The Battle of Midway

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• 1. Decisive battle
• 2. Starting point
• 3. American lack of strength
• 4. Tactics
• 5. Japanese wrong-footed
• 6. American attack
• 7. Tide of war turns
• 8. Find out more
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Decisive battle

At 10.26am on 4 June 1942 the course of World War Two in the Pacific changed utterly. At that moment 37 Douglas Dauntless bombers from the USS Enterprise peeled off into a dive attack on two Japanese aircraft carriers. Within minutes both ships were ablaze, their death throes punctuated by the explosion of fuel lines, badly stowed ordnance and aircraft petrol tanks. Within six hours the other two carriers in their fleet had also been destroyed.

The force that had dominated the Pacific for six months was in ruins, extinguishing the hopes of an empire. Midway was that rarest of engagements - a truly decisive battle.

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