The American Nation A History of the United States, Combined Volume (14th Edition)

The Naval War in the Pacific 725

soldiers and military equipment took precedence over
any other objective. Thus, when American journalists
entered the camps with the advancing troops, saw the
heaps of still-unburied corpses, and talked with the
emaciated survivors, their reports caused a storm of
protest in America.

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The Naval War in the Pacific

Defeating Germany first had not meant abandoning

the Pacific region entirely to the Japanese. While

armies were being trained and matériel accumulated

for the European struggle, much of the available

American strength was diverted to maintaining vital

communications in East Asia and preventing further

Japanese expansion.

The navy’s aircraft carriers had escaped destruction

at Pearl Harbor, a stroke of immense good fortune

because, without most tacticians realizing it, the air-

plane had revolutionized naval warfare. Commanders

discovered that carrier-based planes were far more

effective against warships than the heaviest naval

artillery because of their greater range and more con-

centrated firepower. Battleships made excellent gun

platforms from which to pound shore installations and

support land operations, but against other vessels air-

craft were of prime importance.

This truth was demonstrated in May 1942 in the

Battle of the Coral Sea. Having captured an empire in

a few months without the loss of any warship larger

than a destroyer, the Japanese believed the war

already won. This led them to overextend themselves.

The Coral Sea lies northeast of Australia and south

of New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Japanese

Table 27.1Turning Points of the War in Europe

Summer 1942 British bombing of German cities

brings war home to Germany

November 1942 U.S./British invasion of North Africa,

defeat of Rommel

February 1943 Germans turned back at Stalingrad,

beginning of German retreat from

Soviet Union

July 1943 U.S./British invasion of Sicily

June 1944 D-Day: U.S./British invasion of north-

ern France

January 1945 Battle of the Bulge: Last-ditch German

offensive defeated

May 8, 1945 Germany surrenders

Midway, a tiny Pacific island, mattered only because of its airfield. The Japanese sent a naval task force to invade the island, but in June 1942 U.S.
warplanes sank several of the Japanese aircraft carriers accompanying the invasion force. With air cover gone, Japan called off the invasion.
Midway marked a turning point in the war in the Pacific.