World Battlefronts: 90 WEEKS

In the chronology of the War in the Pacific, Japan’s peak in territorial gains came eight months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. But even before the attack had reached flood tide, the counterattack had begun:

1942 May: U.S. carriers met a Jap task force in the Battle of the Coral Sea, fought it to a draw. Result: Japan’s plan to invade Australia was thwarted.

June: At Midway the Jap fleet was defeated in one of the decisive battles of world history.

August: The marines landed on Guadalcanal to retake the Jap’s southernmost conquest.

August-November: The Navy fought six desperate battles in the Solomons. Only one serviceable aircraft carrier (the Enterprise) was left, but the Japs frittered away dozens of ships.

November: MacArthur struck at Buna on the north coast of New Guinea, began his march toward the Philippines.

1943 May: U.S. soldiers retook Attu; in July the Japs deserted Kiska, abandoned the Aleutians.

September: MacArthur’s airborne troops landed behind Lae.

October: Biggest carrier raid to date (Wake Island) included the Essex, the new Lexington and Yorktown, and three light flattops.

November: Nimitz’ march across the Central Pacific began with the invasion of Tarawa and Makin.

1944 February: Kwajalein and Eniwetok were taken in the Central Pacific sweep.

June: First B-29s to raid Japan bombed Yawata from China bases.

June-August: Saipan, Tinian and Guam were captured. The Fifth Fleet fought the First Battle of the Philippine Sea off Saipan, shot down 404 planes, sank three carriers.

September: Peleliu fell in bloody battle. Ulithi was seized without resistance, became the fleet’s advance base.

October: MacArthur returned to the Philippines, at Leyte. The Jap fleet had its back broken in Second Battle of the Philippine Sea.

November: B-29s began bombing Tokyo from the Marianas.

1945 January: MacArthur invaded Luzon. Halsey’s Third Fleet invaded the South China Sea, sank 41 Jap ships in one day.

February-March : First carrier strike on

Tokyo was timed with invasion of Iwo

Jima, halfway between Saipan and Japan.

. March: B-29s began fire-bomb raids on.

Japan.

April: Okinawa, within 400 miles of Japan, was invaded; its capture came 82 days later.

May: British completed liberation of most of Burma.

July: Liberation of the Philippines effectively completed.

August 2: More than 800 B-29s dropped 6,632 tons of explosives on Japan in a single day. Halsey’s Third Fleet roamed up & down the Japanese coast, shelling cities without opposition.

August 6: First atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

August 8: Russia declared war on Japan.

August 10: Japan began negotiations for surrender.