In June 1942, in an attempt to divide and destroy the US fleet, the Japanese fleet moved to Midway, eleven hundred miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, while another section sailed toward the Aleutian Islands. However, the American fleet had certain advantages that became crucial in the Battle of Midway. First, the Americans had known the Japanese plans since cracking their naval code. Second, the Americans had radar, which would enable them to forecast Japanese attacks and locate Japanese targets. Third, the Americans had Midway island itself (Rich, 2003:256). On June 4, 1942, the American and Japanese navies entered into a naval battle. As the two fleets were too far from each other, they could not use their big guns or even see each other. Yet American pilots still destroyed four aircraft carriers and downed 322 Japanese planes, gaining superiority over Japanese forces in the process (Perry, et.al. 2008:840). By the end of the battle, the Americans had destroyed Japan’s heavy aircraft carriers, 7 battleships, 12 cruisers, 44 destroyers, and 234 planes (Rich, 2003:257). With the battle of Midway, Japan also seemed to lose its initiative (Perry, et.al., 2008:840). In August, American forces gained beachheads at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands before moving towards New Guinea. By February 1943 Guadalcanal was retaken by American troops, and New Guinea was recaptured by the end of that year. In October 1943, the Americans won the greatest navalmbattle of the war in the center of the Philippine archipelago (Thomson, 1990:802-803).