Evening star., 1944-04-26

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would permit the enemy to retire
without too great loss or complete
humiliation in case their plans did
not work out. At the same time. we
had to consider the possibility that
they might renew actions in the
Coral Sea. 1t was a plain case OF
calculating the risk involved In
stationing our forces. A mistake
at that point would have proved
costly.
Considering the chance that the
enemy knew little concerning the
location of those of our ships which
had not participated in the Coral
Sea engagement, but certainly was
aware that most of our available
carrier and cruiser strength was
then in southern waters, it seemed
reasonable to expect that the Jap
anese would make the most of the
opportunity to strike us in the
Central andior Northern Pacific.
Such an attack was likely be-
cause of the prospect of success in
the immediate operation, and be-
cause If successful, the advance to
Australia and the islands in the
South Pacific could be accomplished
in due course with comparative ease,
once the enemy had cut our lines of
communications.
Recalled South Pacific Ships.
Acting on our best estimate of the
situation, our carriers and support
ing vessels were recalled from the
South Pacific. The Yorktown was
patched up temporarily and scout
ing and patrol lines were established
well to the westward of Midway
Island. Our total forces available
In the Central Pacific consisted of
the carriers Enterprise, Hornet and
Yorktown, seven heavy cruisers, one
light cruiser, ID destroyers and about
20 submarines.
These were divided into two task
forces, one under the command of
Rear Admiral (now admiraD Ray
mond A. Spruance; cruisers of this
task force were commanded by Rear
Admiral (now vice admiraD Kin
kaid and the others under the COM
mapd of Rear Admiral (now vice
AdmiraD Fletcher. Another flag
officer, Rear Admiral w. w. Smith,
was attached to the second task
force. In addition there was a Ma
rine Corps air group based on Mid
way, augmented by Army bombers
from Hawaii.
On the morning of June 3 enemy
forces were sighted several hundred
miles southwest of Midway on an
easterly course. The composition of
the force sighted was not determined
at that time, but it was clearly a
large attack force with supporting
vessels. Late in the afternoon this
tprce was bombed by squadron of
B-17s under the command of 1t. Col.
Walter C. Sweeney, Army Air
Forces While results of the attack
were not definitely determined, hits
on several ships were reported.
Battle of Midway.
On the morning of June 4 contact
was made with enemy aircraft
headed toward the island Of Midway
from the northwest and Immediately
thereafter two carriers and the
enemy main body were picked up
in the same vicinity. Although the
enemy aircraft were not prevented
from dropping their bombs on Mid
way, the Japanese air attack force
was, nevertheless, subjected to heavy
fire and the enemy plane losses were
large. Meanwhile, Army, Navy and
Marine Corps planes from Midway
attacked carriers, battleships and
other vessels, inflicting serious dam
age on one enemy carrier.
At this point, our own carriers
took a hand in the engagement.
Having been launched from a po-
squadron from Midway, torpedo
squadron fro mthe Hornet (the
now famous Torpedo Eight) without
the protection of fighters and with
out accompanying dive bombers, at
tackled force of four enemy car
riers. All planes in the squadron
were shot down and only one pilot
survived, but the squadron made
several hits on the enemy carriers.
About an hour later, torpedo
squadrons from the Enterprise and
Yorktown attacked the same car
riers, and also suffered heavy losses,
bat registered hits on two car
riers. These attacks were followed
by dive bombers from the Enter
prise which smothered two car
riers, and by more bombers from
the Yorktown which hit a third
carrier, a cruiser, and a battleship.
Two carriers had been set on fire
and put completely out of action.
A third was damaged and was sunk
later by the submarine Nautilus.
Yorktown Abandoned.
Planes from the only japanese
carrier remaining unchanged at
tackled the Yorktown, and although
this attack force was annihilated,
1t succeeded in making three bomb
hits. Shortly afterward, enemy tor
pedo planes scored two hits on the
Yorktown, and orders were given
to abandon ship. About two hours
later, planes from the Enterprise
attacked the undamaged japanese
carrier and left her mass of flames
and Immediately thereafter, when
q squadron from the Hornet ar
rived, the carrier was blazing SO
furniously that it was possible to
concentrate on nearby battleship
and a cruiser, both of which were
hit
At this stage of the engagement,
1t was apparent that we had won
control of the air and it remained
for the aircraft from Midway to put
on the finishing touches. Army
Flying Fortresses attacked an
enemy heavy cruiser and left it
smoking heavily. Other planes
scored hits on a battleship, dam
aged carrier, and a destroyer. BY
the end of the day the japanese
were in full retirement.
On the morning of the 5th, air.
craft from the Enterprise and the
Hornet made an ineffective attack
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