Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway (Classics of War)
Walter Lord
Language: English
Pages: 352
ISBN: 1580800599
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
A remarkable account of what has been called 'the most decisive naval battle since Trafalgar.'―Los Angeles Times
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a smoke screen, and it was quite a fracas before McGlashan and Arnold convinced him it would draw the Japs rather than hide the island. Another time he clashed with Captain Simard over shifting some barbed wire long enough to let the Navy fill a few sandbags. Touching that barbed wire was really inviting trouble, and it finally took a mild display of rank by the Captain before he got his sand. In the end, of course, they always patched up their quarrels. The staff would go off to their bunks …
flight tomorrow would be strictly a voluntary proposition. However, he was taking off as soon as the enemy fleet was within range, and the others could follow him if they wished. Henderson was like a father to most of the squadron, and there was little doubt what they’d do. “Sleep in your clothes tonight,” Captain Richard Fleming, one of the pilots, told his rear-seat man Corporal Eugene T. Card. “They may come in at any time, so be ready to turn out.” Card was ready. He had gone over his
Ogawa’s unit, headed for the other four American planes: the B-26s with the big white stars. The carrier crews watched in excitement as the Zeros methodically picked off the TBFs. On the Akagi a storm of hand-clapping went up with every splash. It was almost like a theater audience watching a superbly skillful performance—which in a sense it was. None of the TBFs got close enough to make an effective drop, and five of the six were shot down well clear of the carriers. With the B-26s it was
instead it hurtled straight for the Akagi’s bridge. No one saw how it could miss. Admiral Kusaka felt sure they were done for. He instinctively ducked as the plane came right at him. But it didn’t hit: it cleared the bridge by inches, cartwheeling into the sea just off the port side. The whole bridge let out a yell of relief that meant the same in any language: “Wow!” A shaken Kusaka found himself strangely moved. He thought only Japanese pilots did things like that. He had no idea who this
of operating. No matter how skillful, another man taking over now might upset their coordination just enough to throw everything off. So Leslie was determined to lead his squadron anyhow; he would be the first to dive, just as though he still had his 1,000-pound bomb. Far below, Jimmy Thach flew on—his aplomb mildly upset by those four explosions that rocked the sea around him. About 9:30 he caught the reassuring sight of Lem Massey’s torpedo planes flying directly ahead. Fifteen minutes later
