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22 January 1943
At Buna and Gona in New Guinea, US and Australian troops catch Japanese forces in retreat from a failed campaign to take Port Moresby. The Allied counter attack ends the Japanese threat to Australia; the victory is the first decisive triumph on land for the Allies in the Pacific.
12-13 November 1942
Naval forces collide in the sea battle of Guadalcanal. The Japanese battleships Hiei and Kirishima are sunk. The sinking follow those of the Japanese carrier Ryujo on August 24, and the American carriers Wasp, on September 15 and the Hornet on October 27. Though losing ships, the US accomplishes a strategic victory as the battle […]
7 August 1942
In first US amphibious operation of war, the 1st Marine Division lands at Guadalcanal, the largest island of the Solomons. Unveiled is the tactical blueprint for taking the war through the Pacific to Japan; a landing force attacks as aircraft and naval gunfire, in close support, strike at enemy ground forces. The Japanese, after months […]
22 June 1942
Trying to push southward to extend its battle lines closer to Australia, Japan begins its Papua campaign with the objective of capturing Port Moresby. Soldiers attempt overland route through extremely dense jungle and rough terrain.
7 June 1942
Japanese invade the American possessions of Attu and Kiska in the western region of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. The two islands, Wake and Guam, are the only American territories occupied by the Japanese in World War II. Indigenous Aleut native Americans are evacuated by US from the island chain and transferred to vacant canneries […]
3-6 June 1942
US Navy carriers under Admiral Nimitz confront carriers of a fleet commanded by Japan’s Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto in the Battle of Midway. After an initial Japanese air strike on Midway Island, US Navy pilots seize the advantage when they catch Japanese aircraft on carrier decks fueling and rearming. At battle’s end, sunk are the Japanese […]
6 May 1942
With the island fortress of Corregidor succumbing to the siege by the Japanese Imperial army, General Jonathan Wainwright, commander of US and Filipino soldiers in the place of MacArthur, surrenders. The Philippines falls.
4-8 May 1942
The significance of air power on the sea is highlighted in the first naval battle in history, pitting aircraft carriers against aircraft carriers. Although each side loses a carrier (the Lexington and the Shoho), the US Navy defeats the Japanese navy in the Battle of the Coral Sea. The US notches a strategic victory in […]
18 April 1942
Launched from the carrier Hornet, 16 B-25 Mitchell bombers, commanded by Lt. Col Jimmy Doolittle, attack military facilities in several Japanese cities. The air strike uplifts America from coast to coast, as the nation is still in shock from Pearl Harbor and the reality of war.
9 April 1942
American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrender to the Japanese army under General Homma Masaharu. The “Bataan Death March” begins. About 76,000 American and Filipino survivors are forced to march 60 miles to Prisoner of War camps. As so many are in a weakened and starved state, 5,000 perish; still more die in the camps. […]