On the third of June, Japanese planes attacked Dutch Harbor, Fort Glenns, and Mears in the Aleutians. Along with the attack on Australia, this was meant to be an attack that distracted and diverted the American fleet; however, due to the intelligence, the USN knew Midway was the main objective and was not dissuaded in any way. Even though the attack damaged Dutch Harbor severely, in the end, it hurt Japan far more than helping due to the loss of a slightly damaged Zero, which was recovered by American ground forces. This recovery led to the reveal of the weaknesses of the Zero, culminating in the previously unbeatable plane’s defeat. Along with the attack on the Aleutians, American planes took off in search of the enemy off of Midway on June
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Waldron, discovered the enemy carriers by chance, and, without any support, launched an attack. Waldron knew that he and his men would die, telling his men to write a letter to their families prior, but he trained his pilots fully and they bravely attacked, not one Devastator surviving and only one pilot, Ensign George Gay, surviving. Some Japanese fighters were shot down and some hits were scored, and despite the falling of each plane, those who remained kept fighting until their own ends. Soon after the fall of the Devastators, Enterprise and Yorktown groups arrived, being met with a maneuver by the Japanese fleet that prolonged their exposure to antiaircraft and fighter fire effectively, but despite the opposition, the attack was effective. There were three torpedo hits on the large carrier and one of the smaller carriers. Of the 14 planes of Enterprise’s squadron, four returned, of the 12 planes of Yorktown’s squadron, only two returned, and of the 15 planes of the LCDR Waldron’s squadron from Hornet, none returned. Despite this immense loss of men and aircraft, it reaped the beneficial results of forcing the Japanese carriers to maneuver so that they could not launch their bombers and forcing the Japanese to concentrate their fighters on the low-flying aircraft, preventing them from being in a position to interfere when American dive bombers
Waldron, discovered the enemy carriers by chance, and, without any support, launched an attack. Waldron knew that he and his men would die, telling his men to write a letter to their families prior, but he trained his pilots fully and they bravely attacked, not one Devastator surviving and only one pilot, Ensign George Gay, surviving. Some Japanese fighters were shot down and some hits were scored, and despite the falling of each plane, those who remained kept fighting until their own ends. Soon after the fall of the Devastators, Enterprise and Yorktown groups arrived, being met with a maneuver by the Japanese fleet that prolonged their exposure to antiaircraft and fighter fire effectively, but despite the opposition, the attack was effective. There were three torpedo hits on the large carrier and one of the smaller carriers. Of the 14 planes of Enterprise’s squadron, four returned, of the 12 planes of Yorktown’s squadron, only two returned, and of the 15 planes of the LCDR Waldron’s squadron from Hornet, none returned. Despite this immense loss of men and aircraft, it reaped the beneficial results of forcing the Japanese carriers to maneuver so that they could not launch their bombers and forcing the Japanese to concentrate their fighters on the low-flying aircraft, preventing them from being in a position to interfere when American dive bombers