The Second World War
The Pacific Theater
1941-1945
First Phase
From 7 December 1941, until June 1942, the Japanese successfully attacked the Pacific Fleet’s base at Pearl Harbor, took Wake Island and Guam, invaded and conquered the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya, and seized the British base of Singapore. They conquered Burma thereby cutting off China from all overland routes to the western allies, and seized the Netherlands East Indies and British Borneo, thereby securing a much-needed source of oil. The Japanese advance came to a halt with the American victories at the Battle of Coral Sea (May 1942) and the Battle of Midway (June 1942).
Second Phase
The second phase in the Pacific War was one of relative stalemate. From June 1942 until late-1943, neither side could muster the land, sea, or air power required to take the offensive and seize the initiative from the other. The Battle of Guadalcanal was an example of this stalemate.
Third Phase
The third phase, from mid-1943 until September 1945, can be characterized as the period of the Allied offensives. Two drives were under American control; General Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Campaign and Admiral Chester Nimitz;s Central Pacific Campaign. MacArthur’s drive was characterized by a series of Army amphibious operations up the Solomon Island chain and along the northern coast of New Guinea, with the Philippine Islands as the ultimate objective. Nimitz’s strategy was designed to move directly toward Japan and to draw the Imperial Japanese navy into a decisive fleet engagement as happened at the Battles of the Philippine Sea (June 1944) and Layte Gulf (October 1944). MacArthur’s and Nimitz’s campaigns merged into one for the invasion of the Philippines. Afterwords the Central Pacific campaign continues with the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
Fourth Phase
During the latter stages of the war the Army Air Force, operating out of the Mariana islands and flying the B-29 Superfortress, which begun to fire bomb the cities of Japan. These raids culminated with the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki on 9 August 1945. Japan surrendered to the Allies on 2 September 1945.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, Pacific, Theater, Map, Color, Timeline, MacArthur, Nimitz, Philippines, Japan, Layte, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Wake, Guam, Pearl Harbor, Midway, Coral Sea, Burma
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