Documents  
Pre-battle Documents
Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet. Estimate of the Situation Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet. Operation Plan No. 29-42 Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet. Letter. May 28, 1942 Commander Patrol Wing 2. Memorandum. May 23, 1942 Commander Patrol Squadron 44. Operation Plan. June 1, 1942 Commanding Officer 6th Defense Btn. F.M.F. Instruction No. 3-42
Action Reports
Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet. June 28, 1942 Commander Task Force SIXTEEN. June 16, 1942 Commander Task Force SEVENTEEN. June 14, 1942 Commanding Officer U.S.S. YORKTOWN (CV-5). June 18, 1942 Commanding Officer U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CV-6). June 8, 1942 Commanding Officer U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CV-6). June 13, 1942 Commanding Officer U.S.S. HORNET (CV-8). June 13, 1942 Commander Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3). June 10, 1942 Commander Scouting Squadron 5 (VS-5). June 7, 1942 Commander Bombing Squadron 6 (VB-6). June 10, 1942 Commander Scouting Squadron 6 (VS-6). June 20, 1942 Commanding Officer Naval Air Station, Midway. June 18, 1942 Operative Officer Naval Air Station, Midway. June 15, 1942 Commanding Officer 6th Defense Bn., F.M.F. June 13, 1942 Commanding Officer Marine Aircraft Group 22. June 7, 1942 Executive Officer Marine Aircraft Group 22. June 7, 1942 Commanding Officer Marine Fighting Squadron 221. June 6, 1942 Commanding Officer Marine Scout-Bombing Sqd. 241. June 12, 1942
War Diaries, Logs
Naval Air Station, Midway Island. War Diary, May 1-29, 1942 Naval Air Station, Midway Island. War Diary, Battle of Midway U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CV-6). War Diary, June 1942 U.S.S. HORNET (CV-8). Deck Logs, June 4 - June 6, 1942
Early Researches
ONI Combat Narratives: Battle of Midway, 1943 The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway, 1947 Richard W. Bates, U. S. Naval War College, 1948
Documents

Even the most brilliant and thorough studies will only give you the facts that were dee­med important by their authors. The conclusions they draw will be based solely on those facts. At the same time, there is always a possibility that they overlooked or simply ig­nored as insignificant some important details. There is only one way to put together your own picture of the events, and that is to study the primary so­urces yourself. To that end, I’m trying to gather in one place as many of the Battle of Midway related primary sources—war diaries, action reports, etc.—as possible. I hope that my constantly expanding col­lec­tion of documents will help you, as well.

The documents represented here have been converted into HTML text and formatted as closely as possible in the style of the original typescripts or prints. But keep in mind that this resource is of help at the initial stage of research only (with text searches, etc.). In case of citation in your publications, you should consult the ori­gi­nal documents located in archives, or at least the scans of the original documents.

All classified (i.e. marked as Restricted, Confidential or Secret) documents re­pre­sen­ted here have been declassified by the appropriate authorized agencies. According to the U. S. copy­right law, works of the United States government (i.e. documents, photographs, etc. prepared by an officer or employee of the federal gov­ern­ment as part of that person's official duties) are not en­tit­led to domestic copyright pro­tec­tion and are therefore in the public domain.