✦ History

Pacific War

December 7, 1941 – September 2, 1945

Result Allied victory

Ended by Japanese Instrument of Surrender

The World War II theater fought between Japan and the Allies across East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Oceania, generally dated from Japan's December 1941 attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The geographically largest theater of the war, it ended with Japan's surrender in August 1945 following the atomic bombings and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

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Battles and events 89

July 7, 1937 – September 2, 1945
Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese victory Mao Zedong, Chiang Kai-shek, Hirohito
December 7, 1941
Attack on Pearl Harbor Japanese victory Honolulu Franklin D. Roosevelt, Isoroku Yamamoto, Hideki Tojo
December 8, 1941 – January 31, 1942
Malayan campaign Japanese victory Plaek Phibunsongkhram, Archibald Wavell, Renya Mutaguchi
December 8, 1941 – September 9, 1945
South-East Asian theatre of World War II Allied victory Southeast Asia Chiang Kai-shek, Douglas MacArthur, Plaek Phibunsongkhram
December 8–10, 1941
Battle of Guam (1941) Japanese victory Guam Tomitarō Horii, George McMillin
December 8–25, 1941
Battle of Hong Kong Japanese victory British Hong Kong Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Brigadier Cedric Wallis, Mark Aitchison Young
December 8–23, 1941
Battle of Wake Island Japanese victory Wake Island Shigeyoshi Inoue
December 8, 1941
Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire Tokyo Hirohito
December 8, 1941
United States declaration of war on Japan Washington, D.C.
December 8, 1941
British declaration of war on Japan London
December 29, 1941 – May 6, 1942
Battle of Corregidor Japanese victory Corregidor Masaharu Homma, Jonathan M. Wainwright
January 1942 – August 21, 1945
Solomon Islands campaign Allied victory Solomon Islands Chester W. Nimitz, Isoroku Yamamoto, Douglas MacArthur
January 7 – April 9, 1942
Battle of Bataan Japanese victory Bataan peninsula, Philippines Douglas MacArthur, Masaharu Homma, Jonathan M. Wainwright
January 11–12, 1942
Battle of Manado Japanese victory Manado
January 23–24, 1942
Battle of Balikpapan (1942) Japanese victory Pacific Ocean Shōji Nishimura
February 1, 1942
Marshalls–Gilberts raids Minor damage to Japanese garrisons Marshall Islands Frank Jack Fletcher, Shigeyoshi Inoue, William Halsey Jr.
February 8–15, 1942
Battle of Singapore Japanese victory Singapore Archibald Wavell, Renya Mutaguchi, Tomoyuki Yamashita
February 13–15, 1942
Battle of Palembang Japanese victory Palembang Jisaburō Ozawa
February 14 – March 28, 1942
Invasion of Sumatra Japanese victory Sumatra Jisaburō Ozawa, Tomoyuki Yamashita, Hitoshi Imamura
February 18–20, 1942
Battle of Badung Strait Japanese victory Badung Strait
March 4, 1942
Operation K Inconclusive Wotje Atoll
March 13, 1942
Invasion of Salamaua–Lae Japanese victory Shigeyoshi Inoue
March 31 – April 10, 1942
Indian Ocean raid Japanese victory Indian Ocean Chūichi Nagumo, James Somerville
March 31 – April 1, 1942
Battle of Christmas Island Japanese victory Christmas Island Shōji Nishimura
April 18, 1942 – September 2, 1945
Japan campaign Allied victory Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Hirohito
May 4–8, 1942
Battle of the Coral Sea Coral Sea Chester W. Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, Frank Jack Fletcher
June 3, 1942 – August 15, 1943
Aleutian Islands campaign Allied victory Aleutian Islands Thomas Cassin Kinkaid, Monzo Akiyama, Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.
June 4–7, 1942
Battle of Midway American victory Midway Atoll Chester W. Nimitz, Isoroku Yamamoto, Raymond A. Spruance
July 21 – November 16, 1942
Kokoda Track campaign Allied victory Kokoda Track Douglas MacArthur, Basil Morris, Thomas Blamey
August 7, 1942 – February 9, 1943
Guadalcanal campaign Allied victory Guadalcanal Chester W. Nimitz, Isoroku Yamamoto, Frank Jack Fletcher
August 17–18, 1942
Raid on Makin Island American victory Butaritari Chester W. Nimitz, Kōsō Abe
October 23–26, 1942
Battle for Henderson Field American victory Guadalcanal Alexander Vandegrift, William H. Rupertus, Harukichi Hyakutake
October 25–27, 1942
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands Chūichi Nagumo, Nobutake Kondō, George Dominic Murray
November 1–4, 1942
Matanikau Offensive United States victory Guadalcanal Alexander Vandegrift, Harukichi Hyakutake
November 3–12, 1942
Koli Point action Allied victory Guadalcanal Alexander Vandegrift, William H. Rupertus, Harukichi Hyakutake
November 13–15, 1942
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal American victory Guadalcanal Isoroku Yamamoto, Nobutake Kondō, William Halsey Jr.
December 15, 1942 – January 23, 1943
Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse Allied victory Guadalcanal Alexander M. Patch, Harukichi Hyakutake
March 2–4, 1943
Battle of the Bismarck Sea Allied victory Bismarck Sea
March 6, 1943
Battle of Blackett Strait American victory Blackett Strait
March 27, 1943
Battle of the Komandorski Islands American victory Commander Islands
April 22 – September 16, 1943
Salamaua–Lae campaign Allied victory Morobe Province Douglas MacArthur, Thomas Blamey, Hatazō Adachi
May 11–30, 1943
Battle of Attu Allied victory Attu Island Thomas Cassin Kinkaid
June 15–20, 1943
Convoy GP55 Japanese victory
July 6, 1943
Battle of Kula Gulf Inconclusive Kolombangara
July 12–13, 1943
Battle of Kolombangara Kolombangara
August 17–18, 1943
Battle off Horaniu Vella Lavella
September 5, 1943
Landing at Nadzab Allied victory Nadzab Douglas MacArthur, Thomas Blamey, Hatazō Adachi
September 22, 1943 – March 1, 1944
Huon Peninsula campaign Allied victory Huon Peninsula Douglas MacArthur, Hatazō Adachi
October 6, 1943
Battle of Vella Lavella (naval) Japanese victory Vella Lavella
November 1, 1943 – August 21, 1945
Bougainville campaign Allied victory Bougainville Island Douglas MacArthur, Alexander Vandegrift, Oscar Griswold
November 2–11, 1943
Bombing of Rabaul (November 1943) Allied victory Rabaul William Halsey Jr., Frederick C. Sherman, Jinichi Kusaka
November 3, 1943
Raid on Choiseul Indecisive Choiseul Island
November 3, 1943
Landings at Cape Torokina Allied victory Bougainville Island Alexander Vandegrift, William Halsey Jr., Harukichi Hyakutake
November 12, 1943
Battle of the Treasury Islands Allied victory Treasury Islands
November 20–23, 1943
Battle of Tarawa Allied victory Tarawa Raymond A. Spruance, Richmond K. Turner, Harry W. Hill
December 15, 1943 – August 21, 1945
New Britain campaign Allied victory New Britain Douglas MacArthur, William H. Rupertus, Hitoshi Imamura
December 15, 1943 – February 24, 1944
Battle of Arawe Allied victory Arawe
1944
Operation Matterhorn
January 29 – February 27, 1944
Battle of the Green Islands Allied victory Green Islands Hitoshi Imamura
February 17–18, 1944
Operation Hailstone American victory Marc Mitscher, Masami Kobayashi
March 1–16, 1944
Indian Ocean raid (1944) Inconclusive Indian Ocean James Somerville
April 19, 1944
Operation Cockpit Inconclusive Sabang James Somerville
May 27 – August 17, 1944
Battle of Biak Allied victory Biak Island Robert L. Eichelberger, George Kenney
June 15 – July 9, 1944
Battle of Saipan American victory Saipan Chester W. Nimitz, Raymond A. Spruance, Chūichi Nagumo
June 19–20, 1944
Battle of the Philippine Sea American victory Philippine Sea Raymond A. Spruance, Marc Mitscher, Jisaburō Ozawa
July 24 – August 1, 1944
Battle of Tinian American victory Tinian Clifton Bledsoe Cates, Thomas E. Watson
August 11, 1944
Operation Boomerang Palembang
September 15 – November 27, 1944
Battle of Peleliu American victory Roy Geiger, Sadae Inoue, Kunio Nakagawa
September 15 – October 22, 1944
Battle of Angaur American victory Angaur Sadae Inoue, Paul J. Mueller
September 15 – October 4, 1944
Battle of Morotai Allied victory Morotai Island
October 17 – December 31, 1944
Battle of Leyte Allied victory Douglas MacArthur, Sergio Osmeña, Tomoyuki Yamashita
October 20, 1944 – August 15, 1945
Philippines campaign (1944–1945) Allied victory Philippines Akira Mutō, Douglas MacArthur, Jisaburō Ozawa
October 23–26, 1944
Battle of Leyte Gulf Allied victory Leyte Gulf, Philippines Jisaburō Ozawa, Takeo Kurita, William Halsey Jr.
November 11 – December 21, 1944
Battle of Ormoc Bay American victory Ormoc Bay Douglas MacArthur, Tomoyuki Yamashita
January 9 – August 15, 1945
Battle of Luzon Allied victory Akira Mutō, Douglas MacArthur, Tomoyuki Yamashita
January 20, 1945
South China Sea raid South China Sea Hisaichi Terauchi, William Halsey Jr.
February 3 – March 3, 1945
Battle of Manila (1945) Allied victory Manila Akira Mutō, Douglas MacArthur, Sanji Iwabuchi
February 4, 1945
Bombing of Kobe in World War II Kobe
February 10–20, 1945
Operation Kita Japanese victory
February 19 – March 26, 1945
Battle of Iwo Jima American victory Iwo Jima Chester W. Nimitz, Raymond A. Spruance, Marc Mitscher
April 1 – June 22, 1945
Battle of Okinawa Allied victory Okinawa Chester W. Nimitz, Raymond A. Spruance, Isamu Chō
April 1945
Operation Starvation Chester W. Nimitz
April 7, 1945
Operation Ten-Go American victory Marc Mitscher, Joseph J. Clark, Frederick C. Sherman
May 1 – June 21, 1945
Battle of Tarakan (1945) Allied victory Tarakan Island
May 15–16, 1945
Battle of the Malacca Strait British victory Strait of Malacca
June 10 – August 15, 1945
Battle of North Borneo Allied victory
June 15, 1945
Operation Inmate Allied victory Chuuk Lagoon Chūichi Hara
July 1, 1945
Battle of Balikpapan (1945) Allied victory Balikpapan
August 9–20, 1945
Soviet invasion of Manchuria Soviet victory Inner Manchuria Rodion Malinovsky, Puyi, Khorloogiin Choibalsan

Key commanders

Allies 64

Mao Zedong Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Chiang Kai-shek Generalissimo, Led the Nationalist government and armies He Yingqin Minister of War Zhou Enlai Peng Dehuai Deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army Zhu De Commander of the Eighth Route Army Chen Cheng General Li Zongren General, Won at Taierzhuang in 1938 Chen Yi belligerent leader Joseph Stilwell Chief of Staff to Chiang Kai-shek Bai Chongxi belligerent leader Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan the next day Husband E. Kimmel military commander Walter Short military commander Chester W. Nimitz Raymond A. Spruance military commander Frank Jack Fletcher military commander Winston Churchill belligerent leader Douglas MacArthur military commander Alexander Vandegrift military commander Robert L. Ghormley belligerent leader William Halsey Jr. military commander Alexander M. Patch military commander Aubrey Fitch military commander Marc Mitscher military commander William H. P. Blandy military commander Jonathan M. Wainwright belligerent leader Edward P. King military commander Oscar Griswold military commander Robert S. Beightler military commander Thomas Cassin Kinkaid military commander Clifton Sprague military commander Basil Morris military commander Thomas Blamey military commander Richmond K. Turner military commander Harry W. Hill military commander Roy Geiger military commander Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr. military commander George Dominic Murray military commander Joseph J. Clark military commander Frederick C. Sherman military commander Archibald Wavell military commander Robert Brooke-Popham military commander Arthur Percival military commander Gordon Bennett military commander William H. Rupertus military commander Paul J. Mueller military commander Sergio Osmeña belligerent leader Walter Krueger military commander Franklin C. Sibert military commander George Kenney military commander Robert L. Eichelberger military commander Norman Scott military commander Lord Mountbatten military commander James Somerville military commander George McMillin military commander Theodore Stark Wilkinson military commander Brigadier Cedric Wallis military commander Mark Aitchison Young military commander Christopher Maltby military commander Clifton Bledsoe Cates military commander Thomas E. Watson military commander Harry S. Truman military commander Aleksandr Vasilevsky military commander

Axis 62

Hirohito Emperor Doihara Kenji Akira Mutō Iwane Matsui military commander, Commanded at Shanghai and Nanjing Seishirō Itagaki Kingorō Hashimoto Yoshijirō Umezu military commander Wang Jingwei Head of the Reorganized National Government, Led the Japanese-backed collaborationist regime at Nanjing Hideki Tojo Fumimaro Konoe Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister when the war began in 1937 Yasuji Okamura Commander, China Expeditionary Army, Surrendered Japanese forces in China in 1945 Otozō Yamada belligerent leader Hisaichi Terauchi military commander Kan'in Kotohito military commander Hajime Sugiyama military commander Isoroku Yamamoto Chūichi Nagumo military commander Nobutake Kondō military commander Shigeyoshi Inoue military commander Harukichi Hyakutake military commander Jinichi Kusaka military commander Hitoshi Imamura military commander Takeo Takagi military commander Chūichi Hara military commander Jisaburō Ozawa military commander Takeo Kurita military commander Tadamichi Kuribayashi military commander Takeichi Nishi military commander Masaharu Homma military commander Takaji Wachi military commander Sanji Iwabuchi military commander Tomoyuki Yamashita military commander Shizuo Yokoyama military commander Soemu Toyoda military commander Shōji Nishimura military commander Tomitarō Horii military commander Keiji Shibazaki military commander Hideyoshi Obata military commander Yoshitsugu Saitō military commander Isamu Chō military commander Mitsuru Ushijima military commander Seiichi Itō military commander Hiromichi Yahara military commander Hiroaki Abe military commander Masami Kobayashi military commander Keizō Komura military commander Kōsaku Aruga military commander Plaek Phibunsongkhram military commander Renya Mutaguchi military commander Takurō Matsui military commander Takuma Nishimura military commander Sadae Inoue military commander Kunio Nakagawa military commander Sōsaku Suzuki military commander Monzo Akiyama military commander Subhas Chandra Bose belligerent leader Mineichi Koga military commander Takashi Sakai military commander Tadayoshi Sano military commander Kōsō Abe military commander Shunroku Hata military commander Hatazō Adachi military commander

United States 1

Thomas Cassin Kinkaid military commander

Soviet Union and allies 4

Rodion Malinovsky military commander Khorloogiin Choibalsan military commander Aleksandr Vasilevsky military commander Kirill Meretskov military commander

Japan and allies 5

Puyi military commander Otozō Yamada military commander Seiichi Kita military commander Jun Ushiroku military commander Demchugdongrub military commander

Japan 1

Hitoshi Imamura military commander