On April 18, 1942, 16 B-25 bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, 1,200 kilometers away from Tokyo, flew to Chinese mainland landing after a long one-way bombing of the Japanese mainland. The physical damage effect of this bombing was actually very small, but the morale of Japan was extremely great, Tokyo was bombed, Tojo Hideki was frightened and prepared to kill himself, of course, the emperor could not care about letting him cut his abdomen, hurriedly convened a meeting of the imperial court, discussed what to do, without any suspense, approved Yamamoto's battle plan, occupied Midway, and eliminated the aircraft carrier force of the US Pacific Fleet.
From June 5 to 7, 1942, the Combined Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Fleet fought a decisive battle at Midway in the Pacific, but the combined fleet was defeated, losing four aircraft carriers Akagi, Kaga, Wyvern, and Soryu, three heavy cruisers, and 285 carrier-based aircraft. You know, warships and aircraft can be rebuilt, but good pilots and naval crew commanders are not so easy. The U.S. lost only the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown and a destroyer.
From the very beginning, the U.S. military had deciphered the Japanese JN-25 code, and accurately located the AF that appeared frequently in the Japanese cables to refer to Midway Island, and the U.S. military commander Nimitz was waiting in a tight position. His combat objective was simple: to capture the combined fleet and strike.
The Combined Fleet, on the other hand, was tasked with twofold task: to capture Midway and then strike the Pacific Fleet. And I don't understand, japan is so confident that the main force of the US navy will come after the Japanese army has captured Midway, I don't know if it is looking for a half-cent, and the commanders of the Japanese army will stiffly believe this sentence. There was no radar, and when the reconnaissance planes visually spotted the aircraft carrier formation of the Pacific Fleet, the whole army fell into chaos.
The stiffness of the Japanese commander, especially in the commander of the First Mobile Unit, Lieutenant General Tadaichi Minamimo, at this time would reject the suggestion of Major General Tatsumi Yamaguchi, the commander of the Second Air Force, who was killed in battle the next day, and must insist that the only way to attack the ship could be a ship bomb. Yamaguchi, on the other hand, advocated that he could not move if he could hit the enemy ship. This lost the most precious time, and the ammunition depot was in disarray, the bombs were everywhere, and the ship was completely sunk under a single attack by the Americans.
The stiffness of the Japanese army is also reflected in the estimation of the combat effectiveness of the US army. The Japanese understood Americans as little more than Hollywood movies and ice cream, a mess of loose sand, a country of personal advocacy. The Navy is slightly better than the Army, but it only stays on industrial capabilities, and it is not estimated that the Americans will also fight hard. The aircraft carrier Yorktown was badly damaged in the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7, and the Japanese estimated that they would have to return to the west coast of the mainland to repair it for a few months, but they did not expect that the Yorktown only spent 72 hours in the dry dock in Hawaii to patch up, load repair workers, and repair as they walked and rushed to Midway. Although it eventually sank to the bottom of the sea, without the third aircraft carrier that made the Japanese remember to dream of nightmares to this day, the outcome of the battle would probably be reversed.
Here is a black humor, in fact, the results of the sinking of the Akagi aircraft carrier have come out long before the battle during the sea chart exercises conducted by the Japanese Navy. At this time, the naval staff officers not only did not try to find a way to remedy it, but on the contrary, they thought that it was impossible, which was to overestimate the capabilities of the US military and actually turn the results of the exercise upside down! You say it's good to have people say something...
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War, after which Japan was no longer able to launch a large-scale active offensive, coupled with the imminent outbreak of American national power, japan had actually lost the gamble in the Pacific.