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World War II
World In Flames
War in the Pacific
Decmeber, 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
U.S. and Britain
declare war on
Japan; China
declares war on
Japan later in
December.
War in the Philippines begins with Japanese air
attacks; much of the American bomber force is
destroyed on the ground at Clark Field.
• Japan invades Malaya (today known as
Malaysia); Japanese aircraft sink a British
battleship and a battle cruiser off the coast
of Malaya.
• Japan takes Guam and Wake Island in the
central Pacific.
• Japan invades Hong Kong; British forces
surrender.
• In the Philippines: Japanese forces take
Manila;
• American and Filipino troops withdraw to
Bataan peninsula.
• January, 1942, Japan invades Burma.
• Malaya and the Solomon Islands fall.
Rabaul, on New Britain island north of
New Guinea, becomes an important
Japanese base.
February, 1942, in the first U.S. carrier offensive of
the war, air raids are launched on Japanese bases
in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
Japan invades Singapore; British surrender.
Japan overruns Dutch East Indies
FDR announces that, by Executive Order, Pacific Coast
Japanese Americans will be relocated to internment camps.
During the course of the war, over 17,000 Japanese
Americans volunteer and fight for the U.S. in Europe.
• FDR orders MacArthur
out of the Philippines.
• Battle of the Java Sea in
Indonesia: Japan
destroys Dutch-American
naval force.
• March, 1942, Japan takes
Indonesia and the Dutch
East Indies
• Japan invades New
Guinea.
• MacArthur leaves the
Philippines.
• April, 1942, American and
Filipino forces on Bataan
surrender.
Bataan Death March: Over 12 days, Japanese troops
force captured American and Filipino troops to walk 60
miles without food or water to prison camps.
Approximately 1,000 Americans die during the march.
Surprise U.S. air raids on Tokyo led
by Lt. Col. James Doolittle.
• May, 1942, American and Filipino forces
on Corregidor in the Philippines surrender.
• Battle of the Coral Sea: In the first
Japanese defeat of the war, American
forces sink a Japanese carrier and badly
damage two others heading for New
Guinea.
• Japan completes capture of Burma and
reaches India.
VT-6 on the deck of Enterprise,
prior to launch at Midway.
June, 1942, Battle of Midway: In what is later seen as
the "turning point" of the Pacific war, American carrier
aircraft sink all four of the Japanese navy's major aircraft
carriers along with a cruiser. (Japan faced a critical
shortage of experienced pilots for the rest of the war.)
March, 1943, Battle of Battle of the Bismarck Sea:
Americans sink eight Japanese transports and four
destroyers bound for New Guinea.
June, 1943, Battle of the Philippine Sea: American
naval forces destroy three Japanese aircraft carriers
and 450 aircraft during the invasion of Saipan.
October, 1943,
Battle of Leyte
Gulf: In the largest
naval battle of the
Pacific War,
American forces
destroy much of
the remaining
Japanese navy.
The first kamikaze
air attacks occur
during this battle.
THE SUICIDE AIR OFFENSIVES OF WORLD WAR II
March, 1945, U.S. forces take Iwo Jima. American
planes firebomb Tokyo, hoping to force a surrender.
On April 12, 1945, Harry S. Truman
became President of the U.S.
Battle of Okinawa: In the final amphibious landing of the war,
American forces launch a major attack against more than
130,000 defenders. American forces retake the island.
American B-29s drop
atomic bombs on
Hiroshima (August 6)
and Nagasaki
(August 9).
Thermal Radiation Heat Burns (Nagasaki)
A boy was exposed to thermal rays about 1.5 miles
from the hypocenter.
VJ Day (September 2, 1945):
Japan formally surrenders.