The Pacific Theatre was fought primarily on the Pacific Ocean as well as various islands located in the Pacific Ocean. The first Island captured by Japan was Indochina, including the French colonies of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. This is what made tensions rise between the US and Japanese forces and what started the Japanese’s fight against the United States. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but they also attacked "the Philippines, Wake Island, Guam, Malaya, Thailand, Shanghai and Midway" (www.historyplace.com). In the following days, Japan invaded Thailand, the Philippines and Burma, as well as take Guam. The Japanese and American forces used air raids to attack and invade islands in the pacific, much like the Germans and Americans fought in Europe.
As one of the first battles in the Pacific Theatre, The Battle of Coral Sea really showed the Allies what they were facing. The United States lost one major aircraft carrier, The USS Lexington, as well as came back with a …show more content…
This campaign was called “island hopping” or “Operation Cartwheel” and it was made to “isolate the Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain” (www.thoughtco.com). General Douglas MacArthur oversaw this campaign over all Allied forces. They drove naval forces through the Solomon Islands and once the Allies landed on Guadalcanal, which was claimed by Japan and this was the first negative encounter with the island-hopping campaign. The Battle of Guadalcanal was a surprise attack by US Marines and was the first major victory of the Allies following the Battle of Midway. The first successful island-hop was the island of Tarawa Atoll on November 20-23, 1943. This capture allowed the Allied forces to capture the Marshall Islands and later lead to the capture of the Marianas. Late January, 1944, the Allies embarked upon Kwajalein, the first target in the Marshall
As one of the first battles in the Pacific Theatre, The Battle of Coral Sea really showed the Allies what they were facing. The United States lost one major aircraft carrier, The USS Lexington, as well as came back with a …show more content…
This campaign was called “island hopping” or “Operation Cartwheel” and it was made to “isolate the Japanese base at Rabaul on New Britain” (www.thoughtco.com). General Douglas MacArthur oversaw this campaign over all Allied forces. They drove naval forces through the Solomon Islands and once the Allies landed on Guadalcanal, which was claimed by Japan and this was the first negative encounter with the island-hopping campaign. The Battle of Guadalcanal was a surprise attack by US Marines and was the first major victory of the Allies following the Battle of Midway. The first successful island-hop was the island of Tarawa Atoll on November 20-23, 1943. This capture allowed the Allied forces to capture the Marshall Islands and later lead to the capture of the Marianas. Late January, 1944, the Allies embarked upon Kwajalein, the first target in the Marshall