Curated category
South West Pacific theatre of World War II
- 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.
- Operation MoThe Japanese Navy General Staff first considered Operation Mo in 1938. This early planning phase focused on consolidating control over Southern Seas areas…
- Battle of the Java SeaOn the 27th of February 1942, Rear Admiral Karel Doorman led a multinational Allied fleet from Surabaya toward the Java Sea.
- Battle of LuzonThe Philippines held a strategic value that threatened the United States when Japan captured it in 1942. General Douglas MacArthur oversaw the defense of the…
- Borneo campaignOn the 16th of December 1941, Japanese troops landed at Sarawak. A single battalion of British Indian troops fought a delaying action over several weeks.
- Philippines campaign (1941–1942)On the 6th of November 1941, General Hisaichi Terauchi created the Southern Expeditionary Army Group to seize raw materials in Malaya and the Netherlands…
- Philippines campaign (1944–1945)By mid-1944, American forces sat only southeast of Mindanao, the largest island in the southern Philippines. Fleet Admiral Chester W.
- End of World War II in AsiaThe Tehran Conference met from November 28 to the 1st of December 1943. Soviet leaders agreed to invade Japan after Germany fell.
- Battle of MindanaoThe island of Mindanao offered very little inspiration for soldiers who would have to fight there. It boasted a long and irregular coastline, and the…
- Battle of Buna–GonaJapan's entry into World War II began with the attack on Pearl Harbor on the 7th of December 1941. This coordinated assault included simultaneous strikes on…
- Bombing of DarwinDarwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, held a population of 5,800 people in early 1942. This small town sat at the strategic heart of northern…
- Invasion of Lingayen GulfOn the 22nd of December 1941, the Japanese 14th Army under Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma landed on the northeastern shores of Lingayen Gulf at Agoo…
- Battle of the Coral SeaOn the 4th of May 1942, the Imperial Japanese Navy began Operation MO with a clear goal: seize Port Moresby in New Guinea and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.
- Kokoda Track campaignIn early 1942, the Australian government and many citizens feared a Japanese invasion of their mainland. The entire 8th Division had been lost or rendered…
- Operation CartwheelIn February 1942, Japanese forces captured Rabaul on the island of New Britain from Australian troops. This location became a major forward base for Japanese…
- Battle of Rabaul (1942)Rabaul lies on the eastern end of New Britain, an Australian Territory in 1942. The town served as capital for the region since Germany lost control there in…