12th September 1942
Japanese attack Henderson again but fail, losing twelve hundred men, the Americans lose four hundred and forty six.
11th October 1942
Japanese cruisers Furutaka and Fabuki are destroyed.
13th October 1942
Japanese battleships Kongo and Haruna shell Marine positions at Henderson Field.
14th October 1942
Japanese cruisers Chokai and Kinugasa bombard the American and Allied positions.
24th–25th October 1942
Battle for Henderson Field.
26th October 1942
Battle of Santa Cruz Islands.
12th–15th November 1942
Naval battle for Guadalcanal. Japanese lose battleships Hiei, Kirishishima and the heavy cruiser Kinguagasa, three destroyers and seven transports.
American loses heavy cruisers Atlanta, San Francisco, light cruiser Juneau, and seven destroyers.
Japanese heavy cruisers Suzuya and Maya are sunk.
30th November 1942
Battle of Tassafoconga, Japan loses one destroyer, America loses heavy cruiser North Hampton.
9th December 1942
American PT boats sink Japanese destroyer Teruzuki at Cape Esperance.
15th December 1942–7th February 1943
American ground troops evict Japanese army from Guadalcanal.
29th–30th January 1943
Battle of Ronell Island. American heavy cruiser Chicago sunk.
1st–7th February 1943
Japanese evacuate Guadalcanal.
9th February 1943
Guadalcanal campaign is won, America and the Allies take control.
This was a significant win for America and its allies in the Pacific war. Tom’s company of battle-hardened troops would take part in many more battles. Tom would have liked to be with them.
The hard road to victory included:
10th May 1943 US Troops invade Attu in the Aleutian Islands.
14th May 1943 A Japanese submarine sinks the Australian hospital ship Centaur resulting in two hundred and ninety-nine dead.
31st May 1943 Japanese end their occupation of the Aleutian Islands as the US completes the capture of Attu.
21st June 1943 Allies advance to New Georgia, Solomon Islands.
8th July 1943 B-24 Liberators flying from Midway bomb Japanese on Wake Island.
6th–7th August 1943 Battle of Vella Gulf in the Solomon Islands.
25th August 1943 Allies complete the occupation of New Georgia.
4th September 1943 Allies recapture Lae-Salamaua, New Guinea.
1st November 1943 US Marines invade Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
20th November 1943 US Troops invade Makin and Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.
23rd November 1943 Japanese end resistance on Makin and Tarawa.
15th December 1943 US Troops land on the Arawe Peninsula of New Britain in the Solomon Islands.
26th December 1943 Full Allied assault on New Britain as 1st Division Marines invade Cape Gloucester.
9th January 1944 British and Indian troops recapture Maungdaw in Burma.
31st January 1944 US Troops invade Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands.
1st–7th February 1944 US Troops capture Kwajalein and Majura Atolls in the Marshall Islands.
17th–18th February 1944US Carrier-based planes destroy the Japanese naval base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.
20th February 1944 US Carrier-based and land-based planes destroy the Japanese base at Rabaul.
23rd February 1944 US Carrier-based planes attack the Mariana Islands.
24th February 1944 Merrill’s Marauders begin a ground campaign in northern Burma.
5th March 1944 Gen. Wingate’s groups begin operations behind Japanese lines in Burma.
15th March 1944 Japanese begin offensive toward Imphal and Kohima.
17th April 1944 Japanese begin their last offensive in China, attacking US air bases in eastern China.
22nd April 1944 Allies invade Aitape and Hollandia in New Guinea.
27th May 1944 Allies invade Biak Island, New Guinea.
5th June 1944 The first mission by B-29 Superfortress bombers occurs as seventy-seven planes bomb Japanese railway facilities in Bangkok, Thailand.
15th June 1944 US Marines invade Saipan in the Mariana Islands.
15th–16th June The first bombing raid on Japan since the April 1944. Forty B-29s based in Bengal, India, target the steel works at Yawata.
19th June 1944 The ‘Marianas Turkey Shoot’ occurs as US Carrier-based fighters shoot down two hundred and twenty Japanese planes, while only twenty American planes are lost.
8th July 1944 Japanese withdraw from Imphal.
19th July 1944 US Marines invade Guam in the Marianas.
24th July 1944 US Marines invade Tinian.
27 July 1944 American troops complete the liberation of Guam.
3rd August 1944 US And Chinese troops take Myitkyina after a two-month siege.
8th August 1944 - American troops complete the capture of the Mariana Islands.
15th September 1944 US Troops invade Morotai and the Paulaus.
11th October 1944 US Air raids against Okinawa.
18th October 1944 Fourteen B-29s based on the Marianas attack the Japanese base at Truk.
20th October 1944 US Sixth Army invades Leyte in the Philippines.
23rd–26th October 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf results in a decisive US Naval victory.
25th October 1944 The first suicide ( Kamikaze) air attacks occur against US warships in Leyte Gulf. By the end of the war, Japan will have sent an estimated two thousand two hundred and fifty-seven aircraft. ‘The only weapon I feared in the war,’ Adm. Halsey will say later.
11th November 1944 Iwo Jima bombarded by the US Navy.
24th November Twenty-four B-29s bomb the Nakajima aircraft factory near Tokyo.
15th December 1944 US Troops invade Mindoro in the Philippines.
17th December 1944 The US Army Air Force begins preparations for dropping the Atomic Bomb by establishing the 509th Composite Group to operate the B-29s that will deliver the bomb.
3rd January 1945 Gen. MacArthur is placed in command of all US ground forces and Adm. Nimitz in command of all naval forces in preparation for planned assaults against Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Japan itself.
4th January 1945 British occupy Akyab in Burma.
9th January 1945 US Sixth Army invades Lingayen Gulf on Luzon in the Philippines.
11th January, 1945 Air raid against Japanese bases in Indochina by US Carrier-based planes.
January 28, 1945 The Burma road is reopened.
3rd February 1945 US Sixth Army attacks Japanese in Manila.
16th February 1945 US Troops recapture Bataan in the Philippines.
19th February 1945 US Marines invade Iwo Jima.
2nd March 1945 US airborne troops recapture Corregidor in the Philippines.
3rd March 1945 US And Filipino troops take Manila.
9th–10th March Fifteen square miles of Tokyo erupts in flames after it is fire bombed by two hundred and seventy-nine B-29s.
10th March 1945 US Eighth Army invades Zamboanga Peninsula on Mindanao in the Philippines.
20th March 1945 British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
27th March 1945 B-29s lay mines in Japan’s Shimonoseki Strait to interrupt shipping.
1st April 1945 The final amphibious landing of the war occurs as the US Tenth Army invades Okinawa.
7th April 1945 B-29s fly their first fighter-escorted mission against Japan with P-51 Mustangs based on Iwo Jima; US Carrier-based fighters sink the super battleship Yamato and several escort vessels which planned to attack US Forces at Okinawa.
12th April 1945 President Roosevelt dies, succeeded by Harry S. Truman.
8th May 1945 Victory in Europe Day. VE.
20th May 1945 Japanese begin withdrawal from China.
25th May 1945 US Joint Chiefs of Staff approve Operation Olympic, the invasion of Japan, scheduled for November 1.
9th June 1945 Japanese Premier Suzuki announces Japan will fight to the very end rather than accept unconditional surrender.
18th June 1945 Japanese resistance ends on Mindanao in the Philippines.
22nd June 1945 Japanese resistance ends on Okinawa as the US Tenth Army completes its capture.
28th June 1945 MacArthur’s headquarters announces the end of all Japanese resistance in the Philippines.
5th July 1945 Liberation of Philippines declared.
10th July 1945 1,000 bomber raids against Japan begin.
14th July 1945 The first US Naval bombardment of Japanese home islands.
16th July 1945 First atomic bomb is successfully tested in the US.
26th July 1945 Components of the atomic bomb ‘Little Boy’ are unloaded at Tinian Island in the South Pacific.
29th July 1945 A Japanese submarine sinks the Cruiser Indianapolis resulting in the loss of eight hundred and eighty-one crewmen. The ship sinks before a radio message can be sent out leaving survivors adrift for two days.
6th August 1945 First atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima from a B-29 flown by Col. Paul Tibbets.
8th August 1945 USSR declares war on Japan then invades Manchuria.
9th August 1945 Second atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki from a B-29 flown by Maj. Charles Sweeney. Emperor Hirohito and Japanese Prime Minister Suzuki then decide to seek an immediate peace with the Allies.
14th August 1945 Japanese accept unconditional surrender, Gen. MacArthur is appointed to head the occupation forces in Japan.
27th August 1945 B-29s drop supplies to Allied POWs in China.
29th August 1945 The Soviets shoot down B-29 dropping supplies to POWs in Korea; US Troops land near Tokyo to begin the occupation of Japan.
30th August 1945 The British reoccupy Hong Kong.
2nd September 1945 Formal Japanese surrender ceremony on board the Missouri in Tokyo Bay as 1,000 carrier-based planes fly overhead. President Truman declares VJ Day.
3rd September 1945 The Japanese commander in the Philippines, Gen. Yamashita, surrenders to Gen. Wainwright at Baguio.
4th September 1945 Japanese troops on Wake Island surrender.
5th September 1945 British land in Singapore.
8th September 1945 MacArthur enters Tokyo.
9th September 1945 Japanese in Korea surrender.
13th September 1945 Japanese in Burma surrender.