wn as Midway. The trap was set, and one of the largest and deadeiest battles ever whitened was about to be fought over a tiny group of islands that would determine the entire outcome of the war(Rice 34). The Japanese fleet approached Midway not unknowing that they were expected and were sailing into what would be the last great Japanese naval offensive of the war. After a long guessing game on both sides wondering where the enemy carriers really were, the American dive bombers got lucky. The Japanese carriers were swinging into the wind in preparing to launch a massive wave of aircraft when Lieutenant Commander Clarence McClusk’s VB-6 and VS-6 came out of knowhere and showered the Japanese carrier Akagi’s flight deck with gunfire and bombs. The entire top of the ship filled with fully armed and fueled planes burst into flames. The bombs hit Akagi’s flue reserves and torpedo rooms turning it into what Admiral Kusaka called "a burning hell"(Rice 69-71). At the same time most of VB-6’s Dauntless Bombers attacked the nearer ship the Kaga striking it with 4 bombs in quick succession and 5 direct hits were scored on the Soryu. The Japanese carriers were all in flames and all soon would rest on the ocean floor(U.S dep. 2).After the battle Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya said:The grim situation was painfully clear. Our air strength was wiped out. The enemy still had at least one carrier intact, we had failed to render the midway airfields ineffective, and some of our ships were still in striking range of planes based there. With command of the air firmly in enemy hands, the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion.(Rice 83)After the defeat at Midway, the invasion of the Japanese homeland was inevitable. They were prepared to take and measures to prevent this. They would not surrender to the Americans at any cost. The Japanese committed mass suicide, and turned to extremities such as Kamikaze Tac...
