In
addition to boosting the
morale of Americans citizens, the
Doolittle raid had a significant
impact on the course of the
War in the Pacific. At the time of the
raid, the Japanese Naval
General Staff and the Combined
Fleet were engaged in a fierce
debate over what Japan's
next move should be. The General Staff members were in favor of
capturing more of
New Guinea and obtaining additional footholds in the
Solomons and in
New Caledonia; the Japanese could then use these positions to menace
Australia. On the other hand, Admiral
Yamamoto, Commander of the Combined Fleet, argued that a
strategic victory over the
United States was more important than further territorial gains, and he spoke in favor of forcing a
showdown with the American
carriers by attacking
Midway Island, the key defensive island for
Hawaii; Yamamoto believed that the Americans would be forced to
defend the island, and that Japan, with its numerically superior
carrier fleet, would then force America out of the
Pacific.
This debate was still raging at the time of the Doolittle raid. The attack came as quite a shock to the Japanese military leaders, and while the American bombs did little important damage to Tokyo, the ability of the Americans to attack the Japanese capital was a threat to Japan's emperor - a man revered by the Japanese as a god. Midway Island was the hole in the Japanese defensive perimeter through which Hornet was able to get close enough to Tokyo to launch its bombers, and so the Doolittle raid quickly ended the debate in the Japanese military. No Japanese general could countenance a plan that would leave open this hole in the Japanese defense, since doing so would imply a lack of concern for the safety of the emperor, and so the decision to attack Midway Island was quickly reached. Midway would be the turning point in the war for the Americans; their victory over the Japanese would start them on the path to winning the war.