Planning for War: Elite Staff Officers in the Imperial Japanese Army and the Road to World War II

[exboyfil]

2. It was shown in Midway the 2019 movie

but I remember reading about the Japanese war gaming prior to setting a trap for the US at Midway. One Jr. officer positioned the US aircraft carriers outside the picket of subs the Japanese had employed. With this advantage he got a favorable roll and knocked out three Japanese carriers. The war games, instead of adjusting for the contingency, decided it was not probable and thus an illegal move.

Knocking the carriers out is pretty much what happened as the US knew because of Magic that it was a Japanese trap. They also had one more carrier than the Japanese expected (the Yorktown which had been repaired). The Japanese were unable to get two more carriers into the fight because they were still being repaired.