Battle of Midway Casualties
The battle of Midway was a significant event in the theater of World War 2.
The battle was fought between the Navy and Air Force of the United States of America and the Empire of Japan. The year was 1942, from June 4th to June 7th.
During this battle, a lot of casualties happened on both sides. Especially, the Japanese side faced the highest casualties.
So, let’s take a look at the Midway battle casualties from both sides.
Casualties From The Japanese Side
- Death of 3057 Japanese military personnel.
- Americans destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers. They were Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, and Hiryu.
- Got sank and badly damaged two heavy cruisers. Their names are Mogami (Damaged) and Mikuma (Sunk).
- Highly damaged two destroyers Arashio (Due to bombing), Asashio.
- Lost 292 aircraft.
- The USA captured 37 Japanese soldiers.
- And some more other casualties.
Casualties From The USA Side
- Death of 307 American military personnel.
- Japan destroyed only one American aircraft carrier. That was the Yorktown carrier.
- Japanese destroyed and sank one destroyer of the USA. Its name was Hammann.
- USA’s 150 aircraft were destroyed.
- 3 Americans were captured.
So, these were the casualties that happened on both sides in the battle of Midway.
I hope this will remain helpful to you.
Next, let’s see why the battle was very important.
Why Was The Battle of Midway Important?
The battle of Midway was the event, which entirely turned the wind of the Second World War.
Before, this major military conflict, Japan was one of the most powerful naval forces in the Pacific region.
Similarly, the Axis forces almost took control of the whole war game. But the defeat in the Midway battle completely ruined Japanese influence on the Pacific ocean.
The defeat broke the backbone of the Japanese Navy. This incident greatly encouraged America and its allies to gain more victory and take control of the war.
But Why Japan Had To Face Defeat In The Battle of Midway?
Confidence is good, but overconfidence is harmful. This truth fits well with Japan.
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese air force and navy successfully executed the invasion of America’s Pearl Harbour island.
The sudden attack completely shocked the United States of America, where they had to lose more than 2400 people (including many of their military equipment).
Experts believe it was one of the worst intelligence failures of the United States.
But at the same time, it greatly encouraged the Japanese.
After that failure, American intelligence became quite cautious about each activity conducted by the powerful enemy.
With this cautiousness, a few days before the Midway battle, the US intelligence captured the strategy of the Japanese that was going to be implemented soon.
This benefited the United States to design its complete battle tactics. Finally, as a result, the Japanese had to taste a heavy defeat.
