Today in history: The Battle of Midway

From 4th-7th June 1942, US and Japanese naval forces engaged in what one authority has called "the most stunning and decisive blow in the history of naval warfare". It was fought over and around Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, and would bear its name thenceforth as the Battle of Midway.

The events of the battle are well-known, and may be read in a vast number of books, articles and the like, so I won't repeat them here. (See the Wikipedia article on the battle for a good introduction, with many links to other sources.) It can rightfully be described as the 'turning of the tide' in the Pacific war. Prior to the Battle of Midway, Japan had never known defeat in battle against the US and its allies. After Midway, she never again knew victory.

Midway ranks among the greatest 'game-changing' battles of World War II, alongside the Marianas Campaign, the Liberation of the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific War; the 1944-45 Burma Campaign in South-East Asia; Stalingrad, Kursk and Operation Bagration on the Russian front; the second Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch in North Africa; and Operation Overlord and the Battle of the Bulge in Western Europe.

We would do well to remember this great victory won by our forefathers. It's one of the major reasons why we're free today. They paid the price of our freedom with their blood.

Peter