WW2 Wake Island question?

Question

For those who believe that we had broken the Japanese military code before Pearl Harbor, why then did we allow Wake Island to fall? Wake Island, along with Midway and Hawaii were considered strategic defense points in the pacific by the US. So what’s the reason to allow Wake Island to fall?

If we knew what the Japanese military was doing we could have stopped the Japanese navy from invading the island while inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese fleet. Germany had already declared war on us so the main reason for ‘allowing’ the attack to occur was over. We had an opportunity to outnumber the Japanese navy (3 carriers against 2) but sent only one carrier, which took its time.

Yes, I know we had broken the diplomatic code, but some say we had broken the military code as well. If that had been the case then we could have surprised the Japanese navy at Wake. And Wake Island was consider important to the defense of the US!

What I've been asking is for those who believe the US had broken the military code and were reading it realtime, we had a great oppotunity to strke back, in force, against an unaware Japanese fleet.

Personally I know the timelines, studied Pearl Harbor and the Pacific war for 25+ years. But I've read and debated with too many who keep saying we had broken the code. If so why didn't we use it to our advantage?

Answer 1

First of all we were still hurt from Pearl Harbor and The US Pacific fleet was not going to be worth anything in a open confrontation with the Japanese Navy. We could not lose a single ship.The Island of Wake was attack the day after Pearl Harbor on Dec 8 1941. The Pacific Fleet sent a resupply fleet to the Island Base ,but turned away after the commander of Wake sent a message saying, "Wake Island under attack, Condition In doubt." Meaning he did not know if the island was going to be held. The Admiral, The same one that commanded the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, called his ships back including a carrier full of replacement planes for Wake's Airfield after receiving the message. The call doomed the Island because their was no need to save a Island that by the time they got their was lost to them and risk being attacked and lose ships and men by the Japanese.

Wake was a strategic Island more of the Japs then the US It was a good Fighter base but not for BIG HEAVY BOMBERS. The US used Wake as a test Island for their new planes and Essex class carriers. The island was the only US-held Island that was not retaken by the Americans but was given back after the surrender of the Japanese. The island was also closer to Japan then it was to the islands of Hawaii and the United States. The Island was also like Midway. You have to supply almost everything even the freash water. Wake was a weak poistion If all you have to do is surrond the island and make them surrender through the need for water.

Also We did not brake JN25, The Japanese Naval Code in time for Wake. Before Midway we could only read about 10% to 15% of the code. Not a good amount of info to go on. We had to bait the Japanese to tell us what AF ( MIdway) was.

Battles on the high seas are not about Destroying the enemy but keeping your fleet operational and create a good amount of damage to the enemy fleet. (live on and fight another day, Same as Nimitz's plan in early WWII.)

***Add On***

IF the Ameicans were to have broken the Naval code, we would have sent are bombers and the carrier Enterprise's planes to take out the Japanese carrier's while their planes were off attcking Pearl Harbor. No carriers to land on, a lot of lost airmen. The same thing that happoned at Midway.We would have WAY earlier signaled to all of the US bases in the Pacific to be on guard for Japanese Invasions.

Second of all all of the US defense plans in the Pacific were lost after the fleet was put out of action. Most of the plans were to hold the line untill the Pacific fleet came up with reinforcements. NO PACIFIC FLEET, NO CALVERY TO THE RESCUE.

Answer 2

The problem with this question is two-fold. First, we had broken the Japanese Diplomatic code, and not their military code. This was called PURPLE. There was no hint of the pearl harbor, wake island, or phillipines attacks in any of these diplomatic messages. Second, the firepower we had available to fight the japanese was alarmingly low after pearl. We were surprised, and in the process lost the majority of the effective fighting force we had in the Pacific. For us to risk one of our last ships(carrier) against an unknown navy task group would be foolish. If we had lost that carrier, then we would be vulnerable to a japanese invasion, as we had no sailors or ships to protect the coast against the japanese. For us to regroup and assess our losses was more important than wake, and this is proven through the war as we never took back wake island throughout the war. It's funny, we didn't even care about wake, we just ignored wake and embargoed it throughout the war...

**Edited to add**
If you believe that we had broken the code, why didn't we intercept their fleet and blow them out of the water while they were on their way to Pearl? Why should we wait until they hit us in pearl, and then decide to attack them at wake, especially after most of our fleet was not operational? Going on beyond that, why did we not warn Gen MacArthur in the phillipines that they were going to be under attack by so many ships, etc.? The same goes for Guam. If we had truly broken their code, pearl would never have happened the way it did(IMO)...

Answer 3

We need to get the time line straight here.

Wake Atoll was taken by a numerically superior Japanese force on Dec. 23, 1941, some 16 days after Pearl Harbor. At the time there were only four U. S. combat aircraft at Wake. The Battle of Wake Island began simultaneously with the Attack on Pearl Harbor and ended on December 23, 1941, with the surrender of the American forces to the Japanese. It is well known that the Japanese naval codes were not broken until May of 1942. The Japanese diplomatic codes were broken earllier. The infamous thirteen-part communication from Tokyo to their American ambassador was decoded and read by the U. S. even before the Japanese embassy could decode it.

On December 9, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt made a radio address to the nation that is seldom mentioned in the history books. It accused Hitler of urging Japan to attack the United States. “We know that Germany and Japan are conducting their military and naval operations with a joint plan,” Roosevelt declared. “Germany and Italy consider themselves at war with the United States without even bothering about a formal declaration.” This was anything but the case, and Roosevelt knew it. He was trying to bait Hitler into declaring war, or, failing that, persuade the American people to support an American declaration of war on the two European fascist powers.

The mood of the American people prior to WWII was isolationism, and FDR always held the opposite view. Churchill, on the other hand, was already fighting the war and England was suffering from the ineffective appeasement tactics tried on Germany earlier.

Considering the fact that Wake was part and parcel of the plan to attack Pearl Harbor, don't you think a better question would be, "Did FDR fail in his duty to protect the U. S. from all enemies, both foreign and domestic?"

In my opinion, war at that time was inevetable, and history tells us that war should be laid squarely on Japan and Germany.

Answer 4

After the famous

Send More Japs message, perhaps the military did not think it was necessary.

However logistically, supplying Wake would have been too much considering that defence of the home country was more important. Wake could be re-taken.

Despite what you may think, the Japanese Navy was very capable. Placing US ships in their path, when Hawaii and Midway were equally vulnerable?

Wars are wone by Logistics and not throwing your forces away on lost causes.

Luck

Answer 5

Dr. Vince is sturdy. Given the long distances between land plenty contained in the Pacific, the Allies necessary to guard islands for logistic purposes as properly as to envision touchdown strips for long selection bombers to pass after the eastern mainland. In almost each island invasion (Guadalcanal, New Guinea, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, et al.) the airstrip grow to be between the, if no longer the, widespread purpose. Many eastern strongholds, even although, have been by using-handed and left to "wither on the vine" (Truk, between others). As for why the U. S. did no longer have a huge showdown contained in the North Pacific, properly, halfway grow to be especially on the factor of that, and served the comparable purpose. After halfway, it wasn't till the conflict of the Leyte Gulf whilst the two navies had yet another significant league conflict. contained meanwhile, numerous tactical conflicts handed off, yet no longer something so decisive as to effectively end the naval conflict.

Answer 6

Ask FDR after you die and see him in the afterlife