Just a niggling thought. In my readings of the build up to Midway, I’ve seen it cited that the code-crackers had the Japanese plan basically understood, but they didn’t know if the primary target, “AF,” was Midway or the Aleutians.
So, they had Midway send an uncoded message indicating that their desalinization plant was down, and they needed replacement parts. Supposedly this resulted in the Japanese generating radio traffic to the effect that the Midway invasion task force needed to take on fresh water equipment, as “AF” had reported problems.
Aha! Mystery solved. The code-crackers now knew that Midway was the target, and we went on to win the war.
But having just recently watched footage of the attempted invasion, and, thinking generally about sustaining troops on a Pacific island, it seems to me that a prudent commander would have thought: a.) I don’t know what the heck all of the Americans’ facilities my pilots or naval artillery might destroy during the course of an invasion and b.) fresh water’s going to be pretty damn important out on this little speck of land.
So I would think that the Japanese invasion force would have already been prepared to supply fresh water independently of American facilities. What am I missing in appreciating this little gem of intelligence maneuvering?