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Pearl Harbor is a U.S. naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, that was the scene of a devastating surprise attack by Japanese forces. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded.
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The battle was for a small island in Central Pacific with the Marines and civilians of the island defending against Japan invaders. It was a site for a submarine and air base for the U.S. that was partially completed. Just a few hours before the Pearl Harbor attack. Japan hit the island with 36 bombers. On December 11th a Japan naval task force, complete with destroyers and cruisers attempted an attack but was forced back by a strong defense on the coast from aircraft and guns.
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After the April 9, 1942 U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March.
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A Japanese invasion force succeeds in occupying Tulagi of the Solomon Islands in an expansion of Japan’s defensive perimeter. The United States, having broken Japan’s secret war code and forewarned of an impending invasion of Tulagi and Port Moresby, attempted to intercept the Japanese armada. Four days of battles between Japanese and American aircraft carriers resulted in 70 Japanese and 66 American warplanes destroyed.
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The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy that played out six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle (June 3-6, 1942) and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific.
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Weeks after Japan begins building a strategic airfield on Guadalcanal, part of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, U.S. forces launch a surprise attack, taking control of the airfield and forcing the Japanese into initial retreat. But with reinforcements arriving, hand-to-hand jungle combat follows with Japan finally retreating six months later, with 31,000 casualties and the loss of 38 ships. The Allies lose 29 ships and 7,100 soldiers.
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After the U.S. amphibious landing on the Philippine island of Leyte. The Japanese reacted with a plan to decoy the U.S. fleet north while moving three attack forces into Leyte Gulf. The U.S. discovery of one of the forces as it moved into position set off three days of continuous surface and air clashes. U.S. forces crippled the Japanese fleet and forced it to withdraw, allowing the U.S. to complete its invasion of the Philippines.
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The Battle of Iwo Jima was a military campaign between U.S. Marines and the Imperial Army of Japan. The island of Iwo Jima had three airfields that could serve as a staging facility for a potential invasion of mainland Japan. American forces invaded the island on February 19, 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted for five weeks. All but 200 of the 21,000 Japanese forces on the island were killed, as were almost 7,000 Marines. The strategic value of Iwo Jima was called into question.
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The Battle of Okinawa was the last major battle of World War II, and one of the bloodiest. The Navy’s Fifth Fleet and more than 180,000 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa for a final push towards Japan. The invasion was part of Operation Iceberg, a complex plan to invade and occupy the Ryukyu Islands. Though it resulted in an Allied victory, kamikaze fighters, rainy weather and fierce fighting on land, sea and air led to a large death on both sides.
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An American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first deployed atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80,000 people (tens of thousands more would later die of radiation exposure). Three days later, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15.