1942 – Battle of Midway

When learning about World War II, most people usually know details (at least some) of the European theatre. Not much is known about the Pacific or African theatre. I will admit that if I had more time, I would cover the African theatre more in depth, but I feel that the Pacific theatre has more of an impact on Americans. Cuz let’s face it, do we even really care about the African theatre? Or do we just care about what it matters and how it affects us, Americans. I figured.
Anyways, the Battle of Midway is probably the most important battle in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. I am excluding the dropping of the bombs because one, we’ll get to that later, and two, that pretty much ended the war. Now… the Battle of Midway is important for the sole reason that the United States was able to push Japan into a defensive stance on the war. After this battle, they would no longer be on the offensive. This is pretty important because the Japanese would no longer push further east to the United States in the war.

The Battle of Midway last three days, June 4th to June 7th. The United States would also permanently cripple the Japanese Navy (Remember, this was pretty much a naval battle). 307 Americans were killed to the approximate 2000 Japanese that were killed. 4 carriers, 1 cruiser, and 248 carrier aircraft were destroyed for the Japanese. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot but for the time and the area of the battle, it really is.

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Because the Battle of Midway was such a major turning point in the war, many movies and video games have been made or include the Battle of Midway. Such movies include “Storm Over the Pacific” and “Tora, Tora, Tora”. Games made about the Battle of Midway include “1943: Battle of Midway” and some various board games too.

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