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THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY 127

Sōryū sunk

Akagi scuttled

Kaga sunk

7:10 am 10:15 am

10:25 am

5 pm

6:30 pm

12 pm

2:40 pm Yorktown

torpedoed

US Task

Force 16

Hiryū

scuttled

Japanese 1st Carrier
Striking Force

9:28 am

9:45 am

US Task

Force 17

Midway

Atoll

P A C I F I C

O

C

E

A

N

After their attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese waged war for

months in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Their advance was only

stemmed in May 1942 at the Battle of the Coral Sea (see pp.124–125),

when they failed to seize Port Moresby. Alarmed by an American

bombing raid on their cities, the Japanese decided to launch an

attack on Midway—an island halfway across the Pacific. By mid-

1942 the atoll was the most westerly US base in the central Pacific,

and Japanese planners recognized its value as a fueling station

for US vessels and aircraft.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Japanese

Combined Fleet, argued that Japan’s defensive perimeter should be

pushed eastward by capturing Midway and US islands in the western

Aleutians. His plan involved luring part of the US fleet northward

with an attack in the Aleutians, then attacking Midway from the

north-west and south-west with three groups. He reasoned that this

would draw out the US carrier fleet to be destroyed, but the US fleet

knew of this plan, because code breaker Joseph Rochefort had

cracked the Japanese cipher, JN-25. As Yamamoto had predicted, the

encounter at Midway was decisive, but not in the way he had hoped:

the battle marked the end of Japanese dominance in the Pacific.

THE BATTLE

OF MIDWAY

In June 1942, the Japanese sought to neutralize US

power in the Pacific by challenging the US in what

they hoped would be a decisive naval engagement

at Midway Atoll in the westernmost part of the

Hawaiian archipelago.

△ Modeling the action

This diorama by American designer Norman Bel Geddes depicts

a scene from the Battle of Midway, with the damaged Japanese

ship Akagi in the foreground.

JAPAN’S PLAN UNFOLDS

Admiral Yamamoto’s plan involved multiple

groups of Japanese forces. The 2nd Carrier

Striking Force was tasked with the northern

attack on the Aleutian Islands and a raid against

Dutch Harbor; troops landed on Attu and Kiska

islands. Meanwhile, the 1st Carrier Striking

Force attacked Midway from the north-west,

while an Occupation Force closed in from

the south-west. Admiral Chester Nimitz,

commander-in-chief of the US Navy in the

Pacific, aware that the real target was Midway,

deployed two task forces to defend the atoll.

KEY

Jun 4 Yorktown is

hit by bombs.

Jun 6 Yorktown, now

under tow, is hit by

a torpedo from a

Japanese submarine and

sinks the following day.

Japanese fleets

Carrier-launched air attack

US fleets

Air raid

Japanese territory

Sea of

Japan

(East Sea)

Bering

Sea

JA

P

A

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Sa

kh

al

in

Ku

ri

le

I^

s

la

n

d

s

P A C

I F

O C E I C

A

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U

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Kamchatka

Task

Force 16

Task

Force 17

2nd Carrier

Striking Force

Jun 3–4, 1942

Dutch Harbor

1st Carrier Striking Force

Fleet Main Body

Occupation Force

Occupation Force

Attu

Iwo Jima

Mariana Islands

Hawaiian

Islands

Midway

Atoll

Saipan

Guam

Kiska A

leu

tia

n^ I

sla

nd

s

6:20 am Jun 4

Japanese carrier

aircraft bomb

US naval base on

Midway Atoll.

US_126-127_Battle_of_Midway.indd 127 22/03/19 2:39 PM