Decisive 20th Century Battles

The Pacific 1942: The Battle of Midway

While the Second World War raged in Europe, the same year as the iconic Stalingrad saw another decisive victory for the Allies, but this time on and above the Pacific Ocean. The Battle of Midway was a decisive naval battle that that spelled the beginning of the end of Japan's dreams of empire in the Far East.

True enough the Japanese had inflicted a crippling blow on the US Pacific Fleet with its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor but they failed in destroying the American aircraft carriers, who had escaped the attack unscathed.

Seizing the opportunity, the Americans launched a vast counter strike, which took the form of a battle that raged from the 4th to the 7th of June. Even though the opposing ships never came in sight of each other, for four days Japanese and American carriers hurled bombers and fighters at each other.

Victory came when the Americans successfully defeated a Japanese attack against Midway Atoll. The US lost one aircraft carrier and one destroyer, but she destroyed four Japanese carriers and a heavy cruiser.

The battle was a decisive victory for the Americans. It permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy and although both nations sustained losses in the battle, Japan was industrially outstripped by America and was unable to rebuild its naval forces, giving the American Navy the opportunity to take the initiative in the Pacific and go on the offensive.