PACIFIC WAR
DAY TO DAY
History has shown by itself how countries and alliances, causes and specific events, can affect the course of wars. The invasion of Poland in 1939 was surely the start of the greatest armed conflict, and the second belic incident that included countries from 2 or more continents. We all know the magnitude of the conflict and, surely, the unfortunate ending of the aggression among nations, nevertheless, many of these events are looked only by teachers and students as the primary events if the WWII, leaving aside one of the most important happenings in this same time, but different place, The Pacific War.
Up next is a time line of the most important events that conformed the main plot of the Pacific campaign (1941-1945),
1941
December 7 - Pearl Harbor under attack, U.S Navy is taken by surprise, allies lose one of its most important bases; “A day which will live in infamy”
1942
February 8 - Battle of Singapore, Japanese victory, more than 90,000 commonwealth troops are killed. This battle is recorded as the largest surrender in UK history.
February 27 - Battle of Java Sea, Japanese devastating victory over the allies, 3 destroyers, cruises and 2, 300 men are killed by the Japanese without losing a single ship.
May 8 - Battle of Coral Sea, Allies win; first time ever naval battle to be fought with aircraft carriers.
June 3 - Battle of Midway, , took place to the west of Hawaii, turning point in the Pacific War; Allies gain morale and crack the Japanese message code.
August 7- Battle of Guadalcanal, Allies take the offense successfully for the first time in the war, 23,000 soldiers were killed.
June - Allies land on The Marianas Islands, they install a base that would become an strategic point to send troops into Japanese mainland.
October 23 - Battle of Leyte Gulf
1945
February - Battle of Iwo Jima, allies look for a base near the Marianas, as they approach to Japanese territory. Iwo Jima was crucial to supply airplanes with fuel as they escort B-29 bombers.
April 1 - Battle of Okinawa, represents the battle with more casualties in the Pacific scenario, more than 100, 000 men were killed as allies approached Japan.
April 12 - Truman elected president; Manhattan Project is revealed to the vice-president of Franklin D. Roosevelt after his death.
August 6 - Little boy lands in Hiroshima
August 9 - Fat man lands in Nagasaki
August 15 - Japanese imperial troop surrender to allied forces complying with terms set in the Potsdam Declaration.
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