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This raid was carried out by the same Task Force that raided Pearl Harbour, Ceylon, and the Indian coast. By the time of that first raid, headquarters in Japan and the top commanders at sea and in the field, had already begun cutting back on their plans. Viz. Restricting themselves to capturing the whole island of New Guinea, which would have allowed them to interdict supplies from the USA to Australia. But they failed at that task. Taking Australia, or at least its North, which had been in their plans, as an 'if necessary,' was by early 1942 dropped, at IJN insistence. The vast bulk of their army stayed in China and Manchuria until 1945. Where the Russians whipped them, in a few weeks. They caught 'victory disease' in China, well before WWII began in Europe. They - their two services commands - didn't know they had the disease - until Midway, after the first raids on Darwin. But even then the crews returning to Japan, and the soldiers in the Pacific were threatened / cajoled - Kempei Tai? - not to tell their folks back home what had happened at Coral Sea and Midway. People either don't know, or forget, that two* large carriers went back to Japan as a result of the battle of the Coral Sea, one because its aircrew were dead, the other because it was so badly damaged. That battle was not quite a draw. Yorktown was patched up in time for Midway. Several RAN ships were at the Coral Sea battle. Further? The cryptanalysis that allowed the USN's 3 carriers to ambush the IJN's 4 carriers at Midway (but not 6*)? It was a joint, allied achievement. Australia's Army cryptanalysis team and its RAN spooks played a critical role, along with Friedman's team at Pearl. I've studied the history of this back in the 1970s, on an army course, to learn the lessons,(procedural, tactical and strategic). And, since as more and more has been revealed. LBNL my FILaw Prof. J.T. Laird was directly involved.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
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