The battle of Midway
On a June day in 1942, Japanese warships steamed toward the tiny island
of Midway in the Pacific Ocean. Japan and the United States were at war.
Midway was an important American base. Whoever controlled it controlled
a large part of the Pacific Ocean.
The Japanese intended to capture Midway in a surprise attack. They were
sure that the American fleet would try to recapture the island. Then the
Japanese, who had many more ships, would destroy the American fleet and
win the war.
But the Americans had some surprises of their own. True, they were badly
outnumbered. The Japanese had four aircraft carriers and more than forty
other ships. The Americans had three carriers and twenty-two other
ships. But this was two more carriers than the Japanese thought they
had.
The biggest surprise of all was that the Americans had figured out the
Japanese secret code! They knew how many ships the Japanese had and
exactly where they were. So the Americans were ready to spring a
surprise attack of their own.
Early on the morning of June 4, more than one hundred planes from
Japanese aircraft carriers roared over Midway, dropping bombs. The
battle had begun!
A short time later, planes from the American carriers took off to search
for the Japanese ships. The first to find them were forty-one planes
armed with torpedoes. Flying low over the water, straight at the
Japanese carriers, they launched their torpedoes. All
but six of the planes were shot down, without doing any damage.
But then, three squadrons of American dive bombers found the Japanese
carriers. They came shrieking down from high in the sky. Their bombs
hit three of the Japanese carriers, causing them to burst into flames.But in the meantime, planes from the fourth Japanese carrier found one
of the American carriers. They hit it with three bombs and two
torpedoes. The carrier was so badly damaged its crew had to abandon
it.After going back to refuel and get more bombs for their planes, the
Americans took off after the last Japanese carrier. When they found
it, they hit it with four bombs. Like the American carrier, it was so
badly damaged its crew had to leave it.The Americans had lost one carrier and many planes. But the Japanese
had lost all their carriers and all their planes. Without planes, they
couldn’t protect their other ships from the American dive bombers. The
Japanese admiral ordered his ships to turn back to Japan. The battle
was over, and Japan had lost.The Americans had won control of the sea. And, in time, this would
help them to win the war against Japan.
