National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: National Geographic
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 85 minutes
Release Date: 2000-09-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Nat'l Geographic Vid
Studio: Nat'l Geographic Vid

VHS Movie Reviews of National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

Movie Review: "Battle of Midway", Turning Point of American Victory over Pacific War !
Summary: 5 Stars

" Battle of Midway",Turning Point of American Victory
On Pacific War!

Carrier USS Hornet based 16 B-25 Mitchell Army Medium bomber's one way ticeted successful
Tokyo Raid made symbolic strikes on Japan Mainlad,on18,April,1942.
Commanding-in-Chief of the Combined japanese Fleet Yammamoto planned Striking US Carriers
which failed on previous "Suprise Attack of Pearl Harbour".
4 important Carriers-Ksga,Soryu,Akagi and Hiryu were mobilized for Operation Midway on 3,June,1942.
on 4,June,1942,Fleets exchanged the serious Air Attacks with TBF Avenger Torpedo Bomber and
successful dive bombing by SBD Dauntless Dive Bombers sunk Kaga and Soryu and USS Yorktown crippled
by Japanese Torpedo bomber and Dive Bombers.On5,JUNE,1942, Japanese remaining Carriers,Akagi and
Hiryu sunk. On 6,JUNE,1942,Japanese withdrawal was made.Later damaged Yorktown was complrtely
crippled by 2 Torpedos and bombs,finally sunk by Jap.Submarine's Torpedo Attack.
National Geographic tried very meaningful works:
1) Recognition of high quality of US.Code breaking Activity.
2) Discovery of sunken USS.Yorktown by Famous Discoverer Dr.Robert Ballard and his teams.
3) Arrangement of both eyewitness(2-American Veterans and 2-Japanese Veterans), witness, and
exchange thrir Friendship--Verry imressive and enotional scenes of elder Veterans!!!!!!
4) Emotional Scenes of USS. Yorktown-- intact Mast,uprised multiple 40mm Anti Aircraft Guns etc.
just slightly tilted almost intact original Carrier!!!!!.
Most important situations of All 4 sunked Japanese Navy and land based 360 lost Airplane means
losted more extensive loss of experienced Pilots and associated Technicians lead to Complete
Defeat of Japanese Air Powers!!!!!!!!!!.

Movie Review: The Battle for Midway
Summary: 5 Stars

I know that it is unavailable at this time, but from the reviews I've read here, it sounds like this is something I would be very interested he seeing!

Movie Review: mother of all naval battles
Summary: 4 Stars

Unlike the guy below who said the US would have won the war 3 years later if Japanese had won Midway - based on historical reference and insights, had the Japanese Navy not made blunder after blunder in their attack plan at midway - they would have altered history in a way that would change our history and way of life.

5 minutes changed the course of the battle! Jpn Admiral Nagumo had his planes on the decks of the carriers warming up and getting ready to launch on all carriers for an attack on the US carriers....they were turned into the wind and would no doubt have destroyed the american carriers if launched...they needed 5 minutes - that's all to change history. fortunately for the americans the dive bombers hit the japn carriers with all these planes on the decks loaded with fuel and bombs and it was a shooting fish in a barrel at that moment in time....

Japan made 5 major mistakes that led to the defeat:
1. Did not anticipate the US Carriers by scouting for fleet prior to mission
2. Did not communicate effectively the dangers ahead and instead maintained radio silence not knonwing the americans knew exactly what was coming
3. Did not levy entire naval force together in one massive force - thereby increasing anti aircraft strength.
4. Did not have scout planes do their jobs in locating enemy dangers
5. Did not react quickly enough when american carriers were discovered - hesitated and wasted time switching from torpedos to bombs

Despite all these major mistakes, they were 5 minutes away from changing the world!

Had the Japn launched their some 150 aircraft to attack the carriers they would undoubtedly destroyed at least 2 of the carriers (only 8 planes destroyed one carrier in reality)...even if americans still sunk the 3 japn carriers...us would be left with practically nothing to defend hawaii and the pacific ocean....

Hence japan would push for negotiations to peace with the USA and keep all the territory they captured including all the natural resources oil and rubber..., the USA would not have been able to assist in the D Day landings thereby Germany would win there and we would have 3 super powers in the world as germany and japan probably would have destroyed russia in WWII....hitler would have taken over all of europe and gained enormous power and industrial might not to mention murding millions and implementing his racist and hatred philosophies...Japan would be ruled by military dictatorship and would have eventually taken over all of asia, including china, korea, and the entire southeast asia....meanwhile there would probably have been a world war III within 25 years between the 3 nations and their allies with thermo nuclear exchanges....imagine 5 minutes!

Had the USA lost their carriers and not accepted peace with Japan, then japan would have invaded Hawaii and California without any resistance and just shelled those areas with their battleships and aircraft carriers until the USA would have to surrender or risk having the entire west coast population decimated with casualties.....

Japan would have taken Hawaii by August of that year and invaded california by Oct.....the USA would not have been able to rebuild their aircraft carriers or fleets by then while Japan still had the armada of carriers (6 remaining even if they americans destroyed 3 in midway) they would just keep launching val's bombers over hawaii and california while the battleships just unloaded from miles away.....

scary thought - 5 minutes

Movie Review: Relive the pivotal battle in the pacific in WWII
Summary: 5 Stars

Given that Japan had neither the population or industrial base to wage a successful war against the United States in the Pacific ocean, a determined United States would have eventually defeated the Japanese. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that the battle for Midway decided the war. However, there is no question that the American victory hastened the Japanese defeat. The best of the Japanese aerial forces were on their aircraft carriers that fought at Midway and most of them perished with the carriers. What is astonishing is that nearly all of the damage was inflicted by a few American planes and it took only 5 minutes for three Japanese carriers to be destroyed. Had the circumstances been reversed and the Japanese been successful, then it would have been years before the American forces would have been strong enough to make a comeback.
In this video, Dr. Robert Ballard, famous for seeking and finding the remains of famous sunken ships goes to the battle site in a search for the wrecks of the aircraft carriers sunk in the battle for Midway. Four veterans of that battle are on board his ship, two Japanese and two Americans. The video bounces back and forth between archival footage and an explanation of the battle and descriptions of how the search is going. The veterans are very moved by the experience as they relive the day when the advantage in the war shifted from the Japanese to the American side.
The search team experiences some difficulties with their robot probe, as it must descend to over three miles down. Eventually, they locate the remains of the American carrier U. S. S. Yorktown, although no other ship is found. This tape is an accurate recapitulation of how important that battle was and how brave all the pilots were. Most of them took off and did their duty even though they knew that the mission was very close to a suicide mission. I have even heard one historian refer to the American pilots as the first kamikaze pilots of the war. I thoroughly enjoyed the history lesson.

Movie Review: A Nice Piece of Work
Summary: 4 Stars

The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in the Pacific. As such, the results of that battle affect us still today. Though most people would seldom ever even think of it that way, some of us do and a program like this one helps us to better identify with the events and their aftermath.

The actual subject of this program is an expedition by Dr. Robert Ballard of TITANIC fame. He leads an expedition to find the carriers that were sunk in the battle of Midway. He is particularly interested in the YORKTOWN of the US Navy and the KAGA of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The search for these ships is interesting enough in its own right but this program adds another level of interest. Four survivors from the battle, 2 American and 2 Japanese, are along for the ride. Throughout the program, these men offer their memories and reflections. This is interspersed with period footage. The effect is a quite good documentary about the battle of Midway with a marine archeological expedition thrown in for good measure.

The search for the ships is not without is own difficulties. The locations of the wrecks were not certain. The depth, over three miles, caused problems with the search equipment. This program helps to demonstrate how difficult finding a marine wreck can be. The results are not a foregone conclusion.

Write your own review

Summary of National Geographic Video - The Battle for Midway [VHS]

One thousand miles from anywhere lies a lonely outpost of coral and sea called Midway. It was here in 1942 where the U.S. and Japan fought one of the greatest naval battles of World War II that changed the course of history. And it is here again where Titanic discoverer Dr. Robert Ballard now leads a team of experts and four World War II veterans on the voyage of their lives. They're on a race against time to do the impossible: find at least one of the five downed aircraft carriers, including U.S.S. Yorktown, more than three miles underwater. Hear the heart-wrenching stories of four remarkable men and how each survived the war despite incredible odds. And join them as they pay their final respects to their fallen comrades in THE BATTLE FOR MIDWAY.

The man who found the Titanic, Dr. Robert Ballard, took on the greatest technical challenge of his career when he traveled to the Pacific waters off Midway Island, site of a critical turning point of World War II, in search of the sunken aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown. This documentary not only details Ballard's challenge in finding the Yorktown, which rests three miles below the surface, a mile deeper than the Titanic, but also provides an intelligent and gripping narrative of the Battle of Midway, in which four Japanese carriers were also sent to the bottom in a furious day of fighting that turned the tide of the war in the Pacific. On the expedition with Ballard are four veterans, two Japanese and two Americans, who had been involved in the decisive 1942 battle, and who are at times overwhelmed by emotion as Ballard looks for their old ships. The dogged search for a Japanese carrier is fruitless, but finally Ballard finds a debris field that leads him to the Yorktown. Ballard's remarkable underwater cameras scan the great carrier, which rests upright on the ocean floor, its antiaircraft guns still pointed skyward as if to ward off yet another furious Japanese attack. As one might expect from a National Geographic production, this documentary is both intelligently conceived and beautifully photographed. --Robert J. McNamara

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