<P> Initially, a Japanese force was sent north to attack the Aleutian Islands as a diversion . The next stage of the plan called for the capture of Midway, which would give him an opportunity to destroy Nimitz's remaining carriers . Admiral Nagumo was again in tactical command but was focused on the invasion of Midway; Yamamoto's complex plan had no provision for intervention by Nimitz before the Japanese expected him . Planned surveillance of the US fleet by long range seaplane did not happen (as a result of an abortive identical operation in March), so Fletcher's carriers were able to proceed to a flanking position without being detected . Nagumo had 272 planes operating from his four carriers, the US had 348 (115 land - based). </P> <P> As anticipated by Nimitz, the Japanese fleet arrived off Midway on 4 June and was spotted by PBY patrol aircraft . Nagumo executed a first strike against Midway, while Fletcher launched his aircraft, bound for Nagumo's carriers . At 09: 20, the first US carrier aircraft arrived, TBD Devastator torpedo bombers from Hornet, but their attacks were poorly coordinated and ineffectual; thanks in part to faulty aerial torpedoes, they failed to score a single hit and all 15 were wiped out by defending Zero fighters . At 09: 35, 15 additional TBDs from Enterprise attacked in which 14 were lost, again with no hits . Thus far, Fletcher's attacks had been disorganized and seemingly ineffectual, but they succeeded in drawing Nagumo's defensive fighters down to sea level where they expended much of their fuel and ammunition repulsing the two waves of torpedo bombers . As a result, when US dive bombers arrived at high altitude, the Zeros were poorly positioned to defend . To make matters worse, Nagumo's four carriers had drifted out of formation in their efforts to avoid torpedoes, reducing the concentration of their anti-aircraft fire . Nagumo's indecision had also created confusion aboard his carriers . Alerted to the need of a second strike on Midway, but also wary of the need to deal with the American carriers that he now knew were in the vicinity, Nagumo twice changed the arming orders for his aircraft . As a result, the American dive bombers found the Japanese carriers with their decks cluttered with munitions as the crews worked hastily to properly re-arm their air groups . </P> <P> With the Japanese CAP out of position and the carriers at their most vulnerable, SBD Dauntlesses from Enterprise and Yorktown appeared at an altitude of 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and commenced their attack, quickly dealing fatal blows to three fleet carriers: Sōryū, Kaga, and Akagi . Within minutes, all three were ablaze and had to be abandoned with great loss of life . Hiryū managed to survive the wave of dive bombers and launched a counter-attack against the American carriers which caused severe damage to Yorktown (which was later finished off by a Japanese submarine). However, a second attack from the US carriers a few hours later found and destroyed Hiryū, the last remaining fleet carrier available to Nagumo . With his carriers lost and the Americans withdrawn out of range of his powerful battleships, Yamamoto was forced to call off the operation, leaving Midway in American hands . The battle proved to be a decisive victory for the Allies . For the second time, Japanese expansion had been checked and its formidable Combined Fleet was significantly weakened by the loss of four fleet carriers and many highly trained, virtually irreplaceable, personnel . Japan would be largely on the defensive for the rest of the war . </P> <P> Japanese land forces continued to advance in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea . From July 1942, a few Australian reserve battalions, many of them very young and untrained, fought a stubborn rearguard action in New Guinea, against a Japanese advance along the Kokoda Track, towards Port Moresby, over the rugged Owen Stanley Ranges . The militia, worn out and severely depleted by casualties, were relieved in late August by regular troops from the Second Australian Imperial Force, returning from action in the Mediterranean theater . In early September 1942 Japanese marines attacked a strategic Royal Australian Air Force base at Milne Bay, near the eastern tip of New Guinea . They were beaten back by Allied (primarily Australian Army) forces . </P>

The united states gained naval superiority in the pacific at the battle of