Figure 1.--

World War II began with the NAZI invasion of Poland (1939). Historians often note the earlier Japanese seizure of Manchuria (1931) and invasion of China (1937). Japan did not expect a major Chinese response. Nor did the Japanese anticipate the ability of China to resist their invasion. After a year of major battles, the Chinese withdrew into the interior where the Japanese did not have the logistical ability to pursue, Instead they used their air force to bomb Chunking and other Chinese cities ans seized Chinese ports to cut off China from outside assistance. War is expensive and after 4 years of continued war, Japan was suffering because of the continuing economic drain of the war in China . In addition, the Americans were beginning go aid China and putting increased pressure on Japan to withdraw from China. The American oil boycott forced Japan to make a decision--war or a negotiated peace. They chose war and approved Admiral Yamamoto's plan to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet in harbor at Pearl. The spectacular carrier attack on Pearl Harbor was a huge tactical success, but finally brought America with its massive industrial power into the War. Pearl Harbor was followed by stunning series of military successes, achieving what Japan had wanted--seizure of the Southern Resource Zone (SRZ). As Yamamoto predicted, spearheaded by a powerful carrier force, Japan in 6 months swept over Southeast Asian and the central Pacific with largely ineffective opposition. The British position in the Far East was based on Singapore. The fall of Singapore shocked the world and opened the way for the invasion of Burma. Japan also attacked the American forces in the Philippines, destroying most of the Air Corps planes on the ground, even though MacArthur had reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor several hours before the Japanese struck his air fields. America soon learned of Japanese atrocities during the Bataan Death, fueling American hatred of the Japanese. Japanese paratroopers successfully seized the Dutch oil field in tact. Japan then invaded New Guinea in preparation for an assault on Australia. But unanticipated was that the United states showed no sign of asking for an armistice. And almost to the day, the still depleted American Pacific Fleet achieved a major success at Midway, sinking much of the First Air Fleet (June 1942). Much attention is given to Adm. Yamamoto whose plans failed. Often Adm. King who formulated the winning strategy is ignored. After Midway, King was intent on following up Midway with an offensive operation as soon as possible. The result was Guadalcanal (August 1942). The 6 month campaign was the turning point of the War, It was the beginning of island campaign beginning in the South Pacific and then a second campaign in the Central Pacific. This led to the seizure of the Marianas which gave the Americans the ability to open up a strategic hoping campaign (June 1944). The awesome power of the United States is shown by the fact that America was able to launch massive amphibious invasions in Europe and the Pacific at the same time. The Marianas was followed by the beginning of the liberation of the Philippines (October 1944). This and the American submarines cut Japan off from the raw materials of the SRZ. The final two operations were Iwo Jima to support the strategic bombing campaign (February 1945). And Okinawa to prepare for the invasion of the Home Islands (April 1945). Finally the atomic bombs forced Japan to surrender, preventing a terrible blood letting if an invasion had been necessary.

Pacific War

It was the Japanese carrier attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into World War II. Had the Japanese not attacked, it is unclear just when America would have entered the War. The Japanese Imperial Fleet was a superbly trained force with modern, well designed vessels. Many naval experts at the time did not fully appreciate the effectivness of the Imperial Navy. The lack of radar, however, proved a huge disadvantage. Allied radar and many other technical advances were the result of close cooperation between American and British scientists anf joint development projects that began even before America entered the War. There was no comparable Axis technical cooperation or even coordination of military campaigns. The Kriegsmarine had very effective radar on its surface ships like Bismarck yet advanced German technology like radar, jet engines, and other equipment was not provided to the Japanese until very late in the War, too late to be of any effective use to the Japanese war effort. While Pearl Harbor was a stunning tactical victory, it was a strategic blunder by the Japanese of incaluable proportions. The Japanese were able to seize much of Southeast Asia, but the stunning American carrier victory at Midway, significantly reduced the strike capability of the Imperial Navy. This provided the time for American industrial capacity to reated a naval force with which Japan's limited industrial capacity could not cope. While the German submarine campaign in the North Atlantic failed, the American submarine campaign in thePacific proved spectacularly successful. The Japanese merchant marine was almost completely destroying, cutting the country's war industries off from supplies and bringing the country close to starvation. Amercan industrial strength enabled America to build a naval force capable of leap froging from island to island. The Navy by 1944 had seized islands from which the Japanese Home Island could be bombed. The Navy also enabled the Army to retake New Guinea and the Phillipines and by 1945 Okinawa. Navy and Army forces were preparing for a full-scale amphibious invasion of the Home Islands when two atomic bombs were dropped (August 1945) and Japan finally surrendered (September 1945).

The Asian War: CBI

The Asian theater of World War II is sometimes included as part of the Pacific War, but they were actually a largely different theater of war. Japan in both instances was the aggressor country, but there were major differences between the two, includung the countries Japan attacked and the geographic area. The Asian theater is sometimes called the China, Burma, India (CBI) theater. Not included is this acronym is Indochina (Vietnam). Malaya, and Singapore. The CBI Theater was really two separate thraters, China and Southeast Asia. Japan began its campaign against China by seizung Manchuria (1931). It then invaed China proper (1937), a campauign theu called the China Incident. The campaign in China proved to be no incident and Japan proved incapable of desisively defeating the Nationalist forces, although they seized large areas of China. China was at the center of the Pacific War which ws fought largely in Oceania. It was Japan's desire to finally emerge victorious from the 'China Incident' that led to the Pacific War. Much of the Japanese Army was deployed to China, but after some major battles at the onset, the Chinese developed the stategy of avoiding combat basically withdrawing to the unterior where theJapanese could not get at them. So by the outbreak of the Pacific War, China while occupying most of the Japanese Army was not a major combatant. The remainder of the CBI theater was with the exception of Thailand, colonies of Britain and France. With France defeated by the Germans (1940) it was the British that was the recipient of the full force of the Japanese offensive after Pearl Harbor (1941). The result was the rapid loss of all those colonies in Southeast Asia and by a smaller force than that of the British defenders. Within only a few months, the Japanese were on the borders of India. Britain's 'protected' sunjects were shocked by the ease and rapidity of the Japanese conquest. Some were elated by the defeat of the British, but soon found themselves in the hands of a more brutal and rapacious conquerer. The British managed to repulse Japanese efforts to invade India. It was the most poorly reported theater of the War and fought against a backdrop of intractable jungle, tropical diseases, and nationalist unrest. America aided Britain to an extent, but american military planners were determined not to commit major forces to the Asian continent. The Japanese perpetrated attricities against POWs and civilian interness as well as the indigenous population. And Britain's reputation was sullied by the hoirendous Benhal famine which could have been prevented.

Created: 5:57 AM 12/3/2023
Last updated: 5:57 AM 12/3/2023