The Battle of Midway

The Island of Midway is a part of the Hawaiian Islands chain and sits approximately 3000 miles from the West Coast of the United States, 1140 nautical miles
from Pearl Harbor, Oahu and 2250 miles from Tokyo, Japan. This small atoll in the
Pacific had been a very uninviting place, with no industry, no worthy natural resources
and no native inhabitants. Only a few trees and small amounts of vegetation could be found on both small islands that make up Midway. Being in the middle of the Pacific, however, it was an extremely strategic location, for the U.S. Pacific forces and was a very significant location in later defeating the Japanese in a battle after the attack at Pearl Harbor left the United States’s navy devastated. Pearl Harbor left Japan possessing superiority over the American Navy and the entire Pacific. Before the battle at Midway, the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. The battle at Midway on June 4th, 1942 turned the t...