| January |
|
| 9th |
British and Indian troops recapture
Maungdaw in Burma |
| 31st |
U.S. troops invade Kwajalein in the
Marshall Islands |
|
|
| February |
|
| 1st – 7th |
U.S. troops capture Kwajalein and Majura
Atolls in the Marshall Islands |
| 17th – 18th |
U.S. carrier-based planes destroy the
Japanese naval base at Truk in the Caroline Islands |
| 20th |
U.S. carrier-based and land-based planes
destroy the Japanese base at Rabaul |
| 23rd |
U.S. carrier-based planes attack the
Mariana Islands |
| 24th |
Merrill's Marauders begin a ground
campaign in northern Burma |
|
|
| March |
|
| 5th |
Gen. Wingate's groups begin operations
behind Japanese lines in Burma |
| 15th |
Japanese begin offensive toward Imphal
and Kohima |
|
|
| April |
|
| 17th |
Japanese begin their last offensive in
China, attacking U.S. air bases in eastern China |
| 22nd |
Allies invade Aitape and Hollandia in New
Guinea |
|
|
| May |
|
| 27th |
Allies invade Biak Island, New Guinea |
|
|
| June |
|
| 5th |
The first mission by B-29 Superfortress
bombers occurs as 77 planes bomb Japanese railway facilities at
Bangkok, Thailand |
| 15th |
U.S. Marines invade Saipan in the Mariana
Islands |
| 15th – 16th |
The first bombing raid on Japan since the
Doolittle raid of April 1942, as 47 B-29s based in Bengel, India,
target the steel works at Yawata |
| 19th |
The "Marianas Turkey Shoot" occurs as
U.S. carrier-based fighters shoot down 220 Japanese planes, while only
20 American planes are lost |
|
|
| July |
|
| 8th |
Japanese withdraw from Imphal |
| 19th |
U.S. Marines invade Guam in the Marianas |
| 24th |
U.S. Marines invade Tinian |
| 27th |
American troops complete the liberation
of Guam |
|
|
| August |
|
| 3rd |
U.S. and Chinese troops take Myitkyina
after a two month siege |
| 8th |
American troops complete the capture of
the Mariana Islands |
|
|
| September |
|
| 15th |
U.S. troops invade Morotai and the Paulaus |
|
|
| October |
|
| 11th |
U.S. air raids against Okinawa |
| 18th |
Fourteen B-29s based on the Marianas
attack the Japanese base at Truk |
| 20th |
U.S. Sixth Army invades Leyte in the
Philippines |
| 23rd – 26th |
Battle of Leyte Gulf results in a
decisive U.S. Naval victory |
| 25th |
The first suicide air (Kamikaze) attacks
occur against U.S. warships in Leyte Gulf. By the end of the war, Japan
will have sent an estimated 2,257 aircraft. "The only weapon I feared
in the war," Adm. Halsey will say later |
|
|
| November |
|
| 11th |
Iwo Jima bombarded by the U.S. Navy |
| 24th |
Twenty-four B-29s bomb the Nakajima
aircraft factory near Tokyo |
|
|
| December |
|
| 15th |
U.S. troops invade Mindoro in the
Philippines |
| 17th |
The U.S. Army Air Force begins
preparations for dropping the Atomic Bomb by establishing the 509th
Composite Group to operate the B-29s that will deliver the bomb |
