Midway matters less as a valuable permanent base than as leverage for forcing the US Navy to fight. American political and strategic pressure to retake the island would make its surviving carriers approach on a route the Japanese could anticipate. Land-based reconnaissance could provide warning while submarines and other forces attrited the counterattack. The scheme would reverse the historical battle by using Midway to draw the Americans into an ambush instead of allowing the Americans to ambush the Japanese.
Notable Point · 31:42-33:06
A Japanese-held Midway could become a decisive-battle trap
Capturing Midway could force the United States into a costly counterattack while Japanese aircraft and submarines waited around the island.