The turning point of the Pacific war was the .?

Answer 1

While many advance the proposition that the Battle of Midway was the high-water mark (and thus, the turning point) for the Japanese, there are several key battles in 1942 which each contribute uniquely to the change of Japanese fortune.

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7) obviously severely hurt the Japanese Navy, costing them about 25% of their total carrier forces. However, it was even more critical in that it cost them almost half of their remaining experienced flight crews and trained carrier deck crews. The Japanese flight crew training system was never able to produce sufficient numbers of new pilots (less than 500 per year), and the loss of so many existing veteran crews hampered Japanese operations even more than the loss of the carriers. Midway forced the Japanese Navy over onto the defensive.

The Kokoda Track campaign (July to November) in eastern New Guinea was another major change in Japanese fortunes, and a very significant strategic defeat. Not well noted in WW2 History classes, the Kokoda Track was a fight for control of Port Morseby, and, by proxy, a fight for control of Australia. Defeated here in the hideous jungle terrain of New Guinea by a poorly-equipped, insufficiently-trained Australian reservist force meant that Japan was unable to stop the resupply of Australia by US forces, and that Australia itself remained available for use as a giant staging grounds for Allied attacks on the southern sections of the Japanese Empire. The Kokoda Track campaign victory is of similar importance to the Pacific war as the Battle of Britain was to the European Theater.

Finally, the various land and naval battles around Guadacanal (the beginnings of the Solomon Islands campaign) from August 1942 to Feburary 1943 provide the third leg of the Allied effort to turn the Pacific war against Japan. Guadacanal vindicated the "southern route" choice of counter-invasion planning by the US, and also showed that the US could win an island-hopping style of invasion. The various naval battles around Guadacanal (including the Battle of Santa Cruz) were extremely costly to the Japanese Navy; while quite costly to the Allied navies, the Allied ships and men were replaceable, while the Japanese losses weren't.

Combined, these land and sea battles forced the Japanese to turn from an expansionist, aggressive strategic posture to one of protection, reaction, and defense.