This June 4 marks the 70th anniversary of our victory at Midway, a turning point in World War II and perhaps the beginning of the end for all of the Axis powers.
The Japanese lost the battle, which their Admiral Yamamoto hoped to trap the ruminants of the Navy's Pacific Fleet. However, our cryptologists managed to successfully read the Japanese Naval Code and Yamamoto's plans. Headed by Joe Rochefort, they warned our Admiral Nimitz of the impending Japanese Midway armada. Admiral Nimitz trusted Rochefort because he correctly foretold of the Japanese plans that led to the Battle of the Coral Sea, which was a tactical draw but a strategic victory for the Americans.
In the matter of an hour, three of the four Japanese fleet aircraft carriers were burning and sinking. Later that day, the fourth carrier met the same fate. Without air cover, Yamamoto could only retreat. His desire for a decisive battle came true, but in the wrong way. We won and won big. We gained parity in naval power, which our industrial might soon made overwhelming.
The victory at Midway allowed the plans to defeat Germany first to continue. The victory at Midway allowed resources to go to the aid the British in General Montgomery's defeat of the German Afrika Corps in North Africa at El Alemain. Since the Russians did not have to fear a Japanese invasion from the east, they could move their troops west to crush the Germans at Stalingrad. The victory at Midway influenced all of the major turning points of World War II.
Yet the victory at Midway routinely goes without notice in spite of its substantial influence on history.