Call+for+Strict+Radio+Silence

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**__Strict Radio Silence__ **

**ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO** CALLED FOR A COMPLETE RADIO SILENCE SO THE U.S. WOULD NOT FIGURE OUT THE PLAN TO TAKE OVER MIDWAY ISLAND. However, the Japanese COMINT radio towers failed to tell Yamamoto that the U.S. Navy was moving their forces around Midway. The U.S. was determined to find out where the Japanese would attack next. The most logical assaults would either be on Midway Island or against the Aleutians. The was reached that the Japanese would attack Midway and THE MOBILIZATION OF U.S NAVAL FORCES AND DEFENSES WERE SET IN PLACE AROUND MIDWAY. On the island of Midway many divisions were set in place to fend against a land invasion including; The Marine Air Group (24 planes of the Marine Fighting Squadron 221), Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 240 (34 bombers), six new Navy TBF torpedo planes, The Marine 6th Defense Battalion, and the Raider Battalion. All together the United States set up numerous defensive measures in the water and created batteries that would protect the fuel cells and hangers on Midway. (Karig)

**__The Battle Of Midway__ ** On June 4th, 1942, the 16th and 17th U.S. Task Forces were notified of large Japanese force movements. The first attack in the Battle of Midway consisted of four U.S. night-flying planes who bombed Japanese forces approximately 150 miles away from the island of Midway. Right after the planes were launched, B-17s were also launched. About an hour and a half later “Midway radar pick[ed] up strike waves” (Healey 92). An air raid alert was quickly sounded. At 06:16 the U.S. Fighters attacked a Japanese strike group. The Japanese fought back with two strikes on Midway. For the next 4 hours the Americans attacked the Japanese at a low level and they failed to score a hit, suffering many casualties. The Japanese air patrol was pulled out of their position leaving the rest of the fleet vulnerable for an attack. At 10:22 “dive bombers approach[ed] from the southwest and northeast [striking] the carriers Kaga, Soryu, and Akagi. In less than six minutes they reduced the Japanese ships to burning wrecks” (Hickman 2). Less than 2 hours later, soldiers from the Hiryu attacked the Yorktown twice. Three hours after the second strike on Yorktown the men were ordered to abandon ship. At 19:13 the Japanese carrier Soryu sank and 12 minutes later the Kaga met the same fate. The Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi was abandoned less than an hour later. (Healy) At dawn on June 5th “American dive bombers located Hiryu and sank it” (Hickman 2). Shortly after, the U.S. sent out the “first air attack on Japanese cruisers” (Healy 93). However, the air attack did not occur until June 6th. The attack sank the Japanese carrier Mikuma while severely damaged the Mogami. During the air attack Yorktown was hit by torpedoes and sank the next day. After 3 SHORT DAYS, on June 7th the fighting officially ceased with a Japanese retreat and an official win for the allied powers at the Battle of Midway. (Healy) “The defeat at Midway...marked the end of major Japanese offensive operations” (Hickman 2) towards the United States. With a loss at Midway Japan quickly realized that this war was not going to be as easy as they had originally planned. Losing four carriers, many skilled pilots and numerous soldiers had a huge impact on Japans fate during World War II. Japan failed to win World War II because they choose not to adopt mass-production methods of ships and planes unlike the U.S. Also, technology in America was improving at a much faster rate than in Japan. Even though Japan was weak and could easily be destroyed, they choose to never surrender. This put the U.S. in a position to use an Atomic Bomb against Japan. After the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered to the United States and officially ended the war with an American victory. While Japan was recovering from the atomic bomb, America became a SUPER-POWER by officially stopping the expansion of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.
 * __The Significance of__ **** __Midway Island__ ** [[image:220px-Hiryu_f075712.jpg width="242" height="220" align="left" caption="A Japanese aircraft carrier under attack during the Battle of Midway - 1942"]]