Curated playlist
Pacific Ocean theater of World War II
- Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaignOn Betio, a tiny coral island, Japan built over 100 machine gun nests and 500 pillboxes.
- Battle of Guam (1941)Guam's 1941 defenders had no artillery on land and no airfield. Japan took the island in about two days.
- End of World War II in AsiaJapan's Tokyo Bay surrender was not the end of the war in Asia. The last major surrender came October 25, 1945.
- Battle of Leyte GulfAt Leyte Gulf, a message ending "THE WORLD WONDERS" left an admiral sobbing with rage. Those words were only padding.
- Battle of the Philippine SeaAt the Philippine Sea in June 1944, Japan lost 346 carrier aircraft in a single day.
- Invasion of Lingayen GulfKamikaze attacks at Lingayen Gulf on January 6, 1945 hit at a rate approaching 50 percent.
- Operation HailstoneOperation Hailstone broke the myth of an untouchable Japanese fortress in less than two days.
- Guadalcanal campaignTwo Japanese battleships fired 973 shells at Henderson Field, yet planes flew from it the next day.
- Operation KeNearly 36,000 Japanese troops went to Guadalcanal, and only about 11,000 were alive when Operation Ke began.
- Allied submarines in the Pacific WarSix hours after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy ordered unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan.