioned long before the war began, and every pilot who scored a hit on a Japanese carrier got his wings before Pearl Harbor. They conclude with a discussion about what all this means today, as the Pacific is once more a site of furious contestation, this time between the United States and the PRC.
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