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The battle of midway summary
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The battle of midway summary
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The Significance of The Battle of Midway
On June 4th, a legendary battle took pace over the pacific sea. The battle of midway was the turning for America in World War 2. The air attacks of Japan and America would continue for many days. America won the battle and took out half of Japans carriers. It battle was a great victory for America, considering the fact that japan had much greater forces. This battle was the start of America taking control of the war over the pacific. This battle took place six months after japans first strike a Pearl Harbor. Many histories say this was the greatest air battle of all time. America not only proved that numbers didn’t matter, but showed that only leaders with clear eyes and soldiers with heart can win a battle of any size.
Even before the battle started, America saw his attack coming. Japan had bombed the Dutch harbor in Alaska on the days of June 3rd and 4th. Japan landed there instead of on the islands of Attu and Kiska, in fear the United States might be there. There attacks failed when the plan to get the American fleet from Midway to aid the freshly bombed Dutch harbor. At 0900 hours an American patrol boat spotted the Japanese fleet seven hundred miles from Midway. At that point admiral Soroku Yamamoto’s plans of a sneak attack were over. Admiral fletcher commanded the U.S.S. Yorktown before it was sunk by the Japanese. Then at 0750, japan spots nine enemy (American) planes fifteen miles out. Tones, a Japanese cruiser, opened fire on the American pilots. Almost instantly if an American bomber plane were hit it would explode and go down. The bombers dropped their torpedoes to far from their targets, so the torpedoes didn’t land a single blow to Japan. At 1040 japan sent from Hiryu,...
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Bicheno, Hugh. Midway. London: Orion Publishing Group, 2001 (reprints Cassell 2001 edition)
Blair Jr., Clay (1975). Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott. p. 1072.
Buell, Thomas B. (1987). The Quiet Warrior: a Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 518. ISBN 0-87021-562-0.
Cressman, Robert J.; et al. (1990). "A Glorious page in our history", Adm. Chester Nimitz, 1942: the Battle of Midway, 4–6 June 1942. Missoula, Mont.: Pictorial Histories Pub. Co.ISBN 0-929521-40-4.
Dull, Paul S. (1978). A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1941–1945). US Naval Institute Press.
Evans, David; Peattie, Mark R. (1997). Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887–1941. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-192-7.
In May of 1942, Japanese Admiral Isorosku Yamamoto devised a plan to draw the US Pacific fleet into battle where he could completely destroy it. To accomplish this master plan of his, he sought out the invasion of Midway Island which would provide a base for the Japan troops to attack Hawaii. Unfortunately for Yamamoto, America decrypted Japanese radio transmissions and Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to establish a counter attack against this offensive. Nimitz sent three aircraft carriers, The USS Enterprise, The USS Hornet and The USS Yorktown to destroy the Japanese. This is just a short overview of The Battle of Midway, or as commonly referred to as, the battle that changed the war. People argue that it had no affect on the war, but those critics couldn’t be farther from the truth. The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war because it fully enters America into the war, it kicked off the Pacific Campaign, and it had Japan on the defensive, thus preventing them from helping The Axis Forces.
Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi. Racing the enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the surrender of Japan. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005.
After a quick examination of the recurring theme of Japanese military arrogance, I will argue that the three most compelling strategies that the Japanese could have pursued in the spring of 1942 were, one – to consolidate the most important resource gains that were already made; two – commence immediate planning for a strong anti-submarine warfare campaign; and three – coordinate significant operations with Japan’s Axis partners, particularly in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia theaters of conflict.
This paper will compare Gordon W. Prange's book "At Dawn We Slept - The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" with the film "Tora! Tora! Tora!" directed by Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, and Toshio Masuda. While the film provides little background to the attack, its focal point is on the Pearl Harbor assault and the inquiry of why it was not prevented, or at least foreseen in adequate time to decrease damage. Prange's book examines the assault on Pearl Harbor from both the Japanese and American viewpoints to gain a global view of the situation and the vast provision undertaken by Japanese intelligence. The film and book present the Japanese side, the American side, the events that lead up to the attack, and the aftermath.
Gailey, Harry. The War in the Pacific: From Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. Novato: Presidio, 1995.
General Hideki Tojo was the Premiere of Japan. He and other Japanese leaders did not like the fact that Americans were sending war supplies to China and other countries in Asia. A surprise attack was ordered by Japan on December 7, 1941. The target was the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. 360 planes bombed the naval base killing about 3,000 people and destroying many warships, aircraft carriers, and submarines. This was a catalyst that brought the United States into World War II.
Zimm, Alan D. Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions / Alan D. Zimm ; Graphics by Matt Baughman. Philadelphia, [Pa.: Casemate, 2011. Print.
On December 7th 1941, Japanese Planes and submarines attacked the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor. This event singlehandedly brought the U.S from its then neutral stance in World War Two to a fighting member of the “Allied Powers.” Pearl Harbor was the first of a long series of confrontations between the U.S and the Japanese in an effort to gain control of the Pacific. Unlike the “War in Europe” the Pacific strategy was dominated by naval and aerial battles, with the occasional land-based “Island Hopping” Campaign. As such, one of the most important factors in the war in the pacific was Fleet Size, the more ships a country could send to war, the better. Pearl Harbor was the Japanese’s way of trying to deal with the massive U.S Pacific fleet. However, Pearl Harbor was not the turning point of the war. After December 7th the United States began work on numerous technological developments which would ultimately help them in one of the most important battles of WWII, the largest naval confrontation of the war, The Battle of Midway. The battle, which took place from June 4th to June 7th , 1942 is widely considered the turning point of the Pacific Theater (James & Wells). Through the Post-Pearl Harbor desire for “Revenge” and various technological advantages including code breaking and radar, the U.S were able to outsmart the Japanese at Midway and ultimately win the battle, eventually leading to a victory in the Pacific.
Throughout the attacks Sailors and Airman, from the entire island of Hawaii, immediately was on alert. As the bombs, bullets, and torpedoes began to drop impacting vessels in the harbor, Soldiers of the American armed forces began to battle back. As the vessels and aircraft began to fight, the Japanese began to fight harder. It was eminent that Japanese fighter pilots had no plan on returning from this mission, for the aircraft soon began to shoot from the sky and set their point of impact on vessels. Along with numerous 550-pound general-purpose bombs, one of the most detrimental acts during this time was to our battle ships by the Japanese, was the 1,800-pound weapon that dropped from the clouds directly hitting one of the now famous American ships below, the USS Arizona.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Battle of Iwo Jima or Operation Detachment, the events that caused the battle and the after effects it had on the United States. The Battle of Iwo Jima was one of the most major battles of WWII of 1945. Although, during WWII many battles were fought this was one of the most important because, American invasion had the goal of capturing the entire island including its three airfields, to provide a staging area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. It was the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of War World II. The battles itself was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the Mount Suribachi by five U.S. Marines and one U.S. Navy battlefield Hospital Corpsman.
Lawson, Robert L., and Barrett Tillman. U.S. Navy Air Combat: 1939-1946. Osceola, WI: MBI Pub., 2000. Print.
Marston, Daniel. The Pacific War Companion From Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima. Oxford: Osprey, 2007. .
The Battle of Midway came about when the Japanese wished to extend their Pacific control, broaching the idea to initiate a battle against the U.S. Navy. After the Japanese success at Pearl Harbor and their success coming to a standstill at Coral Sea one month earlier, Japanese commander, Admiral Yamamoto, had belief that it was necessary to hold a full battle at Midway as a deciding engagement. He thought that the Japanese had an increased chance of success, being that the U.S. had a certain disadvantage, only having two carriers since they had sunk U.S.S. Yorktown at Coral Sea, compared to the Japanese's 6 carriers, but the ship had been repaired. He also wanted to get revenge for the Doolittle Raid, an air attack on Tokyo performed by U.S. forces. To receive the Pacific gain Yamamoto so desired, he wanted to first attract a large portion of the U.S. fleet away from Midway, where they would attack, bringing the American Navy a fatal surprise. Yamamoto attempted to pull this idea through by launching an attack on the Alaskan Coast to drag the Americans North, then proceeding to attack on Midway. The Alaskan trap was just a waste of resources, the submarines sent to attack the U.S. were too late, the U.S. already knew of their plans. To the Japanese's surprise, U.S. forces were awaiting the Japanese arrival on June 4, 1942. Yamamoto had to con...
On June 21, all the loose ends were tied up, and America had won Okinawa. Okinawa was needed by the Allies to attack mainland Japan. After obtaining it, Okinawa would be used as a staging ground for the attack. The several airfields that were on it made it vital if Japan were to be conquered. Before the troops landed on the island, 13,000 rounds were fired at it.
Japan surrendered in several places from September 7th to September 16th. Works Cited O’Neill, William L. World War II Student Companion. 1 ed. of the book. William H. Chafe, b. 1875.