Реферат: The Battle Of Midway In The Pacific

four.50-caliber machine guns, then zoomed up for another attack. Japanese rear

gunners raked his Wildcat, riddling Carey’s legs. Second Lieutenant Clayton M.

Canfield followed Carey into his attack, destroying a Kate. Canfield saw Zeros

diving on him. A 20mm cannon shell damaged his Wildcat, and he pulled up into

the clouds and lost his pursuers. Coming out of the clouds, Canfield joined

Carey and led him back to Midway. Captain Marion E. Carl, flying the third

Wildcat, was jumped by several Zeros after attacking the Kates and was forced to

break off his attack. While the Wildcats fought for their lives, Parks led his

six Buffaloes in an attack on the Kates. The Marines managed one pass before

they were overwhelmed by the Zeros. Parks and four other Marines were killed.

Only Lieutenant Daniel J. Irwin survived. He managed to fly his damaged Buffalo

back to Midway with Zeros after him all the way. “Their gunnery was very good,”

Irwin reported, “and I doubt if on any run they missed hitting my plane.” VMF-

221’s 12 reserve fighters, led by Captains Daniel J. Hennessy and Kirk Armstead,

also attacked the Japanese planes (Lucas 104). Hennessy’s six Buffaloes smashed

into the bombers and were jumped by the escorting Zeros, which destroyed four of

them. Only two of Hennessy’s men survived. Armstead’s Buffaloes intercepted the

Japanese a few miles from Midway and downed three Kates before the rampaging

Zeros destroyed three of them. Observing the dogfight from the ground,

Lieutenant Charles Hughes said that the Buffaloes “looked like they were tied to

a string while the Zeros made passes at them.” The Japanese pushed relentlessly

toward Midway. To Marine Pfc Phillip Clark at D Battery on Sand Island, the

Japanese formations looked like “three wisps of clouds far out on the horizon.”

On Sand and Eastern, the Marines and sailors waited for the attack. An observer

marveled at the “very calm?lackadaisical air” with which the defenders waited

for the strike, “as though they had been living through this sort of thing all

their lives”(Stevens 98). “Open fire when targets are in range,” 6th Battalion

headquarters notified all guns at 6:30 a.m. One minute later, Midway’s guns

opened fire. A Kate erupted into flames and dove straight down. A second Kate