What is the date the Japanese first attacked Midway Island, in the Pacific?
World War II in the Pacific — Battle of Midway: Japanese Air Attack on Midway, 4 June 1942 Further Ref. The Japanese planes hit Midway’s two inhabited islands at 0630. Twenty minutes of bombing and straffing knocked out some facilities on Eastern Island, but did not disable the airfield there. Sand Island’s oil tanks, seaplane hangar and other buildings were set afire or otherwise damaged. As the Japanese flew back toward their carriers the attack commander, Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, radioed ahead that another air strike was required to adequately soften up Midway’s defenses for invasion. Full Ref. link below. Sources: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/mid-2.
The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle widely regarded as the most important of the Pacific Campaign of World War II.[4][5][6] It took place between 4-7 June, 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States Navy decisively defeated an Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) attack against Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese navy and seizing the strategic initiative.[7] The Japanese operation, like the earlier attack on Pearl Harbor, aimed to eliminate the United States as a strategic Pacific power, thereby giving Japan a free hand in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. It was hoped another demoralizing defeat would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the Pacific War on conditions favorable to Japan.[8] The Japanese plan was designed to lure the United States’ few remaining carriers into a trap.[9] The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway Atoll as part of
