On 4 June 1942, the Battle of Midway was fought between the United States under Frank Fletcher and Raymond A. Spruance against the Japanese under Isoroku Yamamoto and Chuichi Nagumo during the Second World War.
Why did it happen?
On 7 December 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii to cripple the US Navy so that it could not interfere with Japan’s conquest of Southeast Asia. The following day, Britain and the United States declared war on Japan, and Japanese forces overran Southeast Asia between 8 December 1941 and 6 May 1942, taking the Allies by surprise. By June 1942, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto decided to advance Japan’s defensive perimeter in the Pacific and draw the US fleet into battle. The plan was a joint attack on the Aleutian Islands in the north and Midway Island, occupied by a US naval base. However, US intelligence used codebreakers to reveal the Japanese strategy, and subsequently, Admiral Chester Nimitz chose to ignore the attack on the Aleutian Islands and focus instead on the defence of Midway.
Who was involved?
The US forces at Midway numbered 26 warships and 321 aircraft. The US fleet comprised 3 aircraft carriers (Enterprise, Hornet and Yorktown), 8 cruisers and 15 destroyers. In addition, 194 aircraft were stationed on the three aircraft carriers, while 127 aircraft were based on Midway Island. The US plan at Midway was to defend Midway Island and concentrate their attacks on disabling Japan’s aircraft carriers. The Japanese forces at Midway numbered 20 warships and 275 aircraft. The Japanese fleet comprised 4 aircraft carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Soryu and Hiryu), 9 battleships, and 7 cruisers. The Japanese plan at Midway was to draw the US Pacific Fleet into a decisive battle in which the Japanese believed they could win.
What happened?
At 4.30am on 4 June, 100 Japanese aircraft launched an attack on Midway Island’s US base. In turn, US aircraft on Midway Island attacked the Japanese fleet, only to be repulsed with the loss of 17 aircraft. As the Japanese aircraft rearmed and refuelled on their carriers, aircraft from all three US carriers attacked the Japanese fleet. Three Japanese aircraft carriers were hit and later sank with heavy loss of life. The Japanese reacted by counterattacking with aircraft from their remaining aircraft carrier. The US aircraft carrier Yorktown was hit several times but remained afloat until it was hit and sunk two days later by a torpedo. US aircraft then attacked the last of the Japanese aircraft carriers, Hiryu, which was set ablaze and sunk the following morning. With all four Japanese aircraft carriers disabled, Admiral Yamamoto ordered a withdrawal with a cruiser sunk by American aircraft as the Japanese fleet withdrew. Throughout the battle, US losses numbered 307 killed, 2 warships sunk, and 151 aircraft lost, with Japanese casualties numbering 2,500 killed, 5 warships sunk, and 225 aircraft lost.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Midway was a decisive US victory. On 5 June, Admiral Yamamoto called off the operation and withdrew eastwards with what remained of his navy while being harassed by US aircraft. As stated by R.G. Grant, “Midway was a catastrophe for the Japanese navy, causing irreparable damage to its proud carrier fleet and costing the lives of irreplaceable experienced naval pilots” (Grant, 2011, p.834). With the Japanese defeat at Midway, the balance of power in the Pacific shifted to the United States, who went on the offensive by taking Japanese-held islands one by one until it reached Okinawa in 1945. With the loss of their aircraft carriers, Japanese pilots increasingly resorted to kamikaze attacks on US warships, beginning at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. Despite being pushed onto the defensive, Japan continued to fight against the US until the use of nuclear weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 forced the Japanese to surrender, bringing the Second World War to an end.
Bibliography
Grant, R.G. 1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History. London, Cassell Illustrated, 2011.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Grant, R.G. Battle At Sea: 3,000 Years of Naval Warfare. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 2008.
Harwood, Jeremy. Atlas of History’s Greatest Military Victories. London, Quantum Publishing, 2013.
Swanston, Malcolm & Swanston, Alexander. History of Air Warfare. London, Amber Books, 2019.
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