Heroes of the Pacific : History

1942

January
2^nd	Manila and U.S. Naval base at Cavite captured by the Japanese
7^th	Japanese attack Bataan in the Philippines
11^th	Japanese invade Dutch East Indies and Dutch Borneo
16^th	Japanese begin an advance into Burma
18^th	German-Japanese-Italian military agreement signed in Berlin
19^th	Japanese take North Borneo
23^rd	Japanese take Rabaul on New Britain in the Solomon Islands and also invade Bougainville, the largest island
27^th	First Japanese warship sunk by a U.S. submarine
30^th	The British withdraw into Singapore. The siege of Singapore then begins

February
1^st	First U.S. aircraft carrier offensive of the war as YORKTOWN and ENTERPRISE conduct air raids on Japanese bases in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands
2^nd	Japanese invade Java in the Dutch East Indies
8^th – 9^th	Japanese invade Singapore
14^th	Japanese invade Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies
15^th	British surrender at Singapore
19^th	Largest Japanese air raid since Pearl Harbor occurs against Darwin, Australia; Japanese invade Bali
20^th	First U.S. fighter ace of the war, Lt. Edward O'Hare from the LEXINGTON in action off Rabaul
22^nd	President Roosevelt orders Gen. MacArthur out of the Philippines
23^rd	First Japanese attack on the U.S. mainland as a submarine shells an oil refinery near Santa Barbara, Calif
24^th	ENTERPRISE attacks Japanese on Wake Island
26^th	First U.S. carrier, the LANGLEY, is sunk by Japanese bombers
27^th	Japanese naval victory in the Battle of the Java Sea as the largest U.S. warship in the Far East, the HOUSTON, is sunk

March
4^th	Two Japanese flying boats bomb Pearl Harbor; ENTERPRISE attacks Marcus Island, just 1000 miles from Japan
7^th	British evacuate Rangoon in Burma; Japanese invade Salamaua and Lae on New Guinea
8^th	The Dutch on Java surrender to Japanese
11^th	Gen. MacArthur leaves Corregidor and is flown to Australia. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright becomes the new U.S. commander
18^th	Gen. MacArthur appointed commander of the Southwest Pacific Theater by President Roosevelt
18^th	War Relocation Authority established in the U.S. which eventually will round up 120,000 Japanese-Americans and transport them to barb-wired relocation centers. Despite the internment, over 17,000 Japanese-Americans sign up and fight for the U.S. in World War II in Europe, including the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit in U.S. history
23^rd	Japanese invade the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal
24^th	Admiral Chester Nimitz appointed as Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific theater

April
3^rd	Japanese attack U.S. and Filipino troops at Bataan
6^th	First U.S. troops arrive in Australia
9^th	U.S. forces on Bataan surrender unconditionally to the Japanese
10^th	Bataan Death March begins as 76,000 Allied POWs including 12,000 Americans are forced to walk 60 miles under a blazing sun without food or water toward a new POW camp, resulting in over 5,000 American deaths
18^th	Surprise U.S. "Doolittle" B-25 air raid from the HORNET against Tokyo boosts Allied morale
29^th	Japanese take central Burma

May
1^st	Japanese occupy Mandalay in Burma
3^rd	Japanese take Tulagi in the Solomon Islands
5^th	Japanese prepare to invade Midway and the Aleutian Islands
6^th	Japanese take Corregidor as Gen. Wainwright unconditionally surrenders all U.S. and Filipino forces in the Philippines
7^th – 8^th	Japan suffers its first defeat of the war during the Battle of the Coral Sea off New Guinea - the first time in history that two opposing carrier forces fought only using aircraft without the opposing ships ever sighting each other
12^th	The last U.S. troops holding out in the Philippines surrender on Mindanao
20^th	Japanese complete the capture of Burma and reach India

June
4^th – 5^th	Turning point in the war occurs with a decisive victory for the U.S. against Japan in the Battle of Midway as squadrons of U.S. torpedo planes and dive bombers from ENTERPRISE, HORNET, and YORKTOWN attack and destroy four Japanese carriers, a cruiser, and damage another cruiser and two destroyers. U.S. loses YORKTOWN
7^th	Japanese invade the Aleutian Islands
9^th	Japanese postpone further plans to take Midway

July
21^st	Japanese land troops near Gona on New Guinea

August
7^th	The first U.S. amphibious landing of the Pacific War occurs as 1st Marine Division invades Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands
8^th	U.S. Marines take the unfinished airfield on Guadalcanal and name it Henderson Field after Maj. Lofton Henderson, a hero of Midway
9^th	A major U.S. naval disaster off Savo Island, north of Guadalcanal, as eight Japanese warships wage a night attack and sink three U.S. heavy cruisers, an Australian cruiser, and one U.S. destroyer, all in less than an hour. Another U.S. cruiser and two destroyers are damaged. Over 1,500 Allied crewmen are lost
17^th	122 U.S. Marine raiders, transported by submarine, attack Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands
21^st	U.S. Marines repulse first major Japanese ground attack on Guadalcanal
24^th	U.S. and Japanese carriers meet in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons resulting in a Japanese defeat
29^th	The Red Cross announces Japan refuses to allow safe passage of ships containing supplies for U.S. POWs
30^th	U.S. troops invade Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands

September
9^th – 10^th	A Japanese floatplane flies two missions dropping incendiary bombs on U.S. forests in the state of Oregon - the only bombing of the continental U.S. during the war. Newspapers in the U.S. voluntarily withhold this information
12^th – 14^th	Battle of Bloody Ridge on Guadalcanal
15^th	A Japanese submarine torpedo attack near the Solomon Islands results in the sinking of the Carrier WASP, Destroyer O'BRIEN and damage to the Battleship NORTH CAROLINA
27^th	British offensive in Burma

October
11^th – 12^th	.S. cruisers and destroyers defeat a Japanese task force in the Battle of Cape Esperance off Guadalcanal
13^th	The first U.S. Army troops, the 164th Infantry Regiment, land on Guadalcanal
14^th – 15^th	Japanese bombard Henderson Field at night from warships then send troops ashore onto Guadalcanal in the morning as U.S. planes attack
15^th – 17^th	Japanese bombard Henderson Field at night again from warships
18^th	Vice Admiral William F. Halsey named as the new commander of the South Pacific Area, in charge of the Solomons-New Guinea campaign
26^th	Battle of Santa Cruz off Guadalcanal between U.S. and Japanese warships results in the loss of the Carrier HORNET

November
14^th – 15^th	U.S. and Japanese warships clash again off Guadalcanal resulting in the sinking of the U.S. Cruiser JUNEAU and the deaths of the five Sullivan brothers
23^rd – 24^th	Japanese air raid on Darwin, Australia
30^th – 31^st	Battle of Tasafaronga off Guadalcanal

December
2^nd	Enrico Fermi conducts the worlds first nuclear chain reaction test at the University of Chicago
20^th – 24^th	Japanese air raids on Calcutta, India
31^st	Emperor Hirohito of Japan gives permission to his troops to withdraw from Guadalcanal after five months of bloody fighting against U.S. forces