Battle Of Midway Research Paper

1397 Words6 Pages
One of the most important battles during World War II (WWII) occurred six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. At this point, the Japanese armies controlled Southeast Asia, the East Indies, and the Philippines. The war was fought on land, at sea, and in the air. The turning point came in June 1942 at the Battle of Midway. The U.S. annihilated hundreds of Japanese planes to gain control of the pacific. The four day battle was fought between aircraft based on huge aircraft carriers (www.solpass.org). The Battle of Midway proved to be one of the most impressive and decisive blows in naval history. Japan had not lost a naval battle in almost 80 years (Parshall and Tully, 2005). The Plan The overall plan for both the U.S. and Japan was to pull in the enemy’s aircraft carries into a battle with their own key naval force and sink them. This would, without a doubt, cut out the threat of the enemy’s Navy, and the winner…show more content…
Nagumo didn’t have the slightest idea that the American carriers were already nearby. The aircraft were detected by RADAR, making the Americans launch their fighters out of Midway to engage the aircraft. The Americans didn’t have enough fighters, therefore, Midway was bombed for 20 consecutive minutes. The Japanese aircraft were targeting power plants and oil installations. 15 American fighters were shot down and there was significant damage, but the runway at Midway was still functional and hardly damaged at all (www.historylearningcite.co.uk). The Americans then launched dive bombers and torpedo bombers to attack the Japanese carriers from a distance of about 300 kilometers. The Japanese defense was formidable. They were able to shoot down most of the bombers, and the bombers had zero hits on the Japanese

More about Battle Of Midway Research Paper

Open Document