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Battle of Midway, 1942 — historical photograph 28.2°N 177.4°W Pacific
1942 · 28.2°N 177.4°W

Battle of Midway

Midway Atoll · battle · Pacific

Briefing

Between 4 and 7 June 1942, American codebreakers allowed the outnumbered US Pacific Fleet to ambush the Japanese carrier force, sinking all four fleet carriers of the strike force in exchange for the USS Yorktown. Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan had lost the core of its naval air power and never regained the strategic initiative.

Books Covering This Event (8)

Popular History

Incredible Victory cover
Incredible Victory Walter Lord · 1967

The classic minute-by-minute narrative of the Battle of Midway, built from hundreds of participant interviews.

Accessible
Eagle Against the Sun cover
Eagle Against the Sun Ronald Spector · 1985

The classic single-volume history of the American war against Japan.

Intermediate
Pacific Crucible cover
Pacific Crucible Ian Toll · 2011

From Pearl Harbor through Midway — the first volume of Toll's Pacific War Trilogy.

Intermediate
Code Girls cover
Code Girls Liza Mundy · 2017

The ten thousand American women recruited to break Japanese and German codes — sworn to a secrecy most kept for life.

Accessible

Academic

Shattered Sword cover
Shattered Sword Jonathan Parshall & Anthony Tully · 2005

A landmark reassessment of Midway told from the Japanese side, demolishing decades of myth about the battle.

Intermediate

Historical Fiction

War and Remembrance cover
War and Remembrance Herman Wouk · 1978

The sequel to The Winds of War carries the Henry family from Pearl Harbor through Midway, Leyte Gulf, and Auschwitz.

Intermediate

Memoir

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo cover
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo Ted Lawson · 1943

A Doolittle Raider's own story of the impossible 1942 carrier-launched strike on Tokyo, the crash in China, and the escape.

Accessible
Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan cover
Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan Mitsuo Fuchida & Masatake Okumiya · 1955

The Japanese account of Midway, co-written by the airman who led the Pearl Harbor strike and stood on Akagi's deck as the bombs fell.

Intermediate

Timeline Position

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