What was the Battle of Midway?

Answer 1

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) was an important turning point in World War II. The Japanese sent a majority of their navy towards Midway island, which was being used by the US as an airfield. It was fought by aircraft launched from aircraft carriers. Four Japanese fleet carriers were lost along with their crew. The US lost the carrier Yorktown. In the end, the Japanese had to turn back their fleets after losing vital air superiority.

More precisely, the Battle of Midway was one part of the Imperial Japanese Navy's planned eastern Pacific campaign for 1941. The overall goal of the Midway battle for the IJN was to draw out the remaining US naval forces and annihilate them, using the temporary superiority of the IJN to insure success. Capture of Midway Atoll would also provide support for harassment and possible capture of the Hawaiian Islands by the Japanese.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the US Navy was able to break several of their secret communications codes, and was able to learn of the Japanese battle plan. Able to hurriedly repair the USS Yorktown (which the Japanese thought would remain in the repair yard for at least another month), the US was able to scrape together a force of 3 carriers to the IJN's 4 carriers. While the battle would be fought with the balance of forces favoring the Japanese, the US was able to commit considerably more to the fight than the Japanese estimated.

While superior knowledge of the enemy's battle plan provided a considerable advantage for the US, the actual battle was heavily determined by luck. Several questionable decisions on the part of the Americans turned out to be the correct thing to do, and conversely, several debatable decisions of the Japanese turned out to be the wrong choice.

In the end, though a combination of good planning, aggressive leadership, and good luck, the US won a decisive victory, trading 1 carrier and 1 destroyer for 4 carriers and 1 heavy cruiser. Another decisive factor in favor of the Americans was that while most of the downed US aircrews were recovered by rescue planes, almost all of the lost Japanese aircrews were drowned. These highly experienced and effective aircrews were never to really be replaced by the IJN - in fact, the loss of aircrew at Midway was almost 1/3 of the entire IJN's available aircrews.

The Battle of Midway is seen as the "high water mark" of the Japanese expansion in WW2 - from then on, the Japanese were on the defensive, and would only lose territory.

The Battle of Midway, fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific. Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. By their attack, the Japanese had planned to capture Midway to use as an advance base, as well as to entrap and destroy the US Pacific Fleet. Because of communication intelligence successes, the US Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces, sinking the four Japanese carriers, that had attacked Pearl Harbor only six months before, while only losing of one carrier. After Midway, the Americans and their Allies took the offensive in the Pacific.