Battle Of Midway Essay

Why was the battle of Midway so crucial? On the 4th of June in 1942 started the victorious win of the Americans that was soon to begin World War II! It was quite an amazing battle because the Japanese should have won, but the Americans out smarted them, hacking naval codes, being ready, and being where they needed to be at the right time. The Americans took down the Japanese keeping control of Midway. The battle of Midway between the Americans and the Japanese was the most decisive naval battle in history it was the turning point because it brought the Americans into the forefront of the war that eventually helped defeat Hitler.

On the Japanese side of intelligence, Yamamoto believed to have the element of surprise at Midway, which was thought to draw the Americans out of Pearl Harbor. Yamamoto had numerical naval superiority in the Pacific to defeat the Americans at sea but remained unaware that the code breakers ascertained its operational and strategic plan to attack at Midway. Spector argues that Japanese submarines knew the American forces were planning something at Pearl Harbor, but the intelligence was never passed on to Yamamoto. Additionally, Yamamoto believed that two of the American carriers were sunk at Coral Sea, which the Yorktown was hastily being repaired in Pearl Harbor. In reality, the Japanese had no idea where the American fleet or carriers were leading up to the Battle of Midway.

Last and biggest of the Pacific island battles of World War II, the Okinawa campaign (April 1—June 22, 1945) involved the 287,000 troops of the U.S. Tenth Army against 130,000 soldiers of the Japanese Thirty-second Army. At stake were air bases vital to the projected invasion of Japan ("Battle of Okinawa," 1996). The Battle of Okinawa remembered more for its iconic photograph of US Marines raising the US flag on Okinawa more so than any other war or battle ever fought. Okinawa the largest of the Ryukus islands played a major role in the American forces overall strategic efforts to advance to the mainland’s of Japan. Because it was the last major battle of WWII, the battle of Okinawa used lessons learned and TTP’s from all previous

Just after midnight on June 4th,1942, the United States attacked a fleet of Japanese transport ships. One American torpedo plane took out fleet tanker "Akabono Maru". Later that morning at about 6:30am, Japanese planes began bombing midway island installations, though causing minimal damage to the U.S. naval

Returning to their aircraft carriers to refuel and rearm the Japanese bombers noticed the U.S. fleet and prepared for their attack. Sent from the aircraft carriers were Devastator Torpedo Bombers and Dauntless Dive Bombers. The first to attack were the Torpedo Bombers, flying low to the sea the Japanese were able to defend their ship’s with ease. The Japanese destroyed 35 Torpedo Bombers, only 6 made it to their target destination which was one of the four Japanese aircraft carriers, but to their surprise none of their torpedo’s hit the intended target. Although the Torpedo Bombers did not hit their target their sacrifice was not in vain. High above the Dauntless Dive Bombers were closing in on their targets without any resistance. With just enough cloud coverage the Dive Bombers were able to approach their targets with ease. Within the first day the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu, were hit, set ablaze, and abandoned (). According to ..: Over the next two days, the US Navy and US forces on Midway continued their attacks, forcing the Japanese to abandon the battle and retreat to Japan. The Japanese lost approximately 4,800 men, four carriers, one cruiser, and hundreds of aircraft, while the United States lost approximately 307 men, one carrier, one destroyer, and over 100 aircraft.

……….The Battle of Midway was one of the most important battles of World War II. It was the turning point of the war in the Pacific between the United States and Japan. One of Japan’s main goals during WWII was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. The Japanese formulated a plan to sneak up on the U.S. forces. However, American code breakers had intercepted a number of Japanese transmissions.

Yamamoto had a complex invasion plan that included a second operation against the Aleutian Islands near Alaska, however, because of the damages sustained at the Battle of Coral Sea, his Carrier Strike Force consisted of only four aircraft carriers defended by only a handful of cruisers and destroyers (“HIGH NOON ON THE HIGH SEAS”). Even with the depleted fleet, the Japanese remained confident that the upcoming battle would be a swift victory for their advancement into the Pacific. Little did the Japanese know that U.S Intelligence was hard at work gathering intel to thwart an offensive on Midway.

Japan’s wanted to attack Midway to gain power in the Pacific Ocean and to eliminate the United States Navy for a long time. Since the U.S. suffered a major defeat at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, felt he could take advantage of the U.S. since they were weak in his mind (Hone). Japan was fixated on settling their differences with the U.S., so they began risking large naval units in Pacific battles. An article posted in the Los Angeles Time, “Japs Risk Large Naval Units in Blows at U.S.” says, “For the sixth time in six months Japan made a deadly bid to capture the mastery of the Pacific, and for the sixth time she has failed after paying a price that is fast becoming prohibitive,” (Symonds). Posted just after the Battle of Midway it showed that the Japanese had been planning this.

The Japanese lost twenty nine aircraft, sixty four men, mostly aircrew, and five miniature submarines. Another point of the Japanese strategy was to destroy the Pacific Fleet, which was a Pacific Ocean theater level component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to the United States Pacific Command. It carried aircrafts and was able to command from its base. “By 1900 the U.S. Navy had grown from twelfth to third largest in the world... In 1908 it began building a naval base at Pearl Harbor (Heineman 9)”

The U.S. Navy and Marines also began planning for an operation on Guadalcanal against the Japanese. As Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance, one of the Navy’s carrier task force commanders at Midway, put it after the battle of Midway, “We had not been defeated by these superior Japanese forces. Midway to us at the time meant that here is where we start from, here is where we really jump off in a hard, bitter war against the Japanese.” These keywords emphasized the true meaning to the Battle of Midway, “… here is where we start from…” Midway, then, was a turning point in the ally war effort, but the leaders of Japan and Germany ready to just give in to the ally forces.

More important, however, was Yamamoto's belief that the Americans had been demoralized by their frequent defeats during the preceding six months. Yamamoto felt deception would be required to lure the U.S. fleet into a fatally compromised situation.[16] To this end, he dispersed his forces so that their full extent (particularly his battleships) would be unlikely to be discovered by the Americans prior to battle. However, his

Some of the bloodiest fight of World War II came in the Pacific. Much of that fighting came at the Battle of Guadalcanal. A remote island in the Solomons Island chain, Guadalcanal was not thought of as important, prior to 1942. For several reasons, Guadalcanal was the most significant battle of the war in the Pacific. The Battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive the United States took in World War II. Because of its location, Guadalcanal pushed back the Japanese defensive ring, and put the U.S. in an aggressive mindset. As an intangible factor, the victory at Guadalcanal provided a much needed morale boost to U.S. servicemen, who had not had a decisive triumph against the Japanese. Most importantly, the U.S. gained control of an important airstrip on Guadalcanal that the Japanese had been trying to utilize.

Japan was running low on resources, and they looked toward Southeast Asian colonies. Americans knew about the plans Japan had for Asia. The United States decoded one of Japan’s secret messages. The United States though if Japan took over European Colonies it could also threaten the United States controlled areas. We sent troops over to China so we could strengthen the resistance against Japan. Japan’s leader Isoroku Yamamoto decided to attack the fleet in Hawaii because they felt threatened by it. In the morning of December 7, 1941 the bombs were dropped on Pearl Harbor by Japanese bombers. Pearl harbor is the headquarters for the United States Pacific Fleet. This attack was a total surprise. No one knew on this day that bombs would

reach, carrier based aircraft could reach the mainland. However, the bombers in the raid did not have enough fuel to return, and were forced to land in China. The raid had a significant impact on the outcome of the war because it baited the Japanese to counterattack, which led to the disastrous Battle of Midway. After the successful attack naval commanders began to see the aircraft carrier as a valuable weapon, and began to use them more. The strategy of long distance strikes developed from the raid would later be used by both sides during the Battles of Midway and the Coral Sea.

Dubbed the largest battle between aircraft carriers, the World War two, Battle of the Philippine Sea was also the most lopsided modern naval victory ever. Like shooting fish in a barrel or a sitting duck the United States forces easily shot Japanese planes out of the sky and sunk their ships. The object of the battle was control of the Mariana Islands. The Japanese who had initiated the fight with us were strategically using the islands in the Philippine Sea as a defense for their homeland. The United States however also had a vested interest in these islands as they would help us project our forces into reaching distance of Japan. Though the Japanese had the upper hand in the Battle of the Philippines, the United States was able to