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Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Just before 8 a.m. on December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President Franklin D. Roosevelt -
Japanese bomb the Philippines, destroying many aircraft at Clark Field
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About 43,000 Japanese troops begin the main invasion of Luzon; American and Filipino troops begin to amass on Bataan
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Manila declared "open city"
In 1941, in an effort to spare further damage to the city and its civilians, Manila is declared an open city by General Douglas MacArthur. All military installations were ordered removed.n the imminent capture of a city the government or military structure of the nation will sometimes call it a open city. Also announcing that the City has failed to defend itself. -
Ground war in progress on Bataan
Though the USAFFE was supported by a large amount of artillery, its position was weakened due to a tenuous supply situation. The speed of the Japanese advance had prevented the large scale stockpiling of supplies and the number of troops and civilians on the peninsula exceeded prewar estimates. As Homma prepared to attack, MacArthur repeatedly lobbied leaders in Washington, DC for reinforcements and aid. On January 9, Lieutenant General Akira Nara opened the assault on Bataan when his troops adv -
Gen. Douglas MacArthur evacuated to Australia from Corregidor
General Douglas MacArthur Left Corregidor Island In a ''PT Boat''.
Japanese warships patrolled the seas. After 2 days in the stormy sea's and Japanese Warships he finally Reached Mindanao. -
Gen. Jonathan Wainwright asks to surrender Corregidor
When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines to escape to Australia he left Lt. General Jonathan Wainwright in command. General Wainwright took his command on the island of Corregidor and placed Major General Edward P. King in command of the troops on Bataan. But within a short time, and without Wainwright's approval, King was forced to surrender his troops. -
MacArthur returns, coming ashore at Leyte in the southern Philippines
fter leaving Corregidor, MacArthur and his family traveled by boat 560 miles to the Philippine island of Mindanao, braving mines, rough seas, and the Japanese navy. At the end of the hair-raising 35-hour journey, MacArthur told the boat commander, John D. Bulkeley, “You’ve taken me out of the jaws of death, and I won’t forget it.” On March 17, the general and his family boarded a B-17 Flying Fortress for northern Australia. He then took another aircraft and a long train ride down to Melbourne. D -
Battle of Manila begins
The one-month battle, which culminated in a terrible bloodbath and complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific theater, and ended almost three years of Japanese military occupation in the Philippines (1942–1945). The city's capture was marked as General Douglas MacArthur's key to victory in the campaign of reconquest. -
Manila officially liberated, but the city is devastated by bombing and the Manila Massacre, in which about 100,000 people were killed.
The battle for the liberation of Manila—waged from February 3 to March 3, 1945, between Philippine and American forces, and the Imperial Japanese forces—is widely considered to be one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War. One hundred thousand men, women, and children perished. Architectural heritage was reduced to rubble—the City of Manila was the second most devastated Allied capital of World War II.
