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Battles of World War II involving Japan

  • Battle of Northern Burma and Western YunnanIn the spring of 1942, Japanese forces captured Burma and immediately prepared to attack west Yunnan. They aimed to fight along the Burma Road, conquer…
  • Western New Guinea campaignThe Allied command set a clear goal for early 1944. They needed to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions in the Pacific theater.
  • Battle of Changsha (1944)In May 1944, Japanese troops began a massive transfer of forces from the Japanese homeland and Manchuria to launch Operation Ichi-Go.
  • Siege of MyitkyinaThe siege of Myitkyina began with a boast. General Joseph Stilwell predicted the coming battle for this town in Burma would be a feat which will live in…
  • Battle of Guilin–LiuzhouThe Battle of Guilin-Liuzhou put two of southern China's most storied cities in the crosshairs of the largest Japanese land offensive of the entire Second…
  • Arakan campaign (1942–1943)The Arakan campaign of 1942-1943 began with a single, strategic prize in mind: Akyab Island. Fighters and transport aircraft flying from its all-weather…
  • Battle of OkinawaThe Battle of Okinawa began on the 1st of April 1945, when American forces launched the largest amphibious assault ever attempted in the Pacific Theater of…
  • Fall of SingaporeOn the afternoon of the 15th of February 1942, British Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival walked toward the Ford Motor Factory in Singapore bearing a white…
  • Battle of Guam (1941)The Battle of Guam began at 04:44 on the 8th of December 1941, when Captain George McMillin received word of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Battle of LuzonThe Battle of Luzon was the largest land battle of the Pacific Theater in World War II, pitting Allied forces from the United States, the Philippines…
  • Battle of LeyteThe Battle of Leyte began not with a single shot but with a promise. General Douglas MacArthur had vowed to return to the Philippines after President…
  • Battle of Mount SongThe Battle of Mount Song in 1944 decided whether a vital supply road connecting Burma to China would reopen. The mountain sat immediately behind the Salween…
  • Battle of Iwo JimaThe Battle of Iwo Jima began on the 19th of February 1945, when the first wave of Marines landed on the southeastern beaches of a small volcanic island eight…
  • Battle of Manila (1945)The Battle of Manila began on the 3rd of February 1945, and within a month it had killed at least 100,000 civilians and reduced one of Asia's most celebrated…
  • Battle of West HunanThe Battle of West Hunan began on the 6th of April 1945, just weeks before Germany's surrender in Europe, but on the other side of the world the Second…
  • Battle of Buna–GonaThe Battle of Buna-Gona lasted from the 16th of November 1942 to the 22nd of January 1943. It ended with evidence that starving Japanese defenders had…
  • Battle of ImphalThe Battle of Imphal began in March 1944 with a Japanese army crossing the Chindwin River, convinced it could destroy the Allied forces in northeast India…
  • Battle of the Philippine SeaThe Battle of the Philippine Sea, fought on the 19th and the 20th of June 1944, was the largest carrier-to-carrier naval engagement in history.
  • Battle of KohimaThe Battle of Kohima came down, at one point, to a tennis court. In April 1944, British and Japanese soldiers occupied trenches on opposite sides of a small…
  • Invasion of Lingayen GulfThe Invasion of Lingayen Gulf began on the 3rd of January 1945, and what followed over the next ten days would claim the lives of around 738 ship-based…
  • Operation U-GoOperation U-Go began on the 6th of March, 1944, when Japanese forces crossed into northeast India on one of the most audacious bets of the Second World War.
  • Guadalcanal campaignThe Guadalcanal campaign began on the 7th of August 1942 with 11,000 U.S. Marines wading ashore between Koli Point and Lunga Point on a remote jungle island…
  • Battle of MadagascarThe Battle of Madagascar began on the 5th of May 1942, when British forces landed on a remote island in the Indian Ocean that most people had never given a…
  • Battle of Wake IslandThe Battle of Wake Island began within hours of Pearl Harbor, on the 8th of December 1941, when 36 Japanese bombers swept in from bases in the Marshall…
  • Battle of Hong KongThe Battle of Hong Kong began on the 8th of December 1941, at almost the exact moment Japan struck Pearl Harbor. Within seventeen days, a British Crown…
  • Kokoda Track campaignThe Kokoda Track campaign was fought between July and November 1942 in the Australian Territory of Papua, and it nearly cost Australia the war in the Pacific.
  • Battles of Khalkhin GolThe Battles of Khalkhin Gol began on the 11th of May 1939, with a patrol of Mongolian cavalry, somewhere between 70 and 90 men, riding into disputed…
  • Operation KeOperation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding a six-month struggle that had defined the Pacific War's…
  • Battle of HengyangThe Battle of Hengyang lasted 47 days in the summer of 1944, and when it ended, Japanese casualties far exceeded the total number of Chinese troops who had…
  • Battle of Rabaul (1942)The Battle of Rabaul began before dawn on the 23rd of January, 1942, when a South Seas Force of around 5,000 Japanese troops entered Simpson Harbour and…