WI Wake Is. was reinforced?

[Riain]

My vague knowledge of Wake Is was that an initial landing was repulsed by shore guns. A relief was assembled, with a 2 carrier TF and reinforcements/weapons/ammo, but was called off in controversial circumstances the day before Wake surrendered. But WI the relief had gone ahead? Follwing the USN's talent for tactical defeats and strategic victories in the earliest months of WW2 the TF would have probably fared worse than the IJN but the relief itself would have been successful. Would Wake be a dagger pointed at the heart of the Japanese empire? Would the Japanese have pushed on to isolate Australia if Wake had held, or would they throw similar resources into its capture as were thrown at Midway later in '42? Would a 3rd Battle of Wake Is. go like Midway did?

[Markus]

My vague knowledge of Wake Is was that an initial landing was repulsed by shore guns. A relief was assembled, with a 2 carrier TF and reinforcements/weapons/ammo, but was called off in controversial circumstances the day before Wake surrendered. But WI the relief had gone ahead? Follwing the USN's talent for tactical defeats and strategic victories in the earliest months of WW2 the TF would have probably fared worse than the IJN but the relief itself would have been successful. Would Wake be a dagger pointed at the heart of the Japanese empire? Would the Japanese have pushed on to isolate Australia if Wake had held, or would they throw similar resources into its capture as were thrown at Midway later in '42? Would a 3rd Battle of Wake Is. go like Midway did?

Here is a very detailed articel about the whole story of Wake:
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USMC/USMC-M-Wake.html

To sum things up: The relief force had two CVs, but they were not operating together. Lex was waaay south to attack Japanese airbases, but could not do it because the Japanese had extended their perimeter and Sara had an under strength air wing. When reports came in about two to four Japanese CVs operating somewhere west of Wake, Hawaii recalled the task force.
Actually there were just(!) two enemy CVs abut they were superior enough to destroy the entire TF given the circumstances.
Militarily Wake was not that valuable, after all the US never tried to retake it, but if you somehow can get the reinforcements in –realistically before the two Japanese CVs arrive- Wake is safe from an invasion. Mainly because the Japanese amphibious doctrine sucked donkey balls! Following that you likely see carrier battles like Coral Sea and Midway fought near Wake. Perhabs with the same outcome, perhabs not.

[LightInfa]

IIRC, even without the reinforcements, the Wake Island garrison had repulsed Japanese assaults on one of the islands making up Wake Island, but because communications on the island were poor, the commanders did not know about local successes and surrendered the island.

So maybe the orginal Wake Island garrison is able to repulse the second Japanese assault?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

So maybe the orginal Wake Island garrison is able to repulse the second Japanese assault?

Even if that happened, there'd just be a third assault. Unfortunately, without a relief convoy, they're pretty much doomed.

[Riain]

I think a lot of the time these sorts of events hinge on very small combat actions, and timings are measured in mornings or afternoons. So, WI instead of 60% of the Wildcat sqn being lost in the 1st raid it was only 30%, and the subsequent success of the sqn were increased 50-100%? Maybe that would throw the Japanese timings out by a day, and swing the decision to pushing the reinforcement through. As for the military value of Wake, it may not have been enough to justify retaking it in the circumstances of OTL WW2, but if it was held I think it would be considered useful enough. It's successful defence might shift the focus of the war in 1942-3 from the SWPac to the Central Pac.