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The timespan of the war.
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Occurring only nine hours after Pearl Harbour, General Douglas MacArthur failed to prepare troops for a defensive attack against Japan as Japanese pilots headed for the Phillippines.
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The morning of 7 December was quickly turned upside-down as Japanese fighter planes bombarded the American naval base located on the island. Many American warships were sunk, and thousands were killed. This was the pivotal event that led the United States into World War II.
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General Douglass MacArthur stationed most of the U.S. Filipino forces as well as their air and naval power in Manila, the capital of the Phillipines. Japan sent their Fourteenth Army, Third Fleet, the Second Fleet, and the Eleventh Air Fleet and 5th Air Division. Nearly all of the planes and ships stationed there were destroyed.
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Japan sent a strong force, forcng MacArthur to reinforce at the Bataan penninsula. Japanese infiltrators broke their lines taking away half of their territory.
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Japan attacks the Americans at the Bataan Penninsula. Five days later Gerneral Edward King surrendered and the Bataan Death March began.
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American and Filipino PoWs were forced by Japanese soldiers to walk 80 miles to Camp O'Donnell after the Battle of Bataan. During the march, the prisoners suffered malnourishment and physical abuse from the Japanese. Tens of thousands died during the walk.
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80 B-25s were launched from the USS Hornet, 650 miles out from Tokyo. Thirteen of the bombers bombed Tokyo as well as three other high priority Japanese targets. Four of the planes landed in China, one landed in the USSR, and all of the others parachuted into China. 71 of the 80 fliers made it home safely
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Japan purposfully sent codes to Commander Joseph Rochefort expecting them to get intercepted. America was lead to believe Japan was attacking Port Moresby in New Guinea. The U.S. sent the two carriers th Lexington and Yorktown to intercept Japan. It was the first battle between carriers in history. The Japanese carrier Shoho was sunk, but the Lexington was damaged so badly it had to be scraped and the Yorktown had a lage hole in the flight deck. After 4 days America won the battle on May 8th.
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The island of Corregidor fell to Japan, stretching the Japanese sphere of power to cover BUrma, Malaya, the East Indies, the Philippines, an much of Indo-China, all of the old European colonies.
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Yamamoto sent a diversionary fleet to the Aleutian Islands and the an armada to the island of Midway, hoping Nimitz would divide his forces. Codebreakers informed Nimitz that Midway was the real target, so he sent carriers 'Hornet' and 'Enterprise' to Midway. Engineers worked vigorously to repair the 'Yorktown' in time. After meeting unexpected resistance, Japan withdrew their aircraft. The U.S. counter attacked and sunk three of Japan's carriers. The last Japanese carrier sunk the 'Yorktown'.
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America invaded and successfully took the islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida, but more importantly Henderson airfield, which was under construction on Guadalcanal. Japan had three major invasions and seven major naval battles-- of those two carrier battles-- to try to retake Henderson airfield. All attempts failed, however, weakening Japan's power in the Pacific.
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Japan withdrew from the Guadalcanal, naming America as the victors. This would not have been possible had the U.S. not crippled the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway. The weakened Japanese navy was unable to conquer the captured islands.
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America landed on the island of of Peleliu thinking they would conquer the island within four days. The austere Japanese made the battle drag on for two months. Americans attacked a heavily-reinforced airfield. After six days of suffering, constant artillery fire, and heat exhaustion, they finally captured the airfield. It is highly controversial whether this battle was worth the effort since the casualties were so absurdly high-- a total of nearly 10,000 casualties were sustained by the U.S.
