Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Accounts
Here are accounts from different people. with different a different point of view
World War 2 according to Yvonne Boucher (in an american point of view)
World War 2 according to Yvonne Boucher (in an american point of view)
Everyone was issued a gas mask. My stepfather did not trust the masks being given the civilian population so arranged for us to have those issued to the Marines. In a time when all women carried a purse, a gas mask posed a problem. They were housed in big canvas bags, and the wartime regulations said you could not leave the house without it. Rather than carrying both a purse and gas mask, women simply transferred the contents of their purses to the bag holding the gas mask. The authorities vigorously opposed this practice, but to no avail.
Our nights were punctuated by the sounds of machine gun fire. Young sentries, alone and scared, saw an invading Japanese soldier in every shadow. Several times a week the air raid siren would blare as an unidentified plane was spotted. Because of the blackout the night was completely dark, and I thought the bright beams from the searchlights crisscrossing the sky in ever changing patterns were beautiful. Then too, the children in the housing were no longer able to do the things we usually did. No more riding our bicycles to the rec center, it had become a temporary hospital. No more going on the base to go swimming or to the Y for an ice cream cone. All military sites were off limits.
It is remarkable how quickly humans can adapt to change. Soon our lives under these new rules seemed normal---until Christmas. Normally Christmas trees were shipped to the islands in cargo vessels. Now all available space was reserved for essential items, and since Christmas trees were not considered essential, there were none. All the parents were trying hard to maintain a sense of normalcy for the sake of the children. Everyone was looking in vain for a Christmas tree. One day my stepfather came home wearing a big grin. He held up a brown paper bag from which he produced an artificial tree. It was only about fourteen or fifteen inches tall and unlike today's artificial trees, bore little resemblance to a real one. My sister and I were not impressed. The box of ornaments was brought out, and we began to decorate the tree as we had each year. Our stepfather put on a string of lights, my sister and I put on the ornaments and mother put on the icicles. A pillowslip was wrapped around the base of the tree to represent snow. Some of the lights had to be hidden under the "snow" as the string was too long for the little tree. The ornaments were too big and the icicles on the bottom branches lay on the table like pools of silver, but somehow it didn't matter. We had a shiny Christmas tree and Christmas was on the way. I remember that as one of the best Christmases I ever had. There was a feeling of warmth, of closeness, of caring that was almost tangible, a sense of being blessed somehow.
World War 2 according to: Soichi Yokoi
Initially, Yokoi served with the 29th Infantry Division in Manchukuo.
In 1943, he was transferred to the 38th Regiment in the Mariana Islands.
He arrived on Guam in February 1943.
When American forces captured the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with ten other Japanese soldiers.
Seven of the original ten eventually moved away and only three remained in the region.
These men separated but visited each other until about 1964, when the other two died in a flood.
The last eight years Yokoi lived alone.
Yokoi survived by hunting, primarily at night.
He used native plants to make clothes, bedding, and storage implements, which he carefully hid in his cave
On the evening of 24 January 1972, Yokoi was discovered in the jungle by Jesus Dueñas and Manuel De Gracia, two local men checking their shrimp traps along a small river on Talofofo. They had assumed Yokoi was a villager from Talofofo, but he thought his life was in danger and attacked them. They managed to subdue him and carried him out of the jungle with minor bruising.
"It is with much embarrassment, but I have returned", he said upon his return to Japan. The remark would become a popular saying in Japanese.
For twenty-eight years, he had hidden in an underground jungle cave, fearing to come out of hiding even after finding leaflets declaringWorld War II had ended, believing them to be false Allied propaganda.
Yokoi was the third-to-last Japanese soldier to surrender after the war, preceding Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (relieved from duty by his former commanding officer on 9 March 1974) and Private Teruo Nakamura (arrested 18 December 1974).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi#War_Years_and_Post-war_Survival
World War 2 according to: Emmy E Werner
Emmy E. Werner survived World War II on the ground, as a child living in Germany, with a family split over both sides of the conflict. That war set more than a few gruesome records, but perhaps the most tragic was that, for the first time in modern history, more civilians than soldiers were maimed or killed in the fighting. Thirteen million were children, and another 20 million were left orphaned by the war. As one of the survivors, Werner carries a unique qualification for crafting this moving and well-researched book, a sweeping, reverently assembled collection of children's eyewitness accounts of that traumatic and uncertain time.
Pulling together contrasting experiences from over 200 different children and teens (drawing from diaries, letters, journals, and a handful of adult interviews), Through the Eyes of the Innocents paints an impressively rich and varied picture of the war. Children on every side of the conflict recount images and incidents ranging from the benign to the horrific, whether it was German youngsters in the Ardennes decorating Christmas trees with radar foil or a 12-year-old writing to MacArthur, begging him to let her "get down in the trenches and mow these Germans down 5 by 5." But Werner manages to temper the horror with hope, devoting much attention to postwar recovery and rebuilding (especially the efforts of CARE and UNICEF), and pleading that we remember the words of the "wide-eyed and defenseless" as we confront the violence of today. --Paul Hughes --
World War 2 according to: Jessie Reed Seyle
We had been on Alert for two weeks but that was called off on December 6, 1941. That night being a Saturday we went up to Wheeler Field to visit some friends of ours in the 19th Fighter Squadron, who had also been on Alert. We had long talked about the reason for the Alert and were agreed that if we went to war it would be with the Russians.
We returned home late that night and at about five to eight AM we heard a loud explosion coming from Pearl Harbor way. I got up and looked out the shades and saw that one of the large oil storage tanks at Pearl was puffing out a lot of black smoke. I told my wife it looked like it might have leaked and exploded. Just then a plane came over shooting its guns and so low I could see it was a Zero with the Rising Sun on it. I said to my wife. “get up we are at war”. I could then hear a number of bullets bouncing off our tile roof. By then we could hear and see the havoc taking place at Pearl which was only about 5,600 yards away. During this time our friend at Wheeler Field called to say they were being attacked and that she had been shot at while going to a friends to use the phone”.
World War 2 according to: Carlos F. McCuiston
It was early in the morning, when three of us, who had breakfast, were sitting around on one of the fellows bed, talking about things in general. We heard an airplane fly over very low making a loud engine noise. One of the fellows said “ It looks like the Navy is practicing dive bombing again”. In less than a minute later, we heard the same airplane sound then an explosion. Since the explosion was unusual, we all walked outside to see what was going on. We passed through the doors of Wing E and were standing on the stair landing, looking toward Wing F. A bomb hit Hangar #7, and exploded. The concussion of the blast blew the three of us off the landing and into a prickly cactus plant. As we got up, one of the fellows said “ What the Hell is going on?” Immediately we heard the squadron First Sergeant yelling,
“ Everybody out, the Dam Japs are bombing us.”
We ran onto the street and short distant away was the Parade Grounds where everyone thought they would not bomb us there. As I was half way across the Parade Grounds, a Japanese plane flew over very low with the pilot and rear gunner quite visible. The Rising Sun Insignia was very plainly visible on the side of the airplane.
The Parade Ground began to fill up with men coming out of the barracks, some of them only had their underwear on. Immediately a Japanese plane came down and started to strafe the Parade Grounds. Men were falling and running in all directions with me heading for the new wooden barracks across the way. I stayed there for a short time watching some men shooting at the Japanese planes with 45 caliber pistols. I left the area to return to the large barracks as I worked in the Supply Room.
On my way back, I walked toward the Hangar Line wanting to see the airplanes that were burning. I stopped and turned back to my original destination. At the same time, a flight of high level bombers came over and bombed us again. I ran toward the large barracks thinking they may be safer. I was later told that I had just left. Some men were killed because of the splinters that flew around when the bombs exploded. From then on, it was known as Splinter City.
I returned to the large barracks and reported to the supply room. The supply sergeant told me to get busy and start passing out rifles and ammunition to the men from our squadron. While in the supply room, another wave of bombers came over and a bomb exploded between Wing E and F, shaking the building. Within a minute, a person came running in saying “ I need some help, the Lieutenant has been hit”. I went with him to the Mess Hall and we picked up Lt. Malcolm J. Brummwell ( Lt. Crittenden), our Squadron Adjutant.
We carried him to the supply room and laid him on the counter. He was bleeding across the chest and moaned from the pain. At this time, there were about five people in the supply room and one called the hospital for an ambulance. In a short time it came to the front of the building and we were told to bring the Lieutenant out. We slid him off the counter and he fell toward me. Another fellow and I carried the injured Lieutenant to the ambulance and laid him on a stretcher. The driver and another fellow slid him in and they turned toward me. The driver, thinking I was wounded also because of all the blood on my shirt, said “Take it easy now and get into the ambulance”. I said there is nothing wrong with me. He replied, “ I know, I know” and began to force me inside where the Lieutenant was lying. I went into the vehicle, crawled over the driver’s seat and went out through the door. As I walked away from the ambulance, the driver, thinking I was in shock, began chasing me yelling for me to come back. He soon gave up, returning to the ambulance and drove the injured man to the hospital. We later learned that he died from the injuries he received in the chest.
As I returned to the supply room, an injured soldier was sitting with his back against the wall near the stairs. He said, “Please help me”. His abdomen was bleeding badly and his trousers were soaked with blood. I looked at him and said “I’ll get you some water”. As I ran into the building, toward the water fountain, I noticed I had nothing to put the water in. Running into the supply room, I asked for a mess cup or anything to get the injured man some water.
Picking up a cup, I filled it with water and ran out only to see the man being taken away on a stretcher.
The roof of the barracks was burning, there was smoke everywhere and the smell of burnt power in the air. The airplanes on the hangar line were burning, there was debris and dirt from the bombs scattered everywhere. I turned and saw a man from our squadron named Bernard Mulcahy. He looked at me and said, “Bernie, I can’t believe what is happening”. He replied, It’s happening, you know Bill, we lived more in the past two hours than we did in our last nineteen years.
We both walked back into the building which was getting thick with smoke from the building roof. I had a 45 caliber pistol in the supply room and picked it up along with a belt and three clips of ammunition. There was talk around about another raid and an invasion. We walked into the mess hall and it was a shambles. Someone mentioned that we would have to move into the mountains and fight off the Japanese.
Invasion talk was everywhere, our Squadron was scattered all around. It was obvious we could not use the barracks because of the smoke and burning odor. As we walked away from the mess hall, I noticed someone brought out a five gallon pail of Maraschino Cherries in syrup, and several five pound packages of American Cheese. Thinking we would have to go to the mountains to fight, we both took a piece of the cheese and I placed two handfuls of the syrupy cherries in my pocket. I picked up my steel helmet and began walking away from the barracks.
Everyone was walking around trying to find people from their outfit. In the entire afternoon, I do not recall meeting anyone from our squadron. As it began to get dark, I ran into a cook standing outside a wooden building. He said I should stay around until the next day. There was a cot in the building and I would have something to eat. I did, and while lying on the cot, I had the 45 pistol near my head ready for any Japanese that came by.
The following day I found a few of our men and they told me we were regrouping in the school house near the water tower. As I went there, I met more people from our squadron, picked up a rifle and was assigned to guard duty at the Post Exchange where all the windows were blown out by the bombs. We remained in the schoolhouse building for several days until a new roof was being placed on the large barracks. After a short time, we were allowed to return to our original quarters in Wing E but could only use the first and second floors. The third floor remained unoccupied.”
World War 2 according to: William Melnyk
The first planes I saw were skimming at rooftop level over our barracks. We could clearly see the rising sun on their wings. The pilots and gunners could be seen looking around. I couldn’t believe that we were being assaulted so far from Japan! An Air Force, middle-aged Sergeant came running toward us shouting for us to take cover and hollering out that he was in World War I and knew what he was talking about. He cried out, “We’re at War! We’re at War!”
The men began to disperse. I made a run for the supply room about 10 yards behind the barracks. Sgt. Owen, the Supply Sergeant, slept inside and he was ready to issue equipment, dressed in his underwear. I was first in line to check-out one of the dozen or so Springfield rifles. Owen passed me a rifle, steel helmet, and a bandolier of 30 caliber ammunition. John Strickland and Sanford Garrett were also waiting for a weapon. Both of these men had previous infantry service in Panama. As I started to rush out into the melee, Owen called me back and ordered that I read off the serial number of the rifle before getting out. I felt insecure inside the wooden building, not being able to see the planes coming to take evasive action. We had been training to obey orders so we had no choice but to give serial numbers while expecting to be blown to bits any minute.
Strickland and Garrett were right along the side of me as we ran outside, where I made an alarming discovery – I did not know how to load the rifle!
As an electrician, I had been trained to use a 45 pistol. I had the bolt back trying to load without success. I shouted to Garrett and Strickland to help me. By now machine gun bullets were slamming into the area; jagged bomb shrapnel was falling all around us. As I put my helmet on, Strickland held my rifle while Garrett showed me how to force the clip of bullets into the magazine. Two years in the Army and I couldn’t load a Springfield! Although I was reared with rifles and shotguns and fancied myself a crack shot, I simply didn’t know how to get the rounds in the magazine. I’m sure my lesson on the Springfield was the quickest in military history. Targets were everywhere by now. I leveled at a banking “Jap” plane, leading him like I had done quail many times in the field at home. The rifle jumped as the high-powered shell exploded and went after the “Jap” plane. I quickly got off the first clip of five rounds. By now Strickland and Garrett had loaded and three of us kept up steady firing on the planes. How much good we did will never be known, but we had the satisfaction of “fighting back”.
“I saw the planes strafing and bombing the base. I saw them strafing people who were on the roads. The planes would swoop down so low we could see the pilot’s goggles.”
http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/world-war-ii/december-7-1941/first-hand-accounts-of-the-bombing-of-hickam-afb
Summarization of the Pacific War
So Why did the Pacific War start?
A commonly asked question is why did the Pacific war Start? and what are the causes?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War
Graphic Organizer
A commonly asked question is why did the Pacific war Start? and what are the causes?
Causes of World War II
France, Great Britain, and the U.S. had attained their wartime objectives. They had reduced Germany to a military cipher and had reorganized Europe and the world as they saw fit. The French and the British frequently disagreed on policy in the postwar period, however, and were unsure of their ability to defend the peace settlement. Disillusionment with war led to the practice of appeasement, or giving into an aggressor's demands to keep the peace. The U.S., disillusioned by the Europeans' failure to pay their war debts, retreated into isolationism. The Treaty of Versailles left many countries dissatisfied. Adverse conditions, such as reparations and unemployed veterans from World War I led to the circulation of new, radical ideas and solutions, such as fascism in Italy. This Fascist party, as Mussolini called it, later became a model for Hitler in Germany.
The Failure of Peace Efforts
During the 1920s, attempts were made to achieve a stable peace. The first was the establishment (1920) of the League of Nations as a forum in which nations could settle their disputes. The League's powers were limited to persuasion and various levels of moral and economic sanctions that the members were free to carry out as they saw fit. At the Washington Conference of 1921-2, the principal naval powers agreed to limit their navies according to a fixed ratio. The Locarno Conference (1925) produced a treaty guarantee of the German-French boundary and an arbitration agreement between Germany and Poland. In the Kellogg-Briande Pact (1928), 63 countries including all the Great Powers except the USSR, renounced war as an instrument of national policy and pledged to resolve all disputes among them "by pacific means." The signatories had agreed beforehand to exempt wars of "self-defense."
The Rise of Fascism
One of the victors' stated aims in World War I had been "to make the world safe for democracy," and postwar Germany adopted a democratic constitution, as did most of the other states restored or created after the war. In the 1920s, however, the wave of the future appeared to be a form of nationalistic, militaristic totalitarianism known by its Italian name, fascism. It promised to minister to peoples' wants more effectively than democracy and presented itself as the one sure defense against communism. Benito Mussolini established the first Fascist, European dictatorship during the inter war period in Italy in 1922.
Formation of the Axis Coalition
Adolf Hitler, the Leader of the German National Socialist (Nazi) party, preached a racist brand of fascism. Hitler promised to overturn the Versailles Treaty and secure additional Lebensraum ("living space") for the German people, who he contended deserve more as members of a superior race. In the early 1930s, the Great Depression hit Germany. The moderate parties could not agree on what to do about it, and large numbers of voters turned to the Nazis and Communists. In 1933 Hitler became the German Chancellor, and in a series of subsequent moves established himself as dictator. Japan did not formally adopt fascism, but the armed forces' powerful position in government enabled them to impose a similar type of totalitarianism. As dismantlers of the world status quo, the Japanese were well ahead of Hitler. They used a minor clash with Chinese troops near Mukden, also known as the Mukden or Manchurian crisis, in 1931 as a pretext for taking over all of Manchuria, where they proclaimed the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. In 1937-8 they occupied the main Chinese ports. Having denounced the disarmament clauses of the Versailles Treaty, created a new air force, and reintroduced conscription, Hitler tried out his new weapons on the side of right-wing military rebels in the Spanish civil war (1936-9). This venture brought him into collaboration with Mussolini who was also supporting the Spanish revolt after having seized (1935-6) Ethiopia in a small war. Treaties between Germany, Italy, and Japan in 1936-7 brought into being the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. For example, Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern pact in 1936 and then Italy joined in 1937. This pact denounced communism and it showed their unity in the matter. The Axis thereafter became the collective term for those countries and their allies.
Post-war
Millions of Japanese military personnel surrendered following the end of the war. Soviet and Chinese forces accepted the surrender of 1.6 million Japanese and the western allies took the surrender of millions more in Japan, South-East Asia and the South-West Pacific. In order to prevent resistance to the order to surrender, Japan's Imperial Headquarters included a statement that "servicemen who come under the control of enemy forces after the proclamation of the Imperial Rescript will not be regarded as POWs" in its orders announcing the end of the war. While this measure was successful in avoiding unrest, it led to hostility between those who surrendered before and after the end of the war and denied prisoners of the Soviets POW status. In most instances the troops who surrendered were not taken into captivity, and were repatriated to the Japanese home islands after giving up their weapons.
Repatriation of some Japanese POWs was delayed by Allied authorities. Until late 1946, the United States retained almost 70,000 POWs to dismantle military facilities in the Philippines, Okinawa, central Pacific, and Hawaii. British authorities retained 113,500 of the approximately 750,000 POW's in south and south-east Asia until 1947; the last POW's captured in Burma and Malaya returned to Japan in October 1947. The British also used armed Japanese Surrendered Personnel to support Dutch and French attempts to reestablish their colonial empires in the Netherlands East Indies and Indochina respectively. At least 81,090 Japanese personnel died in areas occupied by the western Allies and China before they could be repatriated to Japan. Historian John W. Dower has attributed these deaths to the "wretched" condition of Japanese military units at the end of the war.
Nationalist Chinese forces took the surrender of 1.2 million Japanese military personnel following the war. While the Japanese feared that they would be subjected to reprisals, they were generally treated well. This was because the Nationalists wished to seize as many weapons as possible, ensure that the departure of the Japanese military didn't create a security vacuum and discourage Japanese personnel from fighting alongside the Chinese communists. The nationalists retained over 50,000 POWs, most of whom had technical skills, until the second half of 1946, however. Tens of thousands of Japanese prisoners captured by the Chinese communists were serving in their military forces in August 1946 and more than 60,000 were believed to still be held in Communist-controlled areas as late as April 1949.
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese also surrendered to Soviet forces in the last weeks of the war and after Japan's surrender. The Soviet Union claimed to have taken 594,000 Japanese POWs, of whom 70,880 were immediately released, but Japanese researchers have estimated that 850,000 were captured.[23] Unlike the prisoners held by China or the western Allies, these men were treated harshly by their captors, and over 60,000 died. Japanese POWs were forced to undertake hard labour and were held in primitive conditions with inadequate food and medical treatments. This treatment was similar to that experienced by German POWs in the Soviet Union. The treatment of Japanese POW's in Siberia was also similar to that suffered by Soviet prisoners who were being held in the area.
Due to the shame associated with surrendering, few Japanese POW's wrote memoirs after the war
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_War
Graphic Organizer
Annotated Map
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| ANNOTATED MAP |
Seen above is an annotated map that shows the major events during world war 2 that led to the defeat of Japan
The Penalties
The Penalties imposed on the defeated nation and of its reconciliation with the harmed countries
The penalties imposed on the defeated nation differ from every country. One thing for sure is that the nation lost lots of its citizens, for example china declared that they lost over 14 million people in the war.and as for Japan, if your nation is captured you will be sent to a concentration camp similar to the Nazi's.In the end of the war, the death penalty was imposed. There was a trial for war criminals. Japan was not allowed to build their constitution and they have a limit on their expenses. They reconciled because of the united nations that happened in 1945. The united nations is to promote international cooperation.
The penalties imposed on the defeated nation differ from every country. One thing for sure is that the nation lost lots of its citizens, for example china declared that they lost over 14 million people in the war.and as for Japan, if your nation is captured you will be sent to a concentration camp similar to the Nazi's.In the end of the war, the death penalty was imposed. There was a trial for war criminals. Japan was not allowed to build their constitution and they have a limit on their expenses. They reconciled because of the united nations that happened in 1945. The united nations is to promote international cooperation.
War in the Pacific Timeline
War in the Pacific: Timeline.
The topic in this post is the War in the pacific, but before we begin, here's a brief background of The Pacific War.
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II which was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area which included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, the South-East Asia, and in China (including the 1945 Soviet-Japanese conflict).
Map of the Japanese Empire at its peak in 1942.
The topic in this post is the War in the pacific, but before we begin, here's a brief background of The Pacific War.
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War, was the theater of World War II which was fought in the Pacific and East Asia. It was fought over a vast area which included the Pacific Ocean and islands, the South West Pacific, the South-East Asia, and in China (including the 1945 Soviet-Japanese conflict).
1941
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; also attack the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway.
December 8, 1941 - U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan. Japanese land near Singapore and enter Thailand.
December 9, 1941 - China declares war on Japan.
December 10, 1941 - Japanese invade the Philippines and also seize Guam.
December 11, 1941 - Japanese invade Burma.
December 15, 1941 - First Japanese merchant ship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
December 16, 1941 - Japanese invade British Borneo.
December 18, 1941 - Japanese invade Hong Kong.
December 22, 1941 - Japanese invade Luzon in the Philippines.
December 23, 1941 - General Douglas MacArthur begins a withdrawal from Manila to Bataan; Japanese take Wake Island.
December 25, 1941 - British surrender at Hong Kong.
December 26, 1941 - Manila declared an open city.
December 27, 1941 - Japanese bomb Manila.
As you can see in the year 1941 the first thing that triggered the war was the bombing of pearl harbor. And thus resulting in war which America and Britainh declare against Japan. And so, China declares war on Japan. And Finally the long awaited, japan invades Philippines and as we all know Philippines was still under the Spanish rule.
1942
Map of the Japanese Empire at its peak in 1942.
January 2, 1942 - Manila and U.S. Naval base at Cavite captured by the Japanese.
January 7, 1942 - Japanese attack Bataan in the Philippines.
January 11, 1942 - Japanese invade Dutch East Indies and Dutch Borneo.
January 16, 1942 - Japanese begin an advance into Burma.
January 18, 1942 - German-Japanese-Italian military agreement signed in Berlin.
January 19, 1942 - Japanese take North Borneo.
January 23, 1942 - Japanese take Rabaul on New Britain in the Solomon Islands and also invade Bougainville, the largest island.
January 27, 1942 - First Japanese warship sunk by a U.S. submarine.
January 30/31 - The British withdraw into Singapore. The siege of Singapore then begins.
February 1, 1942 - First U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war as YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conduct air raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
February 2, 1942 - Japanese invade Java in the Dutch East Indies.
February 8/9 - Japanese invade Singapore.
February 14, 1942 - Japanese invade Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies.
February 15, 1942 - British surrender at Singapore.
February 19, 1942 - Largest Japanese air raid since Pearl Harbor occurs against Darwin, Australia; Japanese invade Bali.
February 20, 1942 - First U.S. fighter ace of the war, Lt. Edward O'Hare from the LEXINGTON in action off Rabaul.
February 22, 1942 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General MacArthur out of the Philippines.
February 23, 1942 - First Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland as a submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, California.
February 24, 1942 - ENTERPRISE attacks Japanese on Wake Island.
February 26, 1942 - First U.S. carrier, the LANGLEY, is sunk by Japanese bombers.
February 27- March 1 - Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Java Sea as the largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the HOUSTON, is sunk.
March 4, 1942 - Two Japanese flying boats bomb Pearl Harbor; ENTERPRISE attacks Marcus Island, just 1000 miles from Japan.
March 7, 1942 - British evacuate Rangoon in Burma; Japanese invade Salamaua and Lae on New Guinea.
March 8, 1942 - The Dutch on Java surrender to Japanese.
March 11, 1942 - Gen. MacArthur leaves Corregidor and is flown to Australia. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright becomes the new U.S. commander.
March 18, 1942 - Gen. MacArthur appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater by President Roosevelt.
March 18, 1942 - War Relocation Authority established in the U.S. which eventually will round up 120,000 Japanese-Americans and transport them to barb-wired relocation centers. Despite the internment, over 17,000 Japanese-Americans sign up and fight for the U.S. in World War II in Europe, including the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit in U.S. history.
March 23, 1942 - Japanese invade the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
March 24, 1942 - Admiral Chester Nimitz appointed as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific theater.
April 3, 1942 - Japanese attack U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan.
April 6, 1942 - First U.S. troops arrive in Australia.
April 9, 1942 - U.S. forces on Bataan surrender unconditionally to the Japanese.
April 10, 1942 - Bataan Death March begins as 76,000 Allied POWs including 12,000 Americans are forced to walk 60 miles under a blazing sun without food or water toward a new POW camp, resulting in over 5,000 American deaths.
April 18, 1942 - Surprise U.S. 'Doolittle' B-25 air raid from the HORNET against Tokyo boosts Allied morale.
April 29, 1942 - Japanese take central Burma.
May 1, 1942 - Japanese occupy Mandalay in Burma.
May 3, 1942 - Japanese take Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
May 5, 1942 - Japanese prepare to invade Midway and the Aleutian Islands.
May 6, 1942 - Japanese take Corregidor as Gen. Wainwright unconditionally surrenders all U.S. And Filipino forces in the Philippines.
May 7-8, 1942 - Japan suffers its first defeat of the war during the Battle of the Coral Sea off New Guinea - the first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using aircraft without the opposing ships ever sighting each other.
May 12, 1942 - The last U.S. Troops holding out in the Philippines surrender on Mindanao.
May 20, 1942 - Japanese complete the capture of Burma and reach India.
June 4-5, 1942 - Turning point in the war occurs with a decisive victory for the U.S. against Japan in the Battle of Midway as squadrons of U.S. torpedo planes and dive bombers from ENTERPRISE, HORNET, and YORKTOWN attack and destroy four Japanese carriers, a cruiser, and damage another cruiser and two destroyers. U.S. loses YORKTOWN.
June 7, 1942 - Japanese invade the Aleutian Islands.
June 9, 1942 - Japanese postpone further plans to take Midway.
July 21, 1942 - Japanese land troops near Gona on New Guinea.
August 7, 1942 - The first U.S. amphibious landing of the Pacific War occurs as 1st Marine Division invades Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
August 8, 1942 - U.S. Marines take the unfinished airfield on Guadalcanal and name it Henderson Field after Maj. Lofton Henderson, a hero of Midway.
August 8/9 - A major U.S. naval disaster off Savo Island, north of Guadalcanal, as eight Japanese warships wage a night attack and sink three U.S. heavy cruisers, an Australian cruiser, and one U.S. destroyer, all in less than an hour. Another U.S. cruiser and two destroyers are damaged. Over 1,500 Allied crewmen are lost.
August 17, 1942 - 122 U.S. Marine raiders, transported by submarine, attack Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands.
August 21, 1942 - U.S. Marines repulse first major Japanese ground attack on Guadalcanal.
August 24, 1942 - U.S. And Japanese carriers meet in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons resulting in a Japanese defeat.
August 29, 1942 - The Red Cross announces Japan refuses to allow safe passage of ships containing supplies for U.S. POWs.
August 30, 1942 - U.S. Troops invade Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands.
September 9/10 - A Japanese floatplane flies two missions dropping incendiary bombs on U.S. forests in the state of Oregon - the only bombing of the continental U.S. during the war. Newspapers in the U.S. voluntarily withhold this information.
September 12-14 - Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal.
September 15, 1942 - A Japanese submarine torpedo attack near the Solomon Islands results in the sinking of the Carrier WASP, Destroyer O'BRIEN and damage to the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA.
September 27, 1942 - British offensive in Burma.
October 11/12 - U.S. cruisers and destroyers defeat a Japanese task force in the Battle of Cape Esperance off Guadalcanal.
October 13, 1942 - The first U.S. Army troops, the 164th Infantry Regiment, land on Guadalcanal.
October 14/15 - Japanese bombard Henderson Field at night from warships then send troops ashore onto Guadalcanal in the morning as U.S. planes attack.
October 15/17 - Japanese bombard Henderson Field at night again from warships.
October 18, 1942 - Vice Admiral William F. Halsey named as the new commander of the South Pacific Area, in charge of the Solomons-New Guinea campaign.
October 26, 1942 - Battle of Santa Cruz off Guadalcanal between U.S. And Japanese warships results in the loss of the Carrier HORNET.
November 14/15 - U.S. And Japanese warships clash again off Guadalcanal resulting in the sinking of the U.S. Cruiser JUNEAU and the deaths of the five Sullivan brothers.
November 23/24 - Japanese air raid on Darwin, Australia.
November 30 - Battle of Tasafaronga off Guadalcanal.
December 2, 1942 - Enrico Fermi conducts the world's first nuclear chain reaction test at the University of Chicago.
December 20-24 - Japanese air raids on Calcutta, India.
December 31, 1942 - Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives permission to his troops to withdraw from Guadalcanal after five months of bloody fighting against U.S. Forces
As seen above, Japan, in the year 1942 reached its peak, you can tell by the numerous events that happened this year. The Manila and U.S base was finally captured by the japanese, and in the end of the year Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives permission to his troops to withdraw from Guadalcanal after five months of bloody fighting against U.S forces.
1943
January 2, 1943 - Allies take Buna in New Guinea.
January 22, 1943 - Allies defeat Japanese at Sanananda on New Guinea.
February 1, 1943 - Japanese begin evacuation of Guadalcanal.
February 8, 1943 - British-Indian forces begin guerrilla operations against Japanese in Burma.
February 9, 1943 - Japanese resistance on Guadalcanal ends.
March 2-4 - U.S. victory over Japanese in the Battle of Bismarck Sea.
April 18, 1943 - U.S. code breakers pinpoint the location of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto flying in a Japanese bomber near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands. Eighteen P-38 fighters then locate and shoot down Yamamoto.
April 21, 1943 - President Roosevelt announces the Japanese have executed several airmen from the Doolittle Raid.
April 22, 1943 - Japan announces captured Allied pilots will be given "one way tickets to hell."
May 10, 1943 - U.S. Troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands.
May 14, 1943 - A Japanese submarine sinks the Australian hospital ship CENTAUR resulting in 299 dead.
May 31, 1943 - Japanese end their occupation of the Aleutian Islands as the U.S. completes the capture of Attu.
June 1, 1943 - U.S. begins submarine warfare against Japanese shipping.
June 21, 1943 - Allies advance to New Georgia, Solomon Islands.
July 8, 1943 - B-24 Liberators flying from Midway bomb Japanese on Wake Island.
August 1/2 - A group of 15 U.S. PT-boats attempt to block Japanese convoys south of Kolombangra Island in the Solomon Islands. PT-109, commanded by Lt. John F. Kennedy, is rammed and sunk by the Japanese Cruiser AMAGIRI, killing two and badly injuring others. The crew survives as Kennedy aids one badly injured man by towing him to a nearby atoll.
August 6/7, 1943 - Battle of Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands.
August 25, 1943 - Allies complete the occupation of New Georgia.
September 4, 1943 - Allies recapture Lae-Salamaua, New Guinea.
October 7, 1943 - Japanese execute approximately 100 American POWs on Wake Island.
October 26, 1943 - Emperor Hirohito states his country's situation is now "truly grave."
November 1, 1943 - U.S. Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
November 2, 1943 - Battle of Empress Augusta Bay.
November 20, 1943 - U.S. Troops invade Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.
November 23, 1943 - Japanese end resistance on Makin and Tarawa.
December 15, 1943 - U.S. Troops land on the Arawe Peninsula of New Britain in the Solomon Islands.
December 26, 1943 - Full Allied assault on New Britain as 1st Division Marines invade Cape Gloucester.
In the year 1943, As you can see above alot of countries made allies and they soon defeat Japan in new Guinea. The most shocking event in my opinion is when on october 7, 1943, the Japanese execute approximately 100 American POW's on Wake Island.
1944
January 9, 1944 - British and Indian troops recapture Maungdaw in Burma.
January 31, 1944 - U.S. Troops invade Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.
February 1-7, 1944 - U.S. Troops capture Kwajalein and Majura Atolls in the Marshall Islands.
February 17/18 - U.S. Carrier-based planes destroy the Japanese naval base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.
February 20, 1944 - U.S. Carrier-based and land-based planes destroy the Japanese base at Rabaul.
February 23, 1944 - U.S. Carrier-based planes attack the Mariana Islands.
February 24, 1944 - Merrill's Marauders begin a ground campaign in northern Burma.
March 5, 1944 - Gen. Wingate's groups begin operations behind Japanese lines in Burma.
March 15, 1944 - Japanese begin offensive toward Imphal and Kohima.
April 17, 1944 - Japanese begin their last offensive in China, attacking U.S. air bases in eastern China.
April 22, 1944 - Allies invade Aitape and Hollandia in New Guinea.
May 27, 1944 - Allies invade Biak Island, New Guinea.
June 5, 1944 - The first mission by B-29 Superfortress bombers occurs as 77 planes bomb Japanese railway facilities at Bangkok, Thailand.
June 15, 1944 - U.S. Marines invade Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
June 15/16 - The first bombing raid on Japan since the Doolittle raid of April 1942, as 47 B-29s based in Bengel, India, target the steel works at Yawata.
June 19, 1944 - The "Marianas Turkey Shoot" occurs as U.S. Carrier-based fighters shoot down 220 Japanese planes, while only 20 American planes are lost.
July 8, 1944 - Japanese withdraw from Imphal.
July 19, 1944 - U.S. Marines invade Guam in the Marianas.
July 24, 1944 - U.S. Marines invade Tinian.
July 27, 1944 - American troops complete the liberation of Guam.
August 3, 1944 - U.S. And Chinese troops take Myitkyina after a two month siege.
August 8, 1944 - American troops complete the capture of the Mariana Islands.
September 15, 1944 - U.S. Troops invade Morotai and the Paulaus.
October 11, 1944 - U.S. Air raids against Okinawa.
October 18, 1944 - Fourteen B-29s based on the Marianas attack the Japanese base at Truk.
October 20, 1944 - U.S. Sixth Army invades Leyte in the Philippines.
October 23-26 - Battle of Leyte Gulf results in a decisive U.S. Naval victory.
October 25, 1944 - The first suicide air (Kamikaze) attacks occur against U.S. warships in Leyte Gulf. By the end of the war, Japan will have sent an estimated 2,257 aircraft. "The only weapon I feared in the war," Adm. Halsey will say later.
November 11, 1944 - Iwo Jima bombarded by the U.S. Navy.
November 24, 1944 - Twenty four B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo.
December 15, 1944 - U.S. Troops invade Mindoro in the Philippines.
December 17, 1944 - The U.S. Army Air Force begins preparations for dropping the Atomic Bomb by establishing the 509th Composite Group to operate the B-29s that will deliver the bomb.
1945
January 3, 1945 - Gen. MacArthur is placed in command of all U.S. ground forces and Adm. Nimitz in command of all naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan itself.
January 4, 1945 - British occupy Akyab in Burma.
January 9, 1945 - U.S. Sixth Army invades Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines.
January 11, 1945 - Air raid against Japanese bases in Indochina by U.S. Carrier-based planes.
January 28, 1945 - The Burma road is reopened.
February 3, 1945 - U.S. Sixth Army attacks Japanese in Manila.
February 16, 1945 - U.S. Troops recapture Bataan in the Philippines.
February 19, 1945 - U.S. Marines invade Iwo Jima.
March 1, 1945 - A U.S. submarine sinks a Japanese merchant ship loaded with supplies for Allied POWs, resulting in a court martial for the captain of the submarine, since the ship had been granted safe passage by the U.S. Government.
March 2, 1945 - U.S. airborne troops recapture Corregidor in the Philippines.
March 3, 1945 - U.S. And Filipino troops take Manila.
March 9/10 - Fifteen square miles of Tokyo erupts in flames after it is fire bombed by 279 B-29s.
March 10, 1945 - U.S. Eighth Army invades Zamboanga Peninsula on Mindanao in the Philippines.
March 20, 1945 - British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
March 27, 1945 - B-29s lay mines in Japan's Shimonoseki Strait to interrupt shipping.
April 1, 1945 - The final amphibious landing of the war occurs as the U.S. Tenth Army invades Okinawa.
April 7, 1945 - B-29s fly their first fighter-escorted mission against Japan with P-51 Mustangs based on Iwo Jima; U.S. Carrier-based fighters sink the super battleship YAMATO and several escort vessels which planned to attack U.S. Forces at Okinawa.
April 12, 1945 - President Roosevelt dies, succeeded by Harry S. Truman.
May 8, 1945 - Victory in Europe Day.
May 20, 1945 - Japanese begin withdrawal from China.
May 25, 1945 - U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation Olympic, the invasion of Japan, scheduled for November 1.
June 9, 1945 - Japanese Premier Suzuki announces Japan will fight to the very end rather than accept unconditional surrender.
June 18, 1945 - Japanese resistance ends on Mindanao in the Philippines.
June 22, 1945 - Japanese resistance ends on Okinawa as the U.S. Tenth Army completes its capture.
June 28, 1945 - MacArthur's headquarters announces the end of all Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
July 5, 1945 - Liberation of Philippines declared.
July 10, 1945 - 1,000 bomber raids against Japan begin.
July 14, 1945 - The first U.S. Naval bombardment of Japanese home islands.
July 16, 1945 - First Atomic Bomb is successfully tested in the U.S.
July 26, 1945 - Components of the Atomic Bomb "Little Boy" are unloaded at Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
July 29, 1945 - A Japanese submarine sinks the Cruiser INDIANAPOLIS resulting in the loss of 881 crewmen. The ship sinks before a radio message can be sent out leaving survivors adrift for two days.
August 6, 1945 - First Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets.
August 8, 1945 - U.S.S.R. declares war on Japan then invades Manchuria.
August 9, 1945 - Second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from a B-29 flown by Maj. Charles Sweeney -- Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki then decide to seek an immediate peace with the Allies.
August 14, 1945 - Japanese accept unconditional surrender; Gen. MacArthur is appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan.
August 16, 1945 - Gen. Wainwright, a POW since May 6, 1942, is released from a POW camp in Manchuria.
August 27, 1945 - B-29s drop supplies to Allied POWs in China.
August 29, 1945 - The Soviets shoot down a B-29 dropping supplies to POWs in Korea; U.S. Troops land near Tokyo to begin the occupation of Japan.
August 30, 1945 - The British reoccupy Hong Kong.
September 2, 1945 - Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay as 1,000 carrier-based planes fly overhead; President Truman declares VJ Day.
September 3, 1945 - The Japanese commander in the Philippines, Gen. Yamashita, surrenders to Gen. Wainwright at Baguio.
September 4, 1945 - Japanese troops on Wake Island surrender.
September 5, 1945 - British land in Singapore.
September 8, 1945 - MacArthur enters Tokyo.
September 9, 1945 - Japanese in Korea surrender.
September 13, 1945 - Japanese in Burma surrender.
October 24, 1945 - United Nations is born.
The year 1945, in my opinion is the best year in world history, United Nations was born and the Japanese finally surrender.
Source:
Source:
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/pacificwar/timeline.htm
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