Pacific Fleet. Combined Fleet. Second Sino-Japanese War. Pacific Fleet near Midway Atoll , about 1, mi 1, nmi; 2, km northwest of Oahu. Yamamoto had intended to capture Midway and lure out and destroy the Pacific Fleet, especially the U. Before the battle, Japan desired to extend its Pacific defense perimeter, especially after the Doolittle air raid of Tokyo in April , and to clear the seas for attacks on Midway, Fiji , Samoa , and Hawaii. A related Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands began one day earlier, on 3 June.
On 4 June, the Japanese began bombing Midway and prepared to wait for the Pacific Fleet to arrive from Pearl Harbor to defend the island. Unknown to Yamamoto, U. Land-based planes from Midway and carrier-based planes from the U. Japan also lost 3, men, including many well-trained and difficult-to-replace pilots. The U. The Battle of Midway, along with the Guadalcanal campaign , is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War. After Midway and the attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign , Japan's ability to replace its losses in materiel and trained men became rapidly insufficient, while the U.
Historian John Keegan called the battle "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare ", [ 8 ] while historian Craig Symonds called it "one of the most consequential naval engagements in world history, ranking alongside Salamis , Trafalgar , and Tsushima Strait , as both tactically decisive and strategically influential.
After expanding the war in the Pacific to include western colonies, the Japanese Empire quickly attained its initial strategic goals of British Hong Kong , the Philippines , British Malaya , Singapore , and the Dutch East Indies , the latter of whose oil resources were particularly important to Japan. Because of this, preliminary planning for the second phase of operations commenced as early as January The raid, while militarily insignificant, was a shock to the Japanese and highlighted a gap in the defenses around the Japanese home islands as well as the vulnerability of Japanese territory to American bombers.
This, and other successful hit-and-run raids by American carriers in the South Pacific, showed that they were still a threat, although seemingly reluctant to be drawn into all-out battle. However, considering the increased strength of American land-based airpower on the Hawaiian Islands since the 7 December attack, he judged that it was too risky to attack Pearl Harbor directly. Instead, Yamamoto selected Midway , a tiny atoll at the extreme northwest end of the Hawaiian Island chain, approximately 1, mi 1, nmi; 2, km from Oahu.
