I have always been interested in world history, but nothing enticed me more than Pearl Harbor. It was always a hard concept to grasp when learning about the event, at first; I was always wondering how the United States could be so vulnerable and defeated. Learning about pearl harbor in history classes and lectures always made me as emotional as going over the 9/11 attacks in class growing up. So, I decided to further look into the USA’s response to this attack, which was the Battle of Midway- a new event I was unaware of, and was excited to research further than our notes in lectures. I discovered that this battle was not only a revenge plot, but was also incredibly advantageable for us during the war.
The battle of midway was one of the most important battles in the war of the pacific between Japan and the United States. This battle took place outside Midway Island to the west of Hawaii under the command of Chester W. Nimitz for the USA and Isoroku Yamamoto for Japan. This battle was coming to terms because Japan wanted to obliterate what was left of the United States fleet after Hawaii. Yamamoto Isoroku, the admiral for Japan, selected a large force for this endeavor, including multiple carriers and other heavy personnel. The orders were simple: to engage the American navy and destroy it beyond repair, and then invade the island and take control. One of the keys to this battle was that before it took place, the Americans were able to break the Japanese naval code, which was a huge breakthrough for the Americans as it could determine what the Japanese were doing and why, and it made it possible to intercept them. So, America sent three heavy aircraft carriers to cut off Yamamoto. The significance of the placement of midway was that it was a stop for any navy that controlled it, and if Japan seized control, it could be a jumping-off point to launch attacks on American cities. Also, it was important because Midway was an airbase as well and the key to the Americans launching a campaign in the pacific, and being so close to Hawaii, it was a staging base for the US.
The battle began on June 4th when American planes attacked Japanese transport ships (Dean, 2018). There was significant damage done to the transport ship, and the next morning the Japanese launched a counterattack early around 0630 consisting of bombers, torpedo planes, and fighter planes- not to attack the US fleet, but to attack midway island. The attack didn’t create any significant damage to the island as the US attempted to launch planes to counter the Japanese with little results. Then, between 0930 and 1030 that same day the Americans launched torpedo bombers from their carriers to attack the Japanese carriers. The American planes (although almost destroyed) did what they were supposed to do and distract the Japanese. The whole point was to distract the Japanese so that other bombers could attack other carriers. This worked as Japan’s carriers, the Akagi and Kaga, were damaged and out of commission. More American bombers were able to destroy another Japanese carrier, the Soryu. Next, an American torpedo boat attempted to strike, but the attack failed as no bombers were able to explode the targets. Later that same day Japan tried to launch more attacks to turn the tide of the battle by launching more dive bombers and suicide bombers from one of the only active remaining carriers, and this worked for Japan as it was able to disable an American carrier.
This attack was completed for a second time soon after making that American carrier uninhabitable and made the crew abandon it. Next, the Americans tried to finish the battle by creating a counter attack at 1700 as American dive bombers were sent to obliterate what was left of the carrier Hiryu. This was completed by the Americans, and soon after Admiral Yamamoto made the decision to end the hostility and retreat. The battle was not totally over at this point in time, as there was still air attacks being commenced by both sides as more US bombers were sent out to seek and destroy any Japanese vessels that could be found. The air force was able to sink the Mikuma and damage other ships such as the Arashio and Asashio as well as the Mogami. The US navy also lost a couple small ships in the end.
The Battle of Midway was extremely important to the pacific and to the US Navy as a win was needed so soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japan was on a warpath after destroying most opposition in the Pacific Ocean, and at the moment was unstoppable. The point of Midway for the Japanese was to hopefully disintegrate the remaining US forces that were stationed at midway with the large force at the Japanese disposal. Commander Yamamoto wanted to attack this Island because after Pearl Harbor, he thought that any remaining ships would be stationed there primed for an ambush (Hone, 2013). But instead of the Island being unprotected, Yammamoto was met with large navy forces from Hawaii.
The reason this was such a large victory for the States was that the damage done during the battle was very limited as only one carrier was lost. This helped the US in its plans after winning the battle to create offensive campaigns with more than three carriers, such as when the US attacked Guadalcanal a few months later. The other significant part was that since the Japanese had been unblemished in their attempts at staging war across the world, losing the battle stopped the progress being made and forced japan to retreat, which is what japan would end up doing the rest of the war. The war was in America’s control as japan had to react to what the US did and could not launch offensives as it was too busy defending the rest of the war. One of the final reasons Midway was so significant was because the whole war would have changed with a devastating US loss. An article by Tom Hone (2013) discusses at the time what was going on in the world. The Allies were in freefall at this time because Germany, Japan, and Italy were winning. Hitler had led Germany to winning offensives against the Soviets and it seemed that the soviets were going to continue to lose to the German forces which could cause a loss in resources. Meanwhile, the Germans were also driving through North Africa with the Italians which was severely threatening the Suez Canal passage (Hone, 2013). After Hawaii, the United States Navy was severely damaged and at the time was thought to not have a fighting chance against the Japanese who also were currently destroying the British fleet around India. This led to no competition to the Japanese in the Indian or Pacific oceans, and the Japanese were a threat to meet the German fleet and totally cut off the allies from each other. The author Hone discussed how if the Japanese and Germans were able to complete a blockade of ally forces, then the soviets would receive no aid and all colonies from the middle east south to Africa would be in contention to revolt or join the axis powers. This is an important part of the article as if this happened then the Soviets could have given up and just signed a treaty with Germany and the whole eastern theatre would have ended because most likely china would have done the same with Japan as both these countries supplies would have been depleted or totally cut off. The other important aspect is if India was cut off from Britain then India could have been under other countries control and India was the “jewel” in Britain’s crown. All of this would have led to Japan and Germany to focus all attention on the United states and Britain. So of course, the Japanese had to be stopped and their naval fleet had to be hurt in some way and that is why Midway was so important to history and to the war as everything could have changed.
Winning Midway let the allies focus their battle plans on stopping Hitler in Germany and was able to help focus efforts on north Africa and Normandy as well. Then Guadalcanal began taking shape and the war for America was just beginning after midway. Midway wasn’t an end to a war or an end to conflict in that area as it wasn’t even necessarily a win in general as America faced a tough test from japan all across the pacific, but japan was never that close to America again after that day.