User:Comfr/tl

This is a timeline of events that stretched over the period of World War II in the pacific.

March

 * 27 Japanese spy Takeo Yoshikawa arrives in Honolulu, Hawaii and begins to study the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor.

April

 * 13 Japan and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality pact.

May

 * 9 A Japanese brokered peace treaty signed in Tokyo ends the French-Thai War.

July

 * 3 US intelligence through its MAGIC intercepts discover Japanese plans to attack South East Asia.


 * 26 In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the seizure of all Japanese assets in the United States.


 * 28 Japanese troops occupy southern French Indochina. The Vichy French colonial government is allowed by the Japanese to continue to administer Vietnam. French repression continues. The Vichy French also agree to the occupation by the Japanese of bases in Indochina. Japanese yen became valueless and Japanese dollar bonds reduced in value to 20 to 30% of their par value on Wall Street.
 * 31 The Japanese naval ministry accuses the United States of intruding into their territorial waters at Sukumo Bay, and then fleeing. No evidence is offered to prove this allegation.

August

 * 1 The US announces an oil embargo against "aggressors" Japanese occupy Saigon, Vietnam.
 * 6 American and British governments warn Japan not to invade Thailand.

September

 * 6 Japanese imperial conference decides Japan will go to war with the United States if the oil embargo is not lifted

October

 * 17 The government of Japanese prime minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye collapses, leaving little hope for peace in the Pacific.
 * 18 Red Army troop reinforcements arrive in Moscow from Siberia; Stalin is assured that the Japanese will not attack the USSR from the East. General Hideki Tōjō becomes the 40th Prime Minister of Japan.
 * 21 Negotiations in Washington between the US and Japan seem headed toward failure.

November

 * 17 Joseph Grew, the United States ambassador to Japan, cables the State Department that Japan had plans to launch an attack against Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (his cable was ignored).
 * 26 A Japanese attack fleet of 33 warships and auxiliary craft, including six aircraft carriers, sails from northern Japan for the Hawaiian Islands. The Hull note ultimatum is delivered to Japan by the United States.

December





 * 2 Prime Minister Tojo rejects "peace feelers" from the US.
 * 3 Riley Fox ship gets bombed by Japanese War Boats.
 * 4 Japanese naval and army forces continue to move toward Pearl Harbor and South-east Asia.
 * 7 (December 8, Asian time zones) Japan launches an attack on Pearl Harbor, declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom and invades Thailand and British Malaya and launches aerial attacks against Guam, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Shanghai, Singapore and Wake Island. Canada declares war on Japan. Australia declares war on Japan.
 * 8 The United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and New Zealand declare war on Japan. Japanese forces take the Gilbert Islands (which include Tarawa). Clark Field in the Philippines is bombed, and many American aircraft are destroyed on the ground. Japanese troops attack Thailand in the Battle of Prachuab Khirikhan. The Battle of Hong Kong begins The Malayan Campaign begins.
 * 9 China officially declares war on Japan, although a de facto state of war has existed between the two countries since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7, 1937. Australia officially declares war on Japan. South Africa declares war on Japan, regarded as if at war from eight December 1941.
 * 10 British battlecruiser HMS Repulse (1916) and battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53) are sunk in a Japanese air attack in the South China Sea.
 * 11 Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The United States reciprocates and declares war on Germany and Italy. US forces repel a Japanese landing attempt at Wake Island. Japanese invade Burma.
 * 12 Japanese landings on the southern Philippine Islands—Samar, Jolo, Mindanao. India declares war on Japan. US seizes French ship Normandie.
 * 13 Japanese under General Yamashita continue their push into Malaya. Under General Homma the Japanese forces are firmly established in the northern Philippines. Hong Kong is threatened.
 * 16 Japan invades Borneo.
 * 18 Japanese troops land on Hong Kong Island.
 * 20 The battle for Wake Island continues with several Japanese ships sunk or damaged.
 * 22 The Japanese land at Lingayan Gulf, on the northern part of Luzon in the Philippines.
 * 23 A second Japanese landing attempt on Wake Island is successful, and the American garrison surrenders after hours of fighting. General MacArthur declares Manila an "Open City". Japanese forces land on Sarawak (Borneo).
 * 24 In the Philippines, American forces retreat into Bataan Peninsula. Japanese bomb Rangoon.
 * 25 Hong Kong surrenders to Japan.
 * 28 Japanese paratroopers land on Sumatra.

January

 * 1: Twenty-six Allied countries signed the Declaration by United Nations during the Arcadia Conference.


 * 2: Manila is captured by Japanese forces. They also take Cavite naval base, and the American and Filipino troops continue the retreat into Bataan.


 * 7:Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins.


 * Heavy air attacks on Malta; it is estimated that the bomb tonnage dropped on the island is twice that dropped on London.


 * 8: Japanese troops penetrated the outer lines of defense at Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.


 * 9: Japanese advances in Borneo met with little opposition.


 * 10: Japan declares war on the Netherlands.


 * 11: Japanese troops capture Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.


 * Japan invades the Dutch East Indies.


 * 19: Japanese forces take large numbers of British troops prisoner, north of Singapore.


 * 20: Japanese bomb Singapore as their troops approach the city.


 * 23: The Battle of Rabaul, on New Britain begins.


 * 24: American troops land in Samoa, as part of a strategy to stop the Japanese advance in the Pacific.


 * 25: Thailand declares war on the United States and United Kingdom.


 * Japanese troops invade the Solomon Islands.


 * 27: The British withdraw all troops back into Singapore.


 * 31: The Japanese take the port of Moulamein, Burma; they now threaten Rangoon as well as Singapore.


 * The last organised Allied forces leave Malaya, ending the 54-day battle.

February

 * 1:The United States Navy conducts the Marshalls-Gilberts raids attacking Jaluit, Mili, and Makin (Butaritari) islands as well as Kwajalein, Wotje, and Taroa.


 * United States automobile industry stops production and switches over the coming 12 months to producing war materials


 * 2: General Joseph ("Vinegar Joe") Stilwell is named Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek and Commander-in-Chief of the Allied forces in China.


 * 3: Japanese air power conducts airstrikes against Java, especially the naval base at Surabaya.


 * Port Moresby, New Guinea is bombed by the Japanese, increasing the threat to Australia posed by Japan.


 * 7: Americans continue their defence of Bataan against General Homma's troops.


 * 9: British troops are now in full retreat into Singapore for a final defence.


 * Top United States military leaders hold their first formal meeting to discuss American military strategy in the war.


 * 10:


 * 11: USS Saratoga (CV-3) is torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-6 480 miles southwest of Pearl Harbor


 * 13: The battle for Bataan continues.


 * 15: Singapore surrendered to Japanese forces; this is arguably the most devastating loss in British military history.


 * 16: Being discussed in high American government circles are plans for the internment of Japanese-Americans living generally in the western US.


 * The Japanese commit the Banka Island Massacre in which they open fire on Australian military nurses, killing 21.


 * 17: Orders are given for Rangoon to be evacuated as Japanese forces approach.


 * 19: Japanese aircraft attack Darwin, in Australia's Northern Territory.


 * President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 allowing the United States military to define areas as exclusionary zones. These zones affect the Japanese on the West Coast, and Germans and Italians primarily on the East Coast.


 * A military conscription law is passed in Canada.


 * 20: Japanese troops cross the important Salween River in Burma.


 * Japanese invade Bali and Timor by a combined use of paratroops and amphibious troops.


 * 22: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur to evacuate the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.


 * 25: The internment of Japanese-American citizens in the Western United States begins as fears of invasion increase.


 * 26: Vivian Bullwinkel, the only survivor of the Banka Island Massacre, is captured and imprisoned by the Japanese.


 * 27: Battle of the Java Sea – Under a Dutch Rear Admiral Karl Doorman, the combined forces lose 2 light cruisers and 3 destroyers.


 * USS Langley (CV-1) is attacked by nine Japanese Betty bombers in the Java Sea, damaged and later scuttled to prevent capture.


 * 28: Japanese land forces invade Java.

March

 * 3: Japanese aircraft make a surprising raid on the airfield and harbour at Broome, Western Australia.


 * 4: Japanese naval Operation K intended as a reconnaissance of Pearl Harbor and disruption of repair and salvage operations.


 * 5: The Japanese capture Batavia, the capital of the Dutch East Indies.


 * 6: Malta receives more fighters for its on-going defence.


 * 8: The Japanese land at Lae and Salamaua, on Huon Bay, New Guinea, beginning their move toward Port Moresby, New Guinea, and then Australia.


 * 9: Japanese troops entered Rangoon, Burma, which was abandoned by the British two days earlier. It appears that the Japanese are in control of Java, Burma, and New Guinea.


 * The Secretary of War reorganizes the General Headquarters (GHQ), United States Army into three major commands – Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, the latter of which is later redesignated Army Service Forces. At the same time, the four Defense commands and all Theaters Of Operations (TOPNS) are subordinated to the War Department General Staff.


 * 11: The Japanese land on Mindanao, the southernmost island in the Philippines.


 * 12: American troops begin to land in Nouméa, New Caledonia; it will become an important staging base for the eventual invasion of Guadalcanal.


 * 14: Japanese land troops in the Solomon Islands, underscoring Australia's dangerous situation, especially if, as it is soon made clear, an airfield is built on Guadalcanal.


 * The Japanese are now threatening American forces around Manila Bay; the retreat to Corregidor begins.


 * 17: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia, after leaving his headquarters in the Philippines.


 * 22: A fractured convoy reaches Malta, after heavy losses to the Luftwaffe and an Italian sea force. Continued heavy bombing attacks on the island with slight opposition from overtaxed RAF air forces.

April

 * 1: The Eastern Sea Frontier, desperately short on suitable escort vessels after the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, institutes an interim arrangement known as the "Bucket Brigaid," wherein vessels outside of protected harbors are placed in anchorages protected by netting after dark, and move only under whatever escort is available during the day. As word of this and similar measures reaches Dönitz, he does not wait to test their effectiveness, but instead shifts his U-boats to the area controlled by the Gulf Sea Frontier, where American anti-submarine measures are not as effective. As a result, in May more ships will be sunk in the Gulf, many of them off the Passes of the Mississippi, than off of the entire Eastern Seaboard.


 * The Pacific War Council meets for the first time in Washington. Intended to allow the smaller powers involved in fighting the Japanese to have some input into US decisions, its purpose is soon outstripped by events, notably the collapse of the ABDA Command.


 * 2: Over 24,000 sick and starving troops (American and Filipino) are now trapped on the Bataan Peninsula.


 * Japanese make landings on New Guinea, most importantly at Hollandia.


 * 3: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on United States and Filipino troops in Bataan.


 * Sustained Japanese air attacks on Mandalay in Burma.


 * 5: On Bataan, the Japanese overwhelm Mt. Samat, a strong point on Allied defensive line.


 * The Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon. Royal Navy heavy cruisers HMS Cornwall (56) and HMS Dorsetshire (40) are sunk southwest of the island.


 * 6: Japanese naval forces put troops ashore on Manus Island in the Bismarck Archipelago (some sources give a date of 8 April for these landings).


 * 8: American forces are strained for one last offensive on Bataan.


 * With the withdrawal of HMS Penelope (97) from Malta, Force K in Malta comes to a close.


 * 9: The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon; Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes (95) and Royal Australian Navy destroyer HMAS Vampire (D68) are sunk off the country's east coast.


 * Bataan falls to the Japanese. The "Bataan Death March" begins, as the captives are taken off to detention camps in the north. Corregidor, in the middle of Manila Bay, remains a final point of resistance.


 * 10: Japanese land on Cebu Island, a large middle island of the Philippines.


 * 12: Japanese forces capture Migyaungye in Burma.


 * 13: Anton Schmid an Austrian soldier of the Wehrmacht is put to death, after witnessing the Ponary Massacre and saving Jews.


 * 15: Malta is awarded the George Cross by King George VI for "heroism and devotion".


 * Soldiers of the I Burma Corps begin to destroy the infrastructure of the Yenangyaung oil fields to prevent the advancing Japanese from capturing them intact.


 * 18: Doolittle Raid on Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokohama. Jimmy Doolittle's B-25s take off from USS Hornet (CV-8). The raids are a great boost of morale for Americans whose diet has been mostly bad news.


 * 29: The "Baedeker raids" continue, focused on Norwich and York.


 * Japanese cut Burma Road with the capture of Lashio in Burma.


 * Adolf Hitler summons Benito Mussolini and Galeazzo Ciano to a summit conference at Salzburg. Like most Hitlerian conferences, this one is actually a thinly-disguised attempt to harangue the invitees into compliance with the Fuehrer's will; in this case, the Italians are to commit more troops to the Eastern Front. Hitler is successful, and Mussolini agrees to send an additional seven divisions, as well as the two already promised. These unfortunate troops will be formed into the Eighth Italian Army and attached to von Bock's (later von Weichs's) Army Group B.

May

 * 1: Rommel readies for a new offensive during the early part of this month.


 * Troops of the Japanese Fifteenth Army under General Shojiro Iida take Mandalay and Monywa, securing the western terminus of the Burma Road.


 * 2: In response to American intelligence intercepts, which warn of the impending Japanese landings, the Australian garrison is evacuated from Tulagi.


 * 3: In the initial move of the Japanese strategic plan to capture Port Moresby, Japanese forces under Admiral Kiyohide Shima make unopposed landings on Tulagi, opening the Battle of the Coral Sea.


 * American General Joseph Stilwell decides that nothing more can be accomplished in Burma, and that the time has come to evacuate.


 * 4: US Rear Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher's Task Force 17 makes the first carrier strike of the Battle of the Coral Sea, attacking Japanese naval targets near Tulagi.


 * Howell and his party of 114, mostly Americans, begin their trek to the Indian border and safety. To reach India, Stilwell will not only have to stay ahead of the Japanese, but beat the coming monsoon.


 * 5: Heavy Japanese artillery attack on Corregidor.


 * British forces begin "Operation Ironclad": the invasion of Madagascar to keep the Vichy French territory from falling to a possible Japanese invasion.


 * In the Coral Sea, both Japanese and American carrier aircraft spend this day and the following one searching for each other's ships, with no success, even though at one point the opposing carrier groups are separated by less than a hundred miles of ocean.


 * General Stilwell abandons his trucks, which constantly become stuck and so are actually impeding progress rather than aiding it. He retains his Jeeps, which do better. Late in the day his party arrives at Indaw.


 * 6: On Corregidor, Lt. General Jonathan M. Wainwright surrenders the last U.S. forces in the Philippines to Lt. General Masaharu Homma. About 12,000 are made prisoners. Homma will soon face criticism from his superiors over the amount of time it has taken him to reduce the Philippines, and be forced into retirement (1943).


 * After a pep talk, General Stilwell and his party of 114 set out from Indaw on foot, with only 11 Jeeps to carry their supplies and any incapacitated, to reach the Indian border. He sends a last radio message which ends, "Catastrophe quite possible." The radio is then destroyed.


 * In the Coral Sea, Japanese search planes spot refueling ship USS Neosho (AO-23) and destroyer USS Sims (DD-409), which have retired from Fletcher's Task Force 17 into what should have been safer waters to refuel Sims. They are mistaken for an aircraft carrier and a cruiser. Japanese Admiral Takagi, believing he has at last found the location of Fletcher's main force, orders a full out attack by carriers JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōkaku and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Zuikaku and sinks both ships. This distraction helps prevent the Japanese from finding the real location of Fletcher's carriers. Meanwhile, Fletcher has a similar false alarm, the spotting of two cruisers and two destroyers being mistakenly encrypted as "two carriers and four cruisers." By chance, though, planes from USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Yorktown (CV-5) stumble across light carrier JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōhō while pursuing the false lead and sink her, leading to the first use in the American Navy of the signal, "Scratch one flattop." Admiral Inoue is so alarmed by the loss of Shōhō he halts the Port Moresby invasion group north of the Louisiades until the American carriers can be found and destroyed.


 * In Burma, General Stilwell must abandon his Jeeps. From here on all in the party will have to march. The fifty-nine-year-old General decides a cadence of one hundred five beats per minute will best match the disparate abilities of his party, and they march fifty minutes and rest ten each hour.


 * 8: In the Coral Sea, each side finally locates the other's main carrier groups, consisting of Japanese carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku, and American carriers Lexington and Yorktown. Several attacks follow. Only Zuikaku escapes unscathed; Shōkaku has her flight deck bent, requiring two months' repairs; Lexington is sunk and Yorktown damaged. Fletcher retires; this action closes the Battle. While arguably a stalemate or even tactical victory for the Japanese, who have sunk the most tonnage and the only large carrier, the Battle of the Coral Sea is usually seen as a strategic victory for the United States, as Admiral Inoue cancels the Port Moresby operation, the first significant failure of a Japanese strategic operation in the Pacific Theatre. In addition, Yorktown will be repaired in time to make important contributions at Midway (although she will not survive), whereas neither the damaged Shōkaku nor Zuikaku (which, although not directly attacked, has suffered unsustainable losses in aircraft), will be able to refit in time for Midway, giving the Japanese only four operable carriers available for that battle.


 * 9: On the night of 8/9 May 1942, gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebelled. Their mutiny was crushed and three of them were executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.


 * USS Wasp (CV-7) and HMS Eagle (1918) deliver a second contingent of Spitfires to Malta in Operation Bowery. A few days later, a grateful Churchill will signal Wasp "Who says a Wasp can't sting twice?" These aircraft, employed more aggressively than those previously delivered, turn the tide in the skies over Malta during the next few days, and the Axis is forced to abandon daylight bombing. This is a major turning point in the Siege, and thus in the North African Campaign, although the approaches to the island remain subject to deadly and accurate Axis air attack, preventing efficient re-supply of the island.


 * In Burma, General Stilwell and his party begin crossing the Uyu River. Only four small rafts are available, and the crossing takes the better part of two days.


 * 10: Unaware that the tide is turning even as he speaks, Kesselring informs Hitler that Malta has been neutralized.


 * Churchill, growing ever more frustrated with General Auchinleck's inactivity, finally sends him a telegram with a clear order; attack in time to cover for the Harpoon/Vigorous convoys to Malta during the dark of the moon in early June. This places Auchinleck in the position of complying or resigning. Auchinleck does not immediately reply, leaving Churchill, CIGS, and the War Cabinet in a state of suspense.


 * 13: General Stilwell and his party cross the Chindwin River. They are now almost certainly safe from the Japanese, but still dependent on their own supplies in a very remote area and racing to beat the monsoon.
 * 13: General Stilwell and his party cross the Chindwin River. They are now almost certainly safe from the Japanese, but still dependent on their own supplies in a very remote area and racing to beat the monsoon.


 * 14: In Burma, General Stilwell and his party begin ascending the Naga Hills. They are met at Kawlum by a relief expedition headed by British colonial administrator Tim Sharpe. "Food, doctor, ponies, and everything," notes a grateful Stilwell in his diary.


 * 15: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.


 * General Stilwell crosses the border into India.


 * 18: ::The Assam Rifles give General Stilwell's party a formal salute in honor of their arrival at Ukhrul, but can offer no motorized transport; the nearest road passable by trucks is still a day's march away, and there are no Jeeps yet in this part of India.


 * 19: General Stilwell and his party at last reach the truck roadhead at Litan; by this time the monsoon rains have started.


 * General Auchinleck at last replies to Churchill's somewhat urgent telegram of the 10th, saying he will have an attack ready by the sailing of the Harpoon/Vigorous convoys for Malta.


 * 20: The Japanese conquest of Burma is complete; it is called a "military catastrophe". Coincidentally, on this same day General Stilwell arrives in Imphal and dismisses his evacuation party. All 114 have arrived, although some have to be hospitalized due to exhaustion; one of whom, Major Frank Merrill, later commander of Merrill's Marauders, is diagnosed to have had a mild heart attack en route.


 * At Kharkov, as Kleist's and Paulus' forward elements draw ever closer together, Timoshenko sends his subordinate General Kostenko into the salient to organize a fighting retreat, or, failing that, maximize what can be saved.


 * 21: Invasion of Malta postponed indefinitely.


 * 22: Mexico declares war on the Axis.


 * 23: Kleist's and Paulus' tanks meet up at Balakleya, southeast of Kharkov, encircling most of the Soviets' 6th and 9th Armies.


 * 25: In preparation for the next battle, the Japanese naval strategists send diversionary forces to the Aleutians.


 * 26: The Anglo-Soviet Treaty: their foreign secretaries agree that no peace will be signed by one without the approval of the other. (An important treaty since Himmler and others will attempt to separate the two nations at the end of the war.)


 * 27:USS Yorktown (CV-5), damaged at the Coral Sea, limps into Pearl Harbor; it is ordered to get repaired and ready as fast as possible for the impending battle.


 * 29: Japanese forces have large successes south of Shanghai.


 * 30: USS Yorktown (CV-5) leaves Pearl after hasty repairs and moves to join USS Enterprise (CV-6) for the next expected battle.


 * 31: Japanese midget subs enter Sydney harbour and sink one support ship; fears of invasion grow.

June



 * 1: First reports in the West that gas is being used to kill the Jews sent to "the East".
 * 2: Further heavy bombing of industrial sites in Germany, centred mainly on Essen.


 * 3: Japan launches air raids against Alaska in the Battle of Dutch Harbor, beginning the Aleutian Islands Campaign.


 * The Battle of Midway opens with ineffective attacks by land-based American B-17s on the approaching Japanese fleet. Admiral Nagumo, in charge of the Japanese carrier force (JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Hiryu, JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Soryu, JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Akagi, and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Kaga) is unable to locate any American aircraft carriers and decides to attack Midway's land-based air defences the first thing the next morning, which in any event is one of his planned tasks.


 * 4: In the Battle of Midway, the day opens with Admiral Nagumo's attack on the air defences of the island.


 * A good deal of damage is done and many aircraft destroyed on both sides, but in the end the island's airbase is still functional. Nagumo plans a second attack on the island, and begins refueling and rearming his planes. Meanwhile, attacks are launched from all three American aircraft carriers in the area. Planes from USS Hornet (CV-8), USS Yorktown (CV-5), and USS Enterprise (CV-6) all find the targets, although most of the planes from Hornet follow an incorrect heading and miss this attack. Torpedo Squadron 8 from Hornet breaks and follows the correct heading. The Devastators of "Torp 8" are all shot down without doing any damage; there is only one survivor, George H. Gay, Jr. of Waco, Texas, who watches the battle unfold from the water. The torpedo attack fails, but draws the Japanese Combat Air Patrol down to low altitude, and they are unable to effectively repel the dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise when they arrive. The bombs find the Japanese flight decks crowded with fueling lines and explosive ordnance, and Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu are all soon reduced to blazing hulks, Akagi hit by only one bomb dropped by Lt. Commander Richard Halsey Best; only Hiryu escapes with no hits. Admiral Nagumo shifts his flag from Akagi to another ship, the cruiser JAPANESE CRUISER Nagara, and orders attacks on the American carriers, one by a group of Aichi D3A dive bombers and a second by Nakajima B5N torpedo bombers. The Japanese planes find Yorktown (thinking Yorktown already sunk, the second attack group assume it must be Enterprise) and damage it so badly that Yorktown must be abandoned. Admiral Fletcher shifts his flag to cruiser USS Astoria (CA-34) and cedes operational command to Admiral Spruance. The attacks on Yorktown give away Hiryu continued operations, though, and it is promptly attacked and will sink the next day, Admiral Yamaguchi choosing to go down with it. Of note, Hiryu and the other three destroyed Japanese carriers had participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor.


 * 7: Japanese forces invade Attu and Kiska. This is the first invasion of American soil in 128 years. Japanese occupation of Attu and Kiska begins.


 * The Battle of Midway comes to a close; USS Yorktown sinks; four Japanese carriers and one cruiser are sunk. The battle is viewed as a turning point in the Pacific war.


 * 8: A Japanese submarine fires several shells into a residential area in Sydney but with little effect.


 * 13: The United States opens its Office of War Information, a centre for production of propaganda.


 * 18: Manhattan Project is started, the beginning of a scientific approach to nuclear weapons.


 * Winston Churchill arrives in Washington for meetings with Roosevelt.

July

 * 3: Guadalcanal is now firmly in the hands of the Japanese.


 * 18: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me 262 V3 third prototype using only its jet engines for the first time.


 * 20: After landing in the Buna-Gona area, the Japanese in New Guinea move across the Owen Stanley mountain range aiming at Port Moresby in the south-eastern part of the island, close to Australia; a small Australian force begins rearguard action on the Kokoda Track.


 * 29: The Japanese take Kokoda, halfway along the Owen Stanley pass to Port Moresby.

August

 * 5: The U.S. planning team for Operation Torch, which includes George S. Patton; Jimmy Doolittle; Kent Lambert; and Hoyt S. Vandenberg, meets in Washington, D.C. to join the combined planning team from London, England. : Henrik Hersch Goldschmidt aka Janusz Korczak and almost 200 children of his orphanage, along with his staff, are led to the Treblinka II death camp, and killed there that day, probably with gas.


 * 7: Operation Watchtower begins the Guadalcanal Campaign as American forces invade Gavutu, Guadalcanal, Tulagi and Tanambogo in the Solomon Islands.


 * 8: The naval Battle of Savo Island, near Guadalcanal; the Americans lose three cruisers, the Australians one.


 * 9: Numerous riots in favour of independence in India; Mahatma Gandhi is arrested.


 * 12: American forces establish bases in the New Hebrides islands.


 * Fighting increases as the Germans approach Stalingrad.


 * 17: Raid on Makin Atoll by elements of the US Marine 2nd Raider Battalion against the Japanese garrison. The Marines are withdrawn the following day under difficult circumstances.


 * 18: In New Guinea, both Japanese and Australian reinforcements arrive.


 * 20: Henderson Field on Guadalcanal receives its first American fighter planes.


 * 21: Japanese counter-attack at Henderson Field; in another foray at the Tenaru (or Ilu) River, many Japanese are killed in a banzai charge.


 * 24: The naval battle of the Eastern Solomons; USS Enterprise is badly damaged and the Japanese lose one light carrier, Ryujo.


 * 26: Battle of Milne Bay begins: Japanese forces land and launch a full-scale assault on Australian base near the eastern tip of New Guinea.


 * 28: Incendiary bombs dropped by a Japanese seaplane cause a forest fire in Oregon.

September

 * 1: US Navy Construction Battalion personnel, Seabees, began to arrive at Guadalcanal.


 * 4:Manhattan Engineering District is formally created, full-effort production of the atomic bomb is begun.


 * 5: Australian and U.S. forces defeat Japanese forces at Milne Bay, Papua, the first outright defeat for Japanese land forces in the Pacific War. Their evacuation and the failure to establish an airbase eases the threat to Australia.


 * 9: A Japanese plane drops more incendiaries on Oregon, but with little effect.


 * 12–14: American troops push back the Japanese in the Battle of Edson's Ridge.


 * 14: The Japanese retreat again from Henderson Field, Guadalcanal.


 * The Japanese are now within 30 miles of Port Moresby, New Guinea, on the Kokoda trail.


 * 15: Americans send troops to Port Moresby as reinforcements for the Australian defenders.


 * Light carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) is sunk by a Japanese submarine off Guadalcanal.


 * 23–27: In the Third Battle of Matanikau River, Guadalcanal, Japanese naval bombardment and landing forces nearly destroy Henderson Field in an attempt to take it, but the land forces are soon driven back.


 * 24: United States of America deploys the I Corps to the Pacific Theater.


 * 28: The Japanese continue their retreat back down the Kokoda Track in New Guinea.

October



 * 7: Third Battle of the Matanikau.


 * 11: Battle of Cape Esperance.


 * On the Northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island. With the help of radar they sink one cruiser and several Japanese destroyers.


 * 12: The US 100th Infantry Battalion, a force of over 1,400 predominantly Nisei became active.


 * 13: Heavy bombardment of Henderson Field, Guadalcanal by the Japanese navy.


 * 14: A German U-boat sinks the ferry SS Caribou, killing 137.


 * 18: Admiral William "Bull" Halsey is given command of the South Pacific naval forces.


 * 23: Second Battle of El Alamein begins with massive Allied bombardment of German positions. Then Australian forces, mainly, begin advance while offshore British naval forces support the right flank (n.b. the ongoing concurrent victories being prepared at Guadalcanal and Stalingrad).


 * 23: Battle for Henderson Field


 * 25: Rommel hurriedly returns from his sickbed in Germany to take charge of the African battle. (His replacement, General Stumme, had died of a heart attack).


 * The Japanese continue their attacks on the Marines west of Henderson Field.


 * 26: The naval Battle of Santa Cruz. The Japanese lose many aircraft and have two aircraft carriers severely damaged. USS Hornet (CV-8) is sunk and USS Enterprise (CV-6) is damaged.


 * 29: The Japanese continue to send troops as reinforcements into Guadalcanal.


 * 31: The British make a critical breakthrough with tanks west of El Alamein; Rommel's mine fields fail to stop the Allied armour.

November



 * The Americans begin the Matanikau Offensive against the Japanese


 * 3: American victory over the Japanese in the Koli Point action


 * 11: Convoys reach Malta from Alexandria; an official announcement proclaims that the island is "relieved of its siege".


 * 12: Battle of Guadalcanal – A climactic naval battle near Guadalcanal starts between Japanese and American naval forces.


 * The Red Army makes an attempt to relieve Stalingrad at Kotelnikov.


 * 13: British Eighth Army recaptures Tobruk.


 * Battle of Guadalcanal: aviators from USS Enterprise (CV-6) sink the JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Hiei. Notably, USS Juneau (CL-52) is sunk with much of its crew, including the five Sullivan brothers.


 * 14: USS Washington (BB-56) attacks the JAPANESE BATTLESHIP Kirishima; the Japanese ship would capsize at 03:25 on the morning of 15 November.


 * 15: The naval battle of Guadalcanal ends. Although the United States Navy suffers heavy losses, it still retains control of the sea around Guadalcanal.


 * 17: Japanese send reinforcements into New Guinea; Americans are stymied at Buna.


 * 21: American army moves to shove Japanese off the extreme western end of Guadalcanal.


 * 22: Battle of Stalingrad: The situation for the German attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet counter-attack; General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army is surrounded.


 * Red Army troops complete the encirclement of the Germans at Kalach, west of Stalingrad.


 * 26: Hostilities erupt between the American and Australian soldiers in Brisbane. Fighting breaks out which results in fatalities, it is dubbed the Battle of Brisbane.


 * 30: The naval Battle of Tassafaronga (off Guadalcanal); this is a night action in which Japanese naval forces sink one American cruiser and damage three others.

December

 * 1: Gasoline rationing begins in the United States.


 * The US cruiser USS Northampton (CA-26) is sunk as Japanese destroyers attempt to come down "the Slot" to Guadalcanal.


 * 2: Below the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago, a team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first nuclear chain reaction. A coded message, "The Italian navigator has landed in the new world" is sent to President Roosevelt.


 * 7: On the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, USS New Jersey (BB-62), America's largest battleship is launched (commissioned five months later).


 * 9: The Marines turn over Guadalcanal to the American army.


 * 13: The Luftwaffe flies in meagre supplies to the beleaguered Stalingrad troops.


 * 15: American and Australian troops finally push Japanese out of Buna, New Guinea.


 * Allies clash with Japanese troops in the Battle of the Gifu.


 * 23: Japanese air force planes begin bombing of Calcutta.


 * 25: American bombers hit Rabaul.


 * 26: Heavy fighting continues on Guadalcanal, now focused on Mount Austen in the west.


 * 31: Japanese appear ready to abandon Guadalcanal.