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40 Fascinating But Lesser Known Facts About WWII

Khalid Elhassan January 5, 2019 25 min

World War II - European theatre of World War II — Raising the Red Banner over the Reichstag. Anarkismo

Damage sustained by USS Yorktown amidship at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Hokele

9. The Japanese Underestimated American Strength at Midway

Making things worse for the Japanese, the US Navy had more available carriers in the Pacific than expected. They knew that one carrier, the USS Yorktown, had sustained severe damage in the Battle of the Coral Sea, and fixing her was expected to take months. However, the Yorktown was rushed back into service and steamed off to Midway after only 48 hours of hurried repairs. In addition, another American carrier had been transferred from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As a result, the Japanese would face three American carriers, and an alert enemy waiting in ambush, rather than one or two carriers and a foe caught off guard.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.