Midway

THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY

Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan aimed to secure total dominance of the Pacific by attacking the Midway Atoll on June 4, 1942. This would extend its territory and also force the remaining US Fleet Carries that escaped Pearl Harbor, to defend Midway, where they could be destroyed by the might of the Japanese fleet. .
However, U.S. codebreakers and intelligence had learned of the attack and Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet sent a large force under to the Midway area before the Japanese arrived. Commanded by Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher, the U.S. Naval Force was able to strategically position its carriers along with land-based aircraft to stage a brilliant ambush of the Japanese fleet.

After four days of ferocious fighting, including attacks by US Navy and USMC Dive bombers, all four of Japan’s fleet carriers in the battle – Akagi, Kaga, Sōryū, and Hiryū – had been sunk, with the loss of 3000 men.

The Battle of Midway has been described as “the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare”. Japan suffered such a crushing defeat, that Midway is universally recognized as the major turning point in the course of the War in the Pacific, shifting strategic power towards the US.

Followed by he Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands campaigns, Japan struggled to replace its losses in material and trained men, while the United States’ massive industrial and training capabilities only increased as the war went on.