Hello everyone, and thank you once again for listening to the saga of World War II,

Akassas Belly project.

In this episode, we returned to the Pacific for the two great carrier battles of the early

war, the Coral Sea and Midway.

This episode has been a lot of fun for me to research and write.

Unlike land doctrine and tactics, which I already have a pretty solid grasp on,

I didn't really know much about carrier tactics or naval doctrine,

so I ended up getting really into carrier doctrine and tactics in this episode,

and use it as a sort of vignette to examine how large-scale theory

can determine the outcome of tactical engagements.

This episode begins another run of Pacific-themed episodes.

After this, we will discuss

the Aleutian Islands campaign, then shift our focus down to Guadalcanal. After wrapping

on at least the early part of Guadalcanal, we go back to Europe and North Africa and cover

Second El Alamein and we're almost big defeat there. From there, we go to Operation Torch

and finally wrap 1942.

But that's still a little ways down the road.

Right now I think we should begin episode 25, Yamamoto's Gambit.

Ah, have been astonished.

That Japan should in a single day have plunged into war against the United States

and the British Empire.

What kind of a people do they think we are?

...