The+Battle+of+Midway

The Japanese Empire had reached its peak. It controlled the oil rich lands of the Dutch East Indies and were ready to finish off New Guinea and invade Australia, a key Allied base in the Pacific theater.However, this dream of invasion was postponed indefinitely because of 2 factors: te determined British resistance in New Guinea and the Battle of the Coral Sea. During that battle 2 Japanese carriers, Shukaku and Zuikaku, faced off against two US carriers, the Lexington and the Yorktown. The result: 1 US carrier, the Lexington was sunk and the other Yorktown was severly damaged. However, the Japanese also took catastophic losses. One carrier, Shukaku, was extremely heavily damaged and had to limp back to Japan to be repaired. The other carrier, Zuikaku, lost most of its air crew, meaning that it was more or less useless in combat and had to wait for new replacements. This crippled the Japanese carrier force and postponed all major operations. However, Yamamoto, the Commander in Chief of the Navy of Japan, wanted to continue with his plans. He wanted to take the strategic island of Midway. MIdway, as its name suggests, is approximately halfway between the Japanese Isles and Hawaii. Yamamoto's ambition was to take Midway and destroy the American carrier force once and for all. Orignally, he had planned the operation to have 6 carriers, Akagi, the flag ship, Kaga, Hiryu, Siryu, Shukaku, and Zuikaku. However, the last two carriers as mentioned before, were seriously crippled during the battle of the Coral Sea and could not take part in this key struggle. Anyway, the plan Yamamoto had went as such: He would send 2 submarine screens ahead to check for enemy presence and report this to High Command. Then, the carrier groups would start an attack on the island, thus drawing out the American carriers to engage the enemy. Then, the 4 carriers, Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu, were to engage with their aircraft and bombardment vessels and wipe out the American carrier force. After that, they would maul Midway Island more and launch an amphibious attack on the island as the final knockout blow. Another part of Yamamoto's plan was in the north, He would have a secondary force start an offensive in the Aleutian islands, thus further tying the American carrier group's hands. Now, they not only had to deal with the threat to Midway, they also had to worry about losing the key Aleutian Islands, which could act as a springboard into Alaska and beyond. However, Yamamoto's strategy was ruined because of a few factors. First, the submarines used in the screens were obsolete models, thus they arrived at the observation point late and the American carrier group was already past the point. Also, because of inclement weather conditions, the groups meant for the Aleutian Islands arrived late, meaning that Yamamoto could not achieve the effect he had hoped for. Anyway, the carriers meant for Midway rode to their target and battered Midway Island with wave after wave of planes. However, the Japanese were unprepared when reports came in of enemy carrier based aircraft coming in. Therefore, they hastily scrambled aircraft to meet the attack. However, during this messy period, the Japanese had forgot to put away the bombs in their cases. For this reason, it was a very dangerous place aboard the carrier and would later cause the disintegration of the Japanese fighting force. Going on, the Americans had decided to counteratack the Japanese by sending in land based and carrier based planes. Obviously, the land aircraft arrived first. These aircraft consisted mostly of B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, most likely fitted with the Norton bomb sight. However, even with the help of the sight, the bombers did not even scratch the Japanese carriers. Next, the American torpedo planes from Enterprise, Hornet, and the newly renovated Yorktown arrived. These were slaughtered by the Japanese Mitsubishi Zeros (commonly referred to as Zekes) who were diving down on their opponents. However, the carrier planes found success in their dive bomber attacks. The reason these succeded was because the Japanese fighter planes had went to engage the low flying torpedo planes, leaving the skies at high-altitudes free for flying. Thus, the dive bombers attack in force and destroyed the Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Siryu in a matter of hours. Hiryu, the last carrier of the once great Japanese Navy was destroyed the next day. However, the Japanese were not the only ones who suffered casualties. The veteran carrier Yorktown was destroyed by the planes launched by Hiryu, a sort of revenge motion. Anyway, this was a stunning victory on the part of the United States as it not only blunted the metal of the Japanese Navy, but it also took their dreams of Pacific domination. This is why Midway is known to be the turning point in the Pacific War.