The Turning Point of WWII in the Pacific

Posted on June 5, 2007
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I’m reading a really interesting book right now on the naval battle off Samar that made possible MacAurthur’s landing on Leyte in the Phillipines near the end of the Pacific campaign of WWII.

The book is a fascinating account of a massive naval engagement featuring the 3rd and 7th American fleets and 3 Japanese fleets featuring the largest battleships ever put to sea, with commentary from both Japanese and, of course, American sources.

“The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour” (James D. Hornfischer)

On this day in history another important battle in WWII was fought, which not only proved to be the turning point of the Pacific campaign but also firmly established a new chapter in naval history that was to be written not around bigger battleships but the importance of air supremacy, the Battle of Midway.

Yet a US Navy battle this same week, just 6 months after Pearl Harbor and a full 2 years before D-Day, goes largely unnoticed, lost down the memory hole; yet it certainly represents “the greatest naval victory in history” and perhaps the pivotal event in world military history since the Battle of Little Round Top at Gettysburg in July 1863.
It is the Battle of Midway, which, like Gettysburg, occurred over a three-day period, June 4-6, 1942.

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