Battle of Midway

Japanese: ミッドウェー海戦 - ミッドウェーかいせん（英語表記）Battle of Midway

A naval battle fought on June 3-5, 1942, during the Pacific War, based on the Japanese Navy's operation to capture Midway Island and the US Navy's task force's counterattack plan. It was a major defeat for Japan, and marked a major turning point in the Pacific War, as the initiative shifted to the United States. In April, while planning this operation, Japan received the first air raid on Tokyo by the Doolittle Force (→Doolittle Raid), and therefore its strategic goal was to quickly destroy the US fleet by expanding the search area and forcing a decisive battle against the US fleet. The Japanese fleet was the Combined Fleet, led by the battleship Yamato (→Yamato-class battleships) under Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, and its main battle force was the four aircraft carriers of the 1st Air Fleet led by Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. The main force of the US fleet, which was to attack, was a force based on three aircraft carriers and an air force based at Midway, so the air forces that directly engaged in the battle were almost equal. Due to an error in the Japanese fleet's search, they were late in discovering the American carrier force, causing heavy damage to aircraft based at Midway and the carrier's torpedo bombers, but four aircraft carriers were damaged by American dive bombers, and Nagumo's air power was devastated, with the loss of the aircraft carriers Akagi, Soryu, Kaga, and Hiryu, as well as 3,500 troops and 300 aircraft, resulting in a devastating defeat.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

太平洋戦争中の 1942年6月3～5日，日本海軍によるミッドウェー諸島攻略作戦およびアメリカ海軍機動部隊反撃作戦に基づいて戦われた海戦。日本の大敗北となり，以後戦局の主導権がアメリカ合衆国に移るという太平洋戦争の重大な転換点となった。日本は，この作戦立案途上の 4月に，ドゥーリトル隊による東京初空襲（→ドゥーリトル空襲）を受けたことから，索敵海面の拡大とアメリカ艦隊に対する決戦強要によって，アメリカ艦隊の撃滅を早期に実現することを戦略目的とした。日本艦隊は山本五十六長官直率の戦艦『大和』（→大和型戦艦）以下連合艦隊で，主戦兵力は南雲忠一長官の率いる第1航空艦隊の航空母艦（空母）4隻，迎え撃つアメリカ艦隊の主力は空母 3隻を基幹とする兵力とミッドウェーを基地とする航空部隊で，直接戦闘を交えた航空兵力はほぼ均勢であった。日本艦隊の索敵は錯誤のため，アメリカ空母部隊の発見が遅れ，ミッドウェー基地航空機と空母の雷撃隊には多大な損害を与えたが，アメリカの急降下爆撃機によって空母 4隻が損傷し，南雲部隊の航空戦力は壊滅，空母の『赤城』『蒼竜』『加賀』『飛竜』などと，兵員 3500人，航空機 300機を失うという惨敗となった。

出典　ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典ブリタニカ国際大百科事典小項目事典について　情報

<<: Three tools

>>: Midway [Islands] - Midway