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Hi All,

I always thought that it was impossible for the United States to have lost World War II due to its potential for titantic production of war materials. In other words, there were times when, had things not gone our way, the outcome of the war would have been delayed only. Examples of this is the Battle of Midway and the Invasion of Normandy.

I recently read something to the contrary which I share here with regard to the Battle of Midway.

Prior to the Battle of Midway, the Japanese Imperial Navy was significantly superior to that of the United States. All things being equal, victory should have been Japan's. The decoding of the Japanese Naval messages alerted us to the time and place of the planned attack and enabled us to be there unbeknownst to the Japanese. Thus, all things were no longer equal.

Admiral Nimitz took a tremendous gamble going into this battle even with the knowledge that he had but he really had no choice. Something needed to be done to stop the Japanese and this was the only game in town. Had he not moved as he did, the Japanese would only have consolidated their very strong position further.

The very troubling "what if" that I read was "What if the United States had lost this battle?". It's troubling because it was a real possiblity and it seems that we came perilously close to losing. We could have lost three carriers without the Japanese losing any.

Had this happened, a respected author who I cannot remember but probably will shortly, stated that the Japanese would have consolidated their gains and the sum total of the production capabilities of the axis would then have been significantly greater than ours. We would have lost the war.

My understanding of losing this war is that the Japanese would have had total control of the western Pacific and Hitler would have won the Battle of the Atlantic, and eventually Britain would have succumbed. We would have continued as we were but would have been isolated.

Please comment.

Thank you,

Bob Guercio
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