Decisive Days

Early June saw a conspicuous number decisive events during World War Two. The Battle of Midway transpired over June 4-6, 1942. It's easy for us in the later generations to forget just how vitally important, both strategically and morale-wise, this victory was for the Americans. At the time, the US Pacific Fleet was still reeling from the Pearl Harbor attack, the evacuation of the Philippines and the fall of Corregidor, and the stalemate at the Battle of the Coral Sea, where the aircraft carrier Lexington was sunk. However, with miracle code-breaking efforts from Naval Intelligence, the Americans learned of the impending Japanese invasion of Midway. The early warning allowed the US carriers Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown to surprise the Japanese fleet. American planes destroyed all four of the Japanese carriers (Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu, and Soryu) present at the battle, which represented a loss of over half of the Rising Sun's carrier strength. Just consider, 6 months after Pearl Harbor, the Americans had gained the advantage in the Pacific with a single battle. The totality of the campaign is striking and full of amazing feats, on both sides. For instance, the Yorktown was only able to participate in the battle due to the unbelievable efforts of the dock yard repair crews, who returned the carrier to fighting trim in just 72 hours after she limped into Pearl Harbor following crippling damage at Coral Sea. Yorktown was not so lucky a second time, however, and she sank from significant bomb and torpedo damage at Midway. Remind me to tell you about a gentleman I know who is a veteran of the battle.

Ballista highly recommends the 1976 film Midway starring Charlton Heston, Glenn Ford, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Pat Morita (Mr. Miagi) and many more famous faces. It's a very accurate portrayal of the events before and during the campaign.

Of course, June 6, 1944 was D-Day, Operation Overlord, the Invasion of Normandy by Allied forces. Ballista will leave it to others to comment on what has been appropriately called the Longest Day.