Human-cost band
about 3,000 Japanese and about 300+ US dead, usual published band
About 3,000 Japanese dead, a few hundred US -- including the torpedo-squadron massacre on the approach.
The cost that mattered more than hulls was experienced pilots.
Bands
Dated span (4-7 June 1942)
Battle of Midway is taught as 4-7 June 1942. 1942-05 and 1942-08 are the usual poles.
Theatre (Midway Atoll, central Pacific)
Midway Atoll, central Pacific is the geography of the ledger -- cities, seas, plants, or ministries as the file requires.
Aleutians open
1942-06-03: The northern feint begins.
Hiryu found
1942-06-04-eve: The fourth carrier is wrecked.
Regions
Midway Atoll
Core theatre of Battle of Midway (4-7 June 1942). HYPO confirms Midway as the target.
Japanese run
Dec 1941-May 1942: Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea.
The day
4 June 1942: Five minutes that English books never tire of.
Solomons
After June: A long war with a new balance.
US / UK / AU / CA classrooms
Where Battle of Midway (4-7 June 1942) is taught -- or skipped -- in US/UK/AU/CA surveys, often beside 1939-45 rather than beside Battle of Midway's own calendar.
Korean comparative reader
Battle of Midway (4-7 June 1942) is world-history in a Korean classroom, often paired with Inchon or Tsushima when the subject is a hinge battle -- theatre here is Midway Atoll, central Pacific.
Key numbers
Span4-7 June 1942
Cost bandabout 3,000 Japanese and about 300+ US .
TheatreMidway Atoll, central Pacific
Hero articleBattle of Midway
Makers
Chester W. Nimitz
Chester W. Nimitz (CINCPAC) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. Gambled three carriers on HYPO's read -- the quiet decisive admiral of the US story.
Isoroku Yamamoto
Isoroku Yamamoto (Combined Fleet) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. Planned a complex trap; lost the initiative he had seized in December.
Chuichi Nagumo
Chuichi Nagumo (Kido Butai) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. The tactical commander whose rearming morning became a historical argument.
Raymond A. Spruance
Raymond A. Spruance (TF 16) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. Took the fight when Halsey was ill; later the cautious-or-wise debate of US naval memory.
Frank Jack Fletcher
Frank Jack Fletcher (TF 17) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. Yorktown's admiral; later under-praised in some US accounts.
Joseph Rochefort
Joseph Rochefort (HYPO) is a named maker of the Battle of Midway story. The codebreaker who made Midway a meeting engagement. Recognition came late.
Yorktown's dead are the US price. Japan's irreplaceable air groups are the strategic price.
No civilian city died that day; this is a sailors' and airmen's ledger.