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Palmyra
| Глоссарий географических названий (английский-русский) |
Атолл пальмира (о-ва л айн, тихий ок., в лад. сша)
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Ист. г. пальмира (на терр. совр. сирии), русский
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Bahama, английский
Багамские острова (атлантический ок., вест-индия, гос-во багамские острова)
Midway, английский
- Атолл мидуэй (гавайские о-ва, тихий ок., сша)
- The year 1942 was the pivotal year of world war ii. the british turned the nazi tide at el alamein (after 37 months of defensive war), soviet russia won the battle of attrition at stalingrad (after 16 months of constant retreat), and the united states crippled japanese naval aviation at the battle of midway (after 6 months of humiliating setbacks). the latter was due to a combination of accurate intelligence, superior admiralship, and a tremendous slice of serendipitous luck. admiral isoroku yamamoto had devised a typically complex japanese naval plan of stealth, ruse, and division of forces, involving a diversion intended to lure the u.s. navy north to the aleutians, an invasion force to occupy the islands inside midway atoll and bring the americans rushing back, a four-carrier strike force to intercept and cripple them, and a powerful seven-battleship main force to deliver the coup de grace. the united states had broken the japanese naval code, and decoded messages made it clear that a major operation was being mounted at a place designated “af.” suspecting this to be midway, commanders arranged for the garrison there to report breakdown of their water distillation plant in plain language. two days later tokyo told the fleet “af is short of water.” knowing the enemy’s destination and objectives allowed admirals frank jack fletcher and raymond ames spruance to strategically pre-position their task forces for the action which began on 4th june. luck favored the americans when a gap in the enemy reconnaissance let their forces go unseen and then, when they were finally sighted, the japanese pilot misidentified the carriers as cruisers. meanwhile, their own scouts had found the japanese. a low-level american torpedo strike was destroyed by the japanese combat air patrol, but that left the upper level undefended, allowing u.s. dive-bombers to swoop down on three of the japanese carriers. the fourth carrier, hiryu, managed to launch a strike that crippled carrier uss yorktown (later sunk by torpedoes from japanese submarine i-168), but she herself was located and dive-bombed. two of the blazing japanese carriers sank; the other two were finished off by torpedoes from their own destroyers. midway had profound consequences; not only had the japanese lost two-thirds of their fleet carrier force, but the loss of an elite cadre of highly-trained and experienced naval aviators was even more serious. from then on the naval initiative passed to the united states.
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